Why DOES Glastonbury announce so late?

[stuartbert two hats]

Hang on, we're talking as if a ticket isn't expensive. If you think that £500 for a five piece band would be only £100, each plus £129 (2005 ticket price) then even for a band on JP, the free ticket is already slightly over half of the payment. If that is above market rates, then it seems to me that a free ticket for appearing on a much smaller stage is a pretty good deal.

I'm sure things have changed a bit inflation wise since then - I don't know whether the payments have risen at a different rate to the ticket price, but still - a ticket isn't an insignificant payment when we're at that order of magnitude.

Of course, if you didn't actually want to go, then no-one would blame you for saying bollocks to it!

[ghostdancer1]

my friend's band played early on the Acoustic Stage and they got paid pretty much what they'd expect for a similar slot at other mid/large festivals.

my impression was that most of the lineup would get paid the same, it's only the top 3/4 on the biggest stages that might get a bit lower than usual, and obviously they can't pay 3m for Daft Punk or Fleetwood Mac, but 500k for someone like The Killers (which was their fee for Electric Picnic in 2009), would certainly be manageable.

[CaledonianGonzo]

A friend of mine's band have turned it down the last couple of years due to the low money - including, I think I'm right in saying, a slot this year on Arcadia.

[st dan]

Do all acts (regardless of size) get the option to stay for the full festival if they wish?

[tommyds]

I'd love it if one year they decided to not announce until you got through the gates, but not tell anyone that was the plan

Everyone would go mental

[The Placid Casual]

Do all acts (regardless of size) get the option to stay for the full festival if they wish?

Yep, they get a performer's pass

[incident]

Do all acts (regardless of size) get the option to stay for the full festival if they wish?

Everyone gets a wristband and can stay on site as long as they wish, there's no time restrictions on that.

However a lot of the related stuff will be time limited - access to certain facilities and areas, some of the parking is strictly controlled especially within the fence.

[A Guy Called Matt]

I'd love it if one year they decided to not announce until you got through the gates, but not tell anyone that was the plan

Everyone would go mental

Sadly with the BBC being abig part of it all this will never happen.

The beeb want their listing out for the viewer to decide what to watch 2 weeks before at least.

[not worthy]

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

this made me chuckle.....you did slant it in such a way intentionally ?

[eFestivals]

this made me chuckle.....you did slant it in such a way intentionally ?

it was a statement of fact, nowt more. I'd have been presuming if I said it still worked now as I know it it did in the past.

[eFestivals]

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.

they do, but I think it's more luck* than judgement.

(* the luck of how it's come to be that way. I'm sure they work it a little now it is that way).

[DeanoL]

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?

Caberet tent fees for comics are similar to what they'd normally get. Though across the board in comedy festival gigs don't tend to pay as well as club nights.

Do all acts (regardless of size) get the option to stay for the full festival if they wish?

Yeah but not all acts even get tickets. I remember Beans on Toast saying his "Can't Get a Gig At Glastonbury" song wasn't entirely true, because he had a bunch of gigs sorted for that year already. Just none of them came with festival tickets.

[guypjfreak]

i like the late line ups i just wish it would keep people away lololol

any way we all moan about it when it comes out anyway lol

[robu]

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

I know someone (a big name in a relatively small pond, albeit part of an act that sells out the Royal Albert Hall nearly every year) who appears every year at Croissant Neuf in return for a ticket for himself and his wife and a pitch for his caravan in one of the performers' areas.

I also know several people who regularly appear in the Circus tent, in the Cabaret tent or in Bella's Field. All of them appear for free in return for tickets, better camping facilities (showers etc) and, in some cases, free food from backstage catering.

Essentially it's no different for them than for anyone else working the festival for Oxfam, Shelter or whoever.