There is a lot that goes on all year round to make a weekend festival go ahead without too much issue. In the run up to the return of Breaking Bands Festival, we will be giving an insight as to some of the behind the scenes running of the event.
The price of the ticket is one of the hardest but most important decisions made each year. The ticket can determine whether a family of four can afford to come to the festival. The price of the ticket determines the budget for the festival too so getting this set is something that is worked on well in advance.
We’d like to break it down in a bit of detail to give you a better understanding. The graph here illustrates the portions of a weekend ticket.
Bands – 19%
Quite simply, the fees for the bands and riders too. Water has to be purchased, food and drinks, even towels have to be put into this cost. We’d love to spend more on bands and they deserve it for what they do but obviously the ticket price determines the budget which determines how much we have in the pot for bands. Then its down to negotiating with them and their agents/managers to come to an agreement.
Sound, Stage & Lighting – 36%
This covers a huge range of items and is obviously the biggest chunk of the ticket fee due to the infrastructure and equipment. Stage equipment costs tens of thousands of pounds so companies have to charge a fee that covers them for this. Lights and light engineers, sound manager, all those wires you see on the stages, the barriers to keep people safe, the marquees and so much more.
Security – 10%
We have been very lucky with our security teams over the years. The festival attendees have enjoyed the fact we have SIA badged security but that they are seen but not heard so to speak. Our security teams are well trained and there for the safety of everyone on site. They are not just there to grab people over the barrier!
Janitorial – 10%
Another portion of the ticket goes on toilets and servicing them. Not a cheap hire fee at all but extremely important to get right so a lot of effort is made to get the right company in and a good relationship too. Skips, bin bags, litter pickers etc are also in this cost.
Marketing – 5%
We try to spend as little as possible on marketing and rely heavily on repeat customers and word of mouth to make the festival happen but some things still need to be paid for. Wristbands, lanyards etc fall into this category along with the website hosting, domain and artwork.
Business Services – 18%
This seems like a big piece of the pie but does include insurance which is extremely important (public & employer liability, theft, damage etc), the hire of the venue and licences, the accountancy fees and other costs that we have to pay to make sure the festival can legally go ahead.
Personnel – 2%
And finally, we try to keep a few pennies back for the staff. Not so much in payment but cost to feed and water the crew members, the behind the scene team that work 14 hours a day for a week to make sure everyone has a fantastic time.
The 4 Directors of the festival take absolutely £0 from the turnover. We never have because we want to invest and build the festival. We cannot do that and take a payday and we would never want to. Breaking Bands Festival is and will always be about the community and we are very proud of what we have achieved since the first one in 2015.
The cost of the festival back in 2015 compared to now has shown us how far we have come. The cost now is 400% more than it was back in 2015 but we are still working hard to keep the ticket prices down. This is largely due to fantastic sponsors, great support from ticket sales, the traders and the merch sales. Also helps that our suppliers have been extremely helpful over the years giving us better than regular prices to help support the festival community.
We hope this helps give you a small insight into the festival. We’ll be back with another insight very soon.
*please note, the breakdown costs are based on Breaking Bands Festival and not any other festival. All festivals are run differently and therefore costs elsewhere may not be reflected in this blog post.