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Bestival going into administration?

rseamer

By rseamer,
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Supernintendo Chalmers Grand Master

Supernintendo Chalmers

Posted
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1 minute ago, Paul ™ said:

Wickerman, Hop Farm, Big Chill, Secret Garden Party etc etc

Bubble burst? Smaller ones come and go.. still lots of independent ones around who can survive

 

Not sure if the bubble's burst but I do think it's peaked. The demise of the larger organisations has led to the rise of much smaller, regional festivals. All a lot of people want to do these days is gather in a field with their friends for a long weekend. As long as the booze is flowing and the atmosphere is good, the actual music seems not as important at some events. I mean, I recently went to a tiny festival in Cornwall where The Fratellis headlined! Don't worry, I chose the silent disco instead. But tbf, silence is better than The Fratellis. Had a great time.

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Paul ™
Paul ™

Bestival went downhill a good few years ago, time to call it a day I'd say..

Matt42
Matt42

I blame Rob. He seems to have really struggled to market bestival in the past few years, also I think he’s grown a bit out of touch with the current music scene and thrown together lineups that are ve

rseamer
rseamer

I guess Bestival haven't made a statement because they haven't put tickets on sale, whereas Camp Bestival have and have payment plans running. 

incident Grand Master

incident

Posted
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35 minutes ago, Supernintendo Chalmers said:

I wonder which large festival is next? Isle of Wight? Latitude? Kendal Calling? Do these have something different about them to keep the punters rolling in? Reading and Leeds seem to have steered themselves out of a bit of a rocky patch in recent years.

As far as I can tell the only one that's conspicuously yet to announce any details for 2019 (aside from Bestival of course) is Boardmasters, and that's one of the few with a very unique hook.

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Supernintendo Chalmers Grand Master

Supernintendo Chalmers

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2 minutes ago, incident said:

As far as I can tell the only one that's conspicuously yet to announce any details for 2019 (aside from Bestival of course) is Boardmasters, and that's one of the few with a very unique hook.

Yeah, Boardmasters does have a couple USPs. The location is one and the catchment area is another. Glastonbury aside it must be the biggest festival in the south west? Very popular with the youngsters for sure

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incident Grand Master

incident

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Posted (edited)

To be fair, when I was thinking about what makes Boardmasters unique I was thinking about the surfing competitions/demonstrations etc.

Yeah, it's surprisingly (to me anyway) huge. But I do find it interesting that they're basically silent regarding any specifics of next year, when all of the other Global / Broadwick festivals have rushed to announce their 2019 dates and put "early bird" tickets on sale. But then I could be easily reading something into nothing.

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bexj Rising Star

bexj

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Its a shame, and i totally loved my sole Bestival experience in 2012, but i also think they lost their way in the face of stiff competition. Hope CB continues as that most definitely earns its good reputation 

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tillyandthewall Newbie

tillyandthewall

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Sad news if true.  It hit my sweet spot of having a good mix of all genres without being focused on one, and not too full-on and not too relaxed.  I've been to both the IOW and Lulworth, and I agreed with their statement that it was getting back to boutique roots.  Not sure what could replace it for me, Latitude maybe but the hip-hop is non-existent there.

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Frankly Mr Shankly Collaborator

Frankly Mr Shankly

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It's such a shame if it happens but I can't say I am shocked by the news.

I always got a sense of RDB being a good creative mind but perhaps not the best when it comes to business... The concept seemed far spread in recent years with international versions of Bestival & Common People being introduced. Sometimes it felt like that was being done at the expense of the quality of the core product. 

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jackarmy Explorer

jackarmy

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13 hours ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

It's such a shame if it happens but I can't say I am shocked by the news.

I always got a sense of RDB being a good creative mind but perhaps not the best when it comes to business... The concept seemed far spread in recent years with international versions of Bestival & Common People being introduced. Sometimes it felt like that was being done at the expense of the quality of the core product. 

Yeah. this has always been my thought as well. If you look at the strength in depth of Bestival lineups around 2010 - 2015, compared to when they started to launch Toronto/Bali/Common People Oxford & Southampton it seems quite fair...

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stuie Grand Master

stuie

Posted
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1 hour ago, tjamest said:

www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/16904144.camp-bestival-could-be-saved-after-james-benamor-makes-11m-offer-to-buy-events/  

Well... isn't that a surprise!

Bestival took out a giant Amigo loan and now they are taking everything they've got.

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eFestivals Mentor

eFestivals

Posted
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5 hours ago, OG said:

@eFestivals If say festival republic would of tried to buy the camp bestival brand in its heyday how much would they of expected to pay?

Is 1.1 million for camp bestival (assuming its only camp bestival) a bargain? or is he buying the bestival brand? which if he is I would assume is a bargain

 

I've no idea.

The buying price for a business is normally somewhere around 10 times the yearly profit.

I've no idea what profit (or loss) festivals are making - and if you try to look it up, there's often been some deviousness in how it's accounted to try and hide some of it (from the public, not necessarily the taxman).

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Deaf Nobby Burton Experienced

Deaf Nobby Burton

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Posted (edited)

I went to Bestival in 2012 and 2014, I loved it both times but then never felt compelled to go back after that. It was ahead of its time when it first came about but then didn’t really change much after that. 

I think a lot of these festivals are now struggling because there are so many festivals that you can now buy day tickets to. Bestival always had a great dance music line up but if you live in and around the London area (as an example) there are literally hundreds of dance festivals that you just turn up at for a day. I’m not saying people don’t want to camp for a few days at a festival now, far from it I still do, but people can go to more of them for less time money and less hassle and get more or less what they would get from Bestival.

There is now so much choice people might go to one or two camping festivals in a year and maybe 5-6 just for a day. There are so many different festivals (or there were) that nobody is going to necessarily stay loyal to one particular festival and go there every year anymore, with the exception of Glastonbury. Unless you have a loyal fan base which Bestival now doesn’t, you’re competing for mainly young people with an infinite amount of choice. 

 

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tjamest Apprentice

tjamest

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29 minutes ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

It was ahead of its time when it first came about but then didn’t really change much after that. 

It was a revelation to me when i first went in 2009 as all i really had to compare it to was 10 years of Reading and Leeds - The flags, the tulip lights, the dressed stages, the local traders, the woods to explore, the micro venues, the musical variations, were all things i'd not seen before at a festival.

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jonnytee1 Collaborator

jonnytee1

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Sorry for the long post and Not the full line up but  - this was the first year I went!

 

What a line up it was! I went another three times and enjoyed it every time. It is a shame as i was going to take my 15 year old next year for his first festival - think i will have to do Boomtown instead. 

Friday

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stuie Grand Master

stuie

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The Guardian are reporting that the deal has been done - Bestival has been purchased by Richmond Group.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/sep/26/bestival-music-festivals-business-bought-for-11m

What this means for the festivals, I guess we'll have to just wait and see.

I wonder if Rob and Josie will still be involved.

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Hugh Jass Grand Master

Hugh Jass

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Just now, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

Based on the comments in the article it seems like something driven by vanity/nostalgia.

the name its self is no longer a big brand in the festival world, it’s hard to imagine there are many if any assets and it’s equally hard to imagine them reinventing it and making it a success/profitable.

My bet would be they put both Bestival and CB on next year as a vanity project, realise how much they lose then wind them up.

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eFestivals Mentor

eFestivals

Posted
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Just now, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

the name its self is no longer a big brand in the festival world

actually, i'd say that Bestival is one of the stronger brands* in the festival world, where few are known much beyond their niche..

(*I can't believe I just said 'brands'. Uggh!)

The problem as I see it is that it's strongly associated with Rob as an individual, and if he's no longer involved I suspect there might be some sort of credibility issue both within the industry and with punters.

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