Photo Credit: Yvette de Wit
Rising operational costs have led to ticket prices going up—which has reduced attendance as people become more conscious of their discretionary spending. 60 UK music festivals have announced a postponement, cancellation, or complete closure in 2024 so far.
The United Kingdom has lost 192 music festivals since 2019, according to the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) data. AIF is a not-for-profit festival trade association that represents the interests of over 200 independent UK music festivals that range in audience size from 500 people up to 80,000.
The most recent cancellation is Secret Garden Party in Cambridgeshire, which announced that the 2024 festival was its last. It burned the main stage in July 2024 as a symbol of the challenges facing independent music festivals.
Cosmic Roots Festival in Basingstoke and Witcombe Festival in Gloucester are also among the cancellations announced in 2024. Organizers for both festivals cited economic challenges including rising costs among the reasons for the cancellation. With no intervention, the UK is expected to shed 100 music festivals in 2024 alone due to rising operating costs and the pressures of unpredictable ticket sales.
The AIF estimates that the UK lost 96 events during the COVID-19 pandemic, 36 festivals in 2023 and more than 60 to date in 2024. That brings the total number of festival closures (either due to cancellation or postponement) up to 192 since 2019.
“Without having had successive steady seasons since the pandemic in which to recover, the country’s festivals are under more financial strain than ever,” the AIF reports. The AIF launched a new campaign in February asking for a temporary VAT reduction on festival tickets to save events from closure. The 5% for Festivals campaign is an awareness campaign that seeks to inform festival-goers about the problems organizers and promoters are facing.
It encourages them to contact their Members of Parliament (MPs) to lobby for the VAT reduction on tickets. “Temporary support from the UK government lowering VAT from 20% to 5% on ticket sales for the next three years is needed to give festival promoters the space they need to rebuild,” the AIF says. “We hope that the new Labour government will take swift action to save many successful festival businesses that are facing this existential threat,” AIF CEO John Rostron says.
