Why DOES Glastonbury announce so late?

[poison69]

Mardy's got it right. Because Glasto gets bands for a fraction of their normal fee the deal is often that they won't announce the bands early on so as not to impact on the band's own tours.

Usually the ones that come out early are because a band self-confirms, usually because they either have no tour or because that tour has already sold well.

I guess I'm naive to think that bands would give their right arm to play Glastonbury despite the drop in fee?

[ghostdancer1]

because they can as it has sold out, and it's more of an "event" to put up a huge amount of the lineup in one go.

if it sold tickets the way other festivals do, i'm sure we'd have had a few lineup announcements by now, given the amount of festival competing for punters in this day and age...

[stuartbert two hats]

I guess I'm naive to think that bands would give their right arm to play Glastonbury despite the drop in fee?

Yes and no. For a lot of younger bands, particularly those who have never played, it's a real honour to play. But when you hear that James or The Pogues aren't keen on playing because the Eavii aren't keen on paying, I can sympathise. Gigs can be wonderful transcendental experiences, but at the end of the day, it's *work* and they want to get their normal fee.

[surreysupermum]

i personally wouldn't change it.

It's something which makes it so unique for me, and well, it's exactly that.

I'm no expert and don't know the out's and in's, but i imagine with there being 100s of stages to finalise, that they still have to sort them all out, which obviously is a lot harder than 3-4 stages at V/R+L/T etc... It adds to the suspense, which i think is good, and the guessing, especially on here brings a rather good unity, which in my ipinion gives people to talk about, at least that's the case for me.

No better surprise, than comign home from work to the message on efests of 'It's coming'! All that Radio One, Vlogg crap, can stay with the others. It's boss, I wouldn't change it for anything.

[grumpyhack]

I guess I'm naive to think that bands would give their right arm to play Glastonbury despite the drop in fee?

The TV exposure that bands get is key. The chance for your performance to be seen around the world can make or break new bands, introduce bands to people who may not have considered them before or revive flagging careers,

I remember when being part of the organisation of the Tsunami Relief Concert at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in 2005 that it was a stand off between the BBC and the bands, who were all being asked to play for free.

The big names said: "We'll only do it if we get guaranteed TV coverage." The BBC said: "We'll only cover it if we have guaranteed big names."

It came down to within half an hour, literally, of the deadline for the concert to be a goer or not and Eric Clapton's people came through with a "Yes."

That was a good enough big name to go with those lesser names who'd already committed so the BEEB said yes and the concert was on and raised over a million pounds.

The whole thing was organised from first thoughts to the event happening in just three weeks. Absolutely knackering.

[surreysupermum]

Oops somehow quoted this by accident cant undo it . mobile phone butter fingers and tired eyed but agree totally

[DeanoL]

That explains 'how', Woffy - no 'need' to announce to create ticket sales. but not why?

They know now that tickets will be gone in a flash. With the improvement in servers, one imagines it won't last 30 minutes again.

So, why then wait until six months later?

I can understand waiting until the new year, maybe spring approaching and everyone getting excited, but why so late?

Ben

Because it's not booked yet.

The headliners are, probably. But there are 100+ smaller stages, all booked by different promoters. And at least for the past few years, when Glastonbury announces, they announce everything. Waiting until later also gives them some flexibility to move things around if things don't work out, or to balance things up, etc. Programming Glastonbury is a much, much bigger job that programming Reading/Leeds.

[glasto-worker]

I am not even sure when they switched as all the tickets I bought { 79,81,82,83,84,85,86,87 } were on sale after the full line up poster was available - from 1989 I have always been a volunteer so had only a rough clue when the tickets went on sale.

can anyone recall the first year when tickets were on sale before the lineup was announced ?

[UEF]

Why not? If you go to Glastonbury because of the headliners you really shouldn't be there.

If you want to dictate why people should or shouldn't go to Glasto then you shouldn't be there!.... oops

[willutalk]

Hasn't Michael Eavis said before that he likes the idea of it selling out without having to announce who's playing?

Wouldn't any band Booker love being in that scenario though?

[JBarbour]

I am not even sure when they switched as all the tickets I bought { 79,81,82,83,84,85,86,87 } were on sale after the full line up poster was available - from 1989 I have always been a volunteer so had only a rough clue when the tickets went on sale.

can anyone recall the first year when tickets were on sale before the lineup was announced ?

Not entirely sure on that but... 2003 was the first year that tickets sold out before the line-up was announced Edited February 25, 2015 by craigb

[michael eavis' beard]

Wouldn't any band Booker love being in that scenario though?

Obviously but I think it was more about the fact that people want to buy tickets to attend the festival despite the lineup. I think it was part of a bigger quote about people trusting the festival to book decent acts and that he'd like to have people turn up without knowing who was playing. I'd love it if they could manage that one year but in this day and age I don't think that's possible.

[Spindles]

ME was talking about not announcing the lineup until you were through the gates in the late 90s, it's certainly something that they've wanted for a while. I get the feeling that it's just sort of an idea that organically grew out of the people who were running the show's attitudes into what it is now. It's clear that if they could they wouldn't tell us til we had a programme in our hands, not out of anything more than wanting to see people's genuine surprise and delight.

[kalifire]

Because of the amount of time it takes to organise, but also the fact that the 'bargaining' required with the big acts is very last minute in a lot of cases.

Glasto pays less than other top festivals, so the festival and the bands have to wait until much closer to the festival, then it's a case of who will do it for what Glasto offers (and if they haven't had a better offer)

This is why when people are asking at the end of the year who's playing next year, it's a stupid question as often there's nothing to know.

I agree with this. I think there may well be some verbal agreements by the end of the year before, but I don't think anyone's formally confirmed until well into the new year. I was surprised to find some here thinking everything is signed and sealed before Christmas.

I also think the sheer scale of the thing warrants extra time being taken. I wouldn't know where to begin logistically with a festival of this size - I know each area has its own management, but this must be orchestrated as a whole as well. The organisation behind something like this must be truly epic in size, and I would think there's an element in which they announce later because that's how long it takes to work everything out.

[Padgey]

The longer they hold off any line up announcement or drip feed the bigger acts/headliners to be playing the more the press speculate and therefore gives Glastonbury continuous publicity right up to the festival. The way they go about things, ticket sales, headliner speculations, headliner announcement, ticket re-sales, line up announcement, the festival, the aftermath, means GF get publicity nearly all year round, maybe a bit of a lull in November and December. GF just seems to do nearly everything right.

[jdizzle]

It dose announce 5 times more acts than outer festival! takes longer to book .... ?

I love the hype from it! If your going to Download, T, Leeds etc you don't have much to look forward to apart from the festival! we have it all

[ghandi]

The Brit award tonight, possibly we'll get some drip feed from that? Though IMO a lot of it will be dross anyway

[fatyeti24]

help me out here, people..

that Glastonbury pays acts less is now an accepted truth, and i understand the reasons big artists would do so - tv coverage, mainly. but is this true accross the board? do the street performers in Bella's Field get less than elsewhere? what about some band on early in the day in the JP without even a chance at some red-button coverage? is three songs hidden away on iplayer worth a knockdown fee?

obviously we on here would do it for nowt, i'm sure, but that cannot be the case for people who do this for an actual living?

[eFestivals]

help me out here, people..

that Glastonbury pays acts less is now an accepted truth, and i understand the reasons big artists would do so - tv coverage, mainly. but is this true accross the board? do the street performers in Bella's Field get less than elsewhere? what about some band on early in the day in the JP without even a chance at some red-button coverage? is three songs hidden away on iplayer worth a knockdown fee?

obviously we on here would do it for nowt, i'm sure, but that cannot be the case for people who do this for an actual living?

I know that the first band on the JP stage about ten years ago was paid £500 - which was more than such a band was likely to get at a gig of their own, so they told me.

I know that, about 15 to 20 years ago, plenty of the smaller circus/theatre walkabout performers only got their ticket (and just their own) and no payment.

[Bradders]

I was going to post about this too. The headliners aren't going to get the million or so IOW etc may offer, but I bet once you're outside the top 2 or 3 on the main couple of stages, the fees are more or less what you'd get at any other festival.

[Mardy]

I know that, about 15 to 20 years ago, plenty of the smaller circus/theatre walkabout performers only got their ticket (and just their own) and no payment.

That's still the case though, isn't it?

[eFestivals]

That's still the case though, isn't it?

probably, but I told what I know rather than give something presumptious.

[SLEEPYMOPS]

Alot of the smaller dj's play for free and just get there tickets

[Matt - Ed Banger Records]

Mate of mine played 3 times in 2013 (2 DJ sets, 1 set as a drummer in a band) and I all he got was a ticket and I think some food vouchers to use after his live set.

[Bradders]

This is down the very low end of the lineup though. Bands on the main 10ish stages i'm sure will get standard fees.