Between increased costs and lower subsidies, small festivals are experiencing a complicated situation this year.
“Significant increase in expenses, increase in revenue which is less, and the more modest the festival, the greater the gap”: Jean-Philippe Thiellay, president of the National Music Center (CNM), draws the bell from alarm.
The CNM, which oversees the music industry, took advantage of the Printemps de Bourges, which launches the season, to unveil its “study on the economic data of current music festivals in France in 2022”.
These data compared between 2019 and 2022 – i.e. before the health crisis and in post-crisis recovery – are based on a panel of 68 festivals of different sizes, from blockbusters to small events.
Cost inflation
Over this period, expenses increased by 19%, when, for example, own revenue only increased by 14%.
“What makes the cost of a festival are the artistic fees, which increase, just like the technical equipment. With a generation in the image, a show must be ‘instagrammable’, with lights and effects specials, hence a whole machinery”, described for AFP Boris Vedel, director of Printemps de Bourges.
From a global point of view, “the situation is complicated” for current music festivals, underlines Jean-Philippe Thiellay. The president of the CNM notes “a significant increase in expenses, an increase in revenue which is less so, and the more modest the festival, the greater the gap”.
An observation that echoes the panorama of independent festivals drawn up, still at the Printemps de Bourges, by the Union of Contemporary Music (SMA), which brings together 170 member festivals that can be classified in the small and medium category.
The SMA notes a “cost inflation”, with in particular an “artistic budget” – the fees of the artists, to summarize – “almost doubled between 2015 and 2022”. And “private security costs” which have increased by “26%”.
“Artists’ fees increase”
At the same time, the Union reports a 29% drop in public funding for cities compared to 2015, and a 28% drop for the departments.
“Artists’ fees have been increasing for 20 years and, at the same time, subsidies are, in the best of cases, sprinkled”, comments Odile de Plas, head of the Télérama music department, speaker at the SMA presentation.
“Could artists consider lowering their fees to help festivals? No, but that’s normal, they are in a difficult environment, thinking about advancing in their careers”, deciphers Lisa Bélangeon, general coordinator of the Au festival. Foin De La Rue, in Mayenne, and head of the festival sector at the SMA.
Raising ticket prices, or passing inflation on to drinks and meals on offer, is risky for smaller events. “We have 15% of our audience who only attend one festival in the year, ours. What do we do if they no longer come if it’s too expensive?”, worries Pierre Hivert , director of Décibulles, in the Alsatian countryside, present at the round table of the Union of contemporary music.
“We cannot use the same levers as multinational festivals. We cannot impose a + golden pit + (expensive ultra VIP square in the public, editor’s note)”, describes Lisa Bélangeon.
Viability
Blockbuster festivals, which fill up without problems, mask a reality that needs to be nuanced. “It is easier to fill with international artists but it was already the case before. For the artist of your life, you make efforts: the most expensive places (to see the megastars) go the fastest”, advances first with AFP Malika Seguineau, of Prodiss, an organization representative of major events.
“But we are hit like all sectors by inflation, this year will be tense”, she perceives.
“Professionals are wondering about the evolution and viability of certain economic models”, adds the head of Prodiss. “After the health crisis, we did not imagine living in an economic crisis. The future is difficult to write, we hope that there will not be too many breakages, that the boxes will hold”, concludes Malika Seguineau.
