Home
sign up| features / music feature |
 content by: editor |
 festivals: bands vs brands
Has corporate sponsorship killed the music fest? Pop the question, “Music festivals and corporate sponsorship, discuss?”, to anyone with an interest in, erm, music, and festivals, and you open the floodgates to plenty of impassioned pro and con opinion. See, what was once just a series of ne’er-do-wells shambling onstage (poorly built, badly organized, bad PA: great) in the 60s and 70s, hammering out a few rock songs to a ramshackle gathering of scrumpy-pissed punters who'd paid a quid (ie, the first Glastonbury), is now a big, nay massive, business; a chance for all the hugest brands to blast their logos and products at a captive audience of, in the corporations’ eyes, “impressionable youth”.The resolutely unsponsored Tapestry Goes West Festival, held in a Wild West Theme Park in Cornwall on the last weekend of July, is organized by London-based plasterer cum music freak Barry Stillwell. “I’ve been approached by sponsors, but don't fancy it much,” says Barry, flatly. “I'd rather get a loan and keep autonomy. They would f**k up the look of the place. People go away to the countryside to get away from that sort of thing.” Similarly, Danny (& Jo) from The Green Man Festival, who says: “We don't accept any corporate sponsorship. We have total freedom in every aspect of the festival.” Many people, however, see sponsorship as a necessary evil: a cash cow that allows festival-goers to see more bands; mosh in a safer environment replete with “pleasant and understanding” security guards; have ambulance staff and CCTV galore; get better toilets; and receive fabulous mobile phone reception/charging. But hey, haven't the vast plethora of festivals become one big, utterly homogenized, brand-led bore - a shopping mall of malodorous intent, in free branded tents? You all know who the big guns are: your Carlings, O²s (heh, remember The Ordinary Boys announcing onstage, “Hands up if you hate O²!” and then, allegedly, being threatened with being thrown off an O²-sponsored tour?), Nokias, Vodaphones, Oranges, Virgins, Tenants, Bacardis and Glasto's fave, Budweiser... And they even take over the name of the festival. Like, whatever happened to the metal frenzy that was The Reading Rock Festival, re-named The Reading Festival… and now known as the, ahem, Carling Festival? A place where you drink nothing but Carling and watch the same bands that are playing at the V, T In The Park and… well, you get the picture. Then there's telly. At Glastonbury 1995, the running order was (allegedly, but was) shifted to accommodate Channel 4's broadcasts. Festival organisers make more money from advertising and/or sponsorship than ticket sales. Virgin supposedly has a major say in the acts booked at V, with the previous six-month's soundscan numbers logged and the resulting top three acts booked to appear. But it's not all bleak, brand-heavy, marketing opportunities and profit-led, soulless saturation of the original festival spirit. Hurrah, then, for the aforementioned Tapestry fest, also The Green Man, Truck, Dedbeat, Big Chill, Bestival, Secret Garden and All Tomorrow's Parties - fests featuring great bands you won't find at the rest, and fabulously free of the big brands’ bloody annoying “street teams” with clipboards, who hassle you for info in return for crappy freebies as soon as you've got through the site gates. Nice. But are corporate festivals really that bad? What do you think, and which festivals will you be shelling out your quids for this summer?
Stuart Turnbull
 conversations
Read members' comments.
|
 |
related info
 useful linksgreen man site readingfestival.com www.leedsfestival.com www.wirelessfestival.co.uk/05 www.isleofwightfestival.org/05 www.vfestival.com www.dedbeat.net secretgarden site www.bestival.net www.truckfestival.org
note: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
see also
 it's jo and dannyalbum review  big chill 04feature  the big chill 04festival preview  the big chill 03feature
related member reviews
by bedlam
also on bbc.co.uk
on bbc.co.uk/radio1 on bbc.co.uk/music on bbc.co.uk/6music on bbc.co.uk/somerset music  music archive Watch music sessions and interviews from 2002 to 2008. books  books and comics archive Author interviews and reviews from 2002 to 2008. |
send to a friend
access 1000s of articles