It has been announced today
that one of the major shareholders of Spanish festival Benicàssim
has sold his share of the festival.
Vince Power’s festival company suffered financial
difficulty in September, which resulted in the Hop Farm festival to cease. A
statement has been released today stating that Benicàssim will still go ahead
despite being in financial difficulty.
In 2005 Power sold his first festival company Mean
Fiddler for £38 million. Mean Fiddler was the name behind Reading and Leeds
festivals.
So how has this festival become to be in this
situation whilst pulling in big named bands such as the Killers, Queens of the
Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys and Primal scream?
Rising ticket prices have put off festival-goers off,
leaving many festivals with tickets remaining when the event is actually
happening. Festival organisers
have tried to accommodate for this and implemented deposit schemes. This allows
the buyer to place a deposit when the ticket goes on sale, then breaks down the
rest of the ticket price to be paid in easy manageable installments.
Sometimes this is still not enough to sell a festival
out. Reading and Leeds festivals tend not to sell out until at least two weeks
before the festival starts.
Many people think that the amount we are expected to
pay for festivals is too much for what we are getting. But when you look at the
headliners of the festivals you pay around £70 to see each of them, and then a
maximum of £30 for some of the other artists. So when you look at it like that
and breakdown the bands you are going to see and how much you would pay for it
does not seem that bad.
So when you are looking at paying for a festival look
at who you are going to see and where you are going to get value for your money
at. Or even if you just enjoy going to them for a social feeling and seeing new
bands do that. But do not let some of the great festivals die out.
So here is to many more years of festivals, and hoping
that Benicàssim will be going for many more years to come.
