Why don't we show all the artists and songs at a festival?
When the BBC decides to cover a music festival, it needs to work within a tight budget to provide the best value for money for Licence Fee payers. This means we cannot afford to record all performances from every stage.
At Reading Festival we are recording the Main Stage, Radio 1 stage (both from 3pm) and BBC Introducing stage. These stages offer the main headline acts from the festival and interesting newer artists.
On occasion an act may not wish to be filmed. Artists may also agree to be filmed but only allow a limited number of songs to be aired. This could be for a number of reasons for instance: the quality of some parts of the performance, because they do not wish to broadcast new or unreleased material, or they do not want to broadcast their entire live set.
The material an artist plays may not agree with the BBC Taste & Decency guidelines , such as containing excessive swearing. In these instances there is no way for the BBC to air that material.
There may also be limitations on the amount of material we can film and from where determined by the festival organisers. Organisers care how their festivals are reflected in broadcast and may want to keep some moments or stages exclusive for festival goers.
The BBC meanwhile is committed to making sure the sound and visual quality of a performance is high. In live open air arenas, the quality of recordings and performances can vary greatly due to environmental and technical factors. The BBC may decide that the recording of particular songs are not of a high enough quality to air, although we endeavour to provide at least a sample of a band's show if we feel they are central to the festival.
Another reason why certain songs are not available is due to there being a limited number of broadcast slots to air material. Typically, 40 hours of performances are recorded at a three day festival, but TV and Radio slots will amount to much less. This means TV and Radio producers select the performances that reflect the festival best and appeal to the different audiences for networks and channels . Much more material is featured on Red Button and online, but even then the practical limitations of editing such a large amount of material quickly can prevent material being available.
Producers at the BBC make a number of editorial decisions as to which performances work best to tell the story of a festival. If you have any suggestions about how we could better reflect festivals please comment below:
© MMIX
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I was watching the Kings of Leon set on BBC three when it cut off. Why?! I thought it was a great set!!! And was thoroughly enjoying it!! Some of their best songs hadn't even been shown!!!
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The footage from Reading festival was done really well, but it is a huge dissapointment not having any footage, by the looks of it, from Leeds festival. One way you could improve is to show an equal amount of footage from both festivals or to atleast upload some Leeds footage (maybe the two top billing from each day) onto the internet for people to watch.
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I totally agree about Kings Of Leon but I think Edith said something about the band not being happy with their performance even though they were incredible!! I think Caleb may have been getting a bit annoyed with the audience not particpating enough.
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I understand they cant show all the bands but Rise Against were headlining on the lock up stage after billy talent, and the bbc havn't mentioned them once. What gives? Is it because they have a political message? Dissapointed.
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Really really disappointed there is no coverage from Leeds. Can't see why there can't be an even split between the two sites. The coverage should just be billed as Reading if that is the only site being broadcast! I understand the same bands are on at both venues so I can see the bands I want to see but my daughter has only gone to Leeds and I was looking forward to seeing her on TV, or at least looking out for her.
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I think it's perfectly fine that they don't have Leeds coverage, and I don't get why people complain so much. The line ups are the same, it doesn't make sense for the BBC to pay for an entire second camera crew just to cover the exact same bands in front of different crowds. Sometimes the set lists differ between festivals (I know Rage Against The Machine played different sets last year) but it's not usually by much if at all.
They're showing the bands, not the people who are watching the bands. Siansysian, you're not likely to see your daughter anyway given the 75,000 or so people there. You'd have more luck trying to pick out faces in the crowd at a football game - at least then you can find out roughly where they're sat.
I'd rather they put the effort into covering bands that currently aren't getting any airtime whatsoever (I've seen practically nothing from the Lock-Up stage) than into having two separate but very similar sets of coverage for the main stage headliners.
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For the Kings of Leon, they said that we were an aweful crowd and then they threw there guitars at us. I was dissapointed with them. But the Kaiser Chiefs were amazing!!!
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i love prodigy
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Why should they cover Leeds? Its nowhere near London and therefore not important. Very sneaky by the bbc to advertise as 2 festivals, when only one is being covered. And PLEASE GOD get rid of the useless radio 1 presenters. Enjoyed the music though, honestly!
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Why does the BBC have to do Features of backstage stuff? All we see is ramps going to stages and toilets. It's not interesting at all. The length of all the features put together could surely add up to a few songs worth we could be watching instead.
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