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BEHIND THE SCENES OF BREAKING BANDS FESTIVAL: PROPER PLANNING PREVENTS PISS POOR PERFORMANCE

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.

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BEHIND THE SCENES OF BREAKING BANDS FESTIVAL: PAPERWORK PAPERWORK PAPERWORK

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.

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BEHIND THE SCENES OF BREAKING BANDS FESTIVAL: REDUCING OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT

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.

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BEHIND THE SCENES OF BREAKING BANDS FESTIVAL: HOW WE CHOOSE THE BANDS

Welcome to episode 3 of our Behind The Scenes series.

In this week’s blog, we look at how we choose the bands. Every festival will have its own system and that can change year on year just like it has done for us at Breaking Bands Festival but we thought it could be a useful read.

There are many aspects when it comes to our band selections for the festival. Majority of those will be through the application form. Not all the bands but around 95% will be chosen from those who want to play the event.

The final few bands will be one’s ear marked by the Directors such as a headliner and always the special guest band of the weekend.

We do not always choose the headliners ourselves but sometimes there are bands that have really shone over the last year and we feel an approach to them, their manager or their agent could be required.

But as for the application process, this is generally how it would work:

Firstly, we would set up the form and launch that online via the website and across our social media platforms. We would also email the form to many agents, managers and bands for their attention to apply. We would also then ask music fans to tag their favourite bands so that they see there is an application form live as every year hundreds of bands tell us they never saw the application.

The application form will be live for around 2-3 months from about 3 weeks before the current festival year to give as many bands the opportunity to apply.

Once the applications are closed the big task begins, choosing the bands!

There are 4 Directors of the festival and between us, we have a wide taste in the music. We all take a copy of the band lists and we all listen to each bands’ music and watch their videos. This is where many bands first fall down. If they have not filled the form in correctly, not included their videos and music links, they are crossed off our list. Of course, not all bands will have Youtube videos and Spotify accounts or even any tracks released but that will unfortunately mean they can not get booked. We book the bands on their music and styles so it’s extremely important to have some good quality videos and music online for us to listen and watch.

Each of the Directors will score the bands out of 5 in their own lists based on music quality, whether it’s appropriate to the festival (i.e. not covers bands,hip hop or rap as we are a rock, punk and metal festival), their performance ability (owning the stages and crowd interaction). After each of the 4 Directors have done their own scoring (this can take a number of weeks due to the number of bands that apply) the scores are then compared. The combined scores are then looked into and see how many score 20 out of 20. Obviously the top scoring -bands are approached first. On average, this would usually be around 60-70% of the bands. We would put them into the schedule where we feel they would work best (ie not putting all the metal bands back to back) and then ask the bands if they want to play based on their application.

After the top scoring bands we then look at the 15-19 point scores. We discuss each of these bands and decide which of these to approach. Again, we add them into the schedule to make sure there is a good balance of music.

It would be rare to get any lower scores coming in than that so we would then inform the rest of the bands that they were unfortunately not successful in their application.

We do get bands/manager/agents emailing us all year round asking for any slots. Unfortunately we do not take applications this way. We also do not put bands on the line-up because they are friends or because they are cheap or would play for free. Our number one factor is that the music is good and the band has applied.

We do look for bands that happen to be touring and nudge them towards the application form and as mentioned earlier, we do sometimes approach bands and offer a slot but this is never more than 3-4 bands.

Throughout the year, all the team have a wishlist of bands that we hope will apply. Also, all the music fans will suggest bands (and again, we ask them to tell the bands to apply).

Our headline bands are also still not major bands as we feel that the name of the festival speaks for itself, it’s about Breaking Bands. Saying that, we do like to get a couple of bands that are breaking through and moving on up to the next level. We have seen the likes of Massive Wagons headline the festival and now they are playing major festivals so this is something we do consider.

So bands, the things to remember is this… watch out for the application form, make sure you have some videos (pro and live), get some music on Spotify or other music sites and make sure when you do apply, that you read everything and answer everything correctly as there’s no second chance.

Applications for 2023 will be opening around the 2nd week of May 2022 so keep an eye out.
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BEHIND THE SCENES OF BREAKING BANDS FESTIVAL: WHAT THE TEAM DOES

Welcome to Behind The Scenes Of Breaking Bands Festival, part 2.

This week’s blog takes a deep dive into what the team does. For a weekend festival to go ahead, there is a lot of planning. Some may think a few months, others may realise it’s an all year round affair. So today we will introduce many of the team members, some of whom go under the radar with what they do.

We operate in as many ways as possible, a flat hierarchy at Breaking Bands because we believe in the community we are growing. We feel that every one of the staff members should have a say in what goes on behind the scenes in preparation for each year’s event and we have regular meetings to gather everyone’s thoughts. Unfortunately, like in any business, there has to be someone making a final decision and covering the financial costs as well as answering to any issues. Therefore we have 4 Directors which are Steve, Jude, Stacey and myself (Jay).

The Directors:
Our roles in the festival are varied but we all have a core skill that we utilise. Steve’s main role is anything stage related. His title is Production Manager. Steve is involved with the stage, lights and sound spec. He will deal with the sound engineers, the companies supplying the stage hire and liaise with the stage managers over the weekend of the event. This role is all year round. Liaising with the bands for their tech sheets so he knows what will be needed for each band and relaying that back to the sound guys so they bring the right equipment for the stage. Steve is also involved with the schedules along with myself to make sure there is sufficient time between sets for change overs.

Jude has varied roles too. Over the festival weekend you will find Jude at the ticket and merch stall, she may also be involved with first aid but for most of the year Jude’s role is with compliance. All the paperwork goes through Jude from insurance to contracts to risk assessments. Jude is also now working with the team on many areas of learning through a new partnership we have for festivals.

Stacey will also be around the ticket and merch stall over the weekend. Throughout the rest of the year Stacey’s involvement comes through advertising and promotion. All those poster updates, the promo videos and images across social media and the website are all designed by Stacey. This saves the festival hundreds in artwork fees and reminds people about the festival all year round.

I am a jack of all trades. I work on the promotion all year round alongside Stacey. We work on statistics, advertising, social media and strategic planning. I am also the business manager for Breaking Bands and with that I deal with the financial side when it comes to spending on all hire equipment, sponsorships and traders. Another role of mine which is the one I love most is booking the bands. The four of us go through this together but it has become more of a role I have taken over to give everyone a bit of time to work on their own roles. With my history of band booking for many festivals and events, my relationships with promoters and bands, it really is the part I look forward to the most.

Next up and in no particular order, let’s meet the team behind the team. Every one of them deserves a medal for the work they do. We have to settle for hugs (or fist bumps these days).

The Stage Crews:
Gin is the stage manager for the marquee stage. His role is to make it happen. A lot goes on behind the curtain and Gin has a great team with him to help get the bands on and off stage on time as well as making sure the equipment is set up correctly for each band. A stage manager is responsible for those all important schedule times which puts a lot of pressure on. Having a team within a team makes this role work smoother and the fans at the front get to see a full set because of it.

Jack is the stage manager for the venue stage, a new role for him this year from drum tech. Jack, like Gin, will be responsible for the running of the stage, making sure those bands are on and off in the time set, liaising with the sound engineer and having his own crew for the stage. Like with Gin, it’s a responsibility that requires precision with only 5 minutes from a band finishing on Jack’s stage, a band starts on Gin’s stage so everyone has to work extremely quickly together under the pressure.

Alongside the stage managers we have the crews including Craig, Steve, AJ and some new members to be announced soon. Their roles are to assist their stage managers with helping get equipment on and off stage, preparing the next band to go on stage and keeping things running.

The Comperes:
A role that needs no introduction (although as comperes, they can do that themselves) is the stage compere. On the venue stage, he has been with us since the beginning is the Dad we never had, the mushy pea man that is Mr Badaxe. It may look like his role is to just introduce the band but he is actually the time keeper. He will get on the stage and get them bands off to give the stage crews their time to clear and prepare for the next band. He is there with information about the next bands, keeping everyone smiling. The stage compere is the glue that binds that stage. We are currently working on a new marquee stage compere at the moment and will have more info soon.

The Ground Crews:
What a job these guys (and gals) do. First on site, last to leave our amazing ground staff to look after the field. James, Lisa & Che head up a team of volunteers to plan the site out for campers making sure to keep the fire lanes free. They guide the cars in, they work the check in desk, check for issues with toilets, rubbish and generally anything out on the fields. James is also responsible for the sound meter checking. They are the team on the ground that go above and beyond. You’ll see them one minute picking up litter, the next minute helping someone put a tent up and then assisting fixing a broken down vehicle. They are extremely versatile in what they do.

The Photography Team:
Headed up by Simon and assisted by Paul, Martyn and Drew we have one of the most professional and organised photo crews of any festival. These guys are first ones at the stage and last ones to bed. Not only taking photos of the bands performing but capturing the crowds indoors and out so that your memories of an amazing weekend don’t ever leave. Something you may not see is that they are constantly editing and uploading the photos over the festival weekend literally while bands are still performing their final songs. These photos are then shared across our social media platforms for folks to tag themselves and share the love.

Security Team:
We have been very lucky having found great security teams over the years. This year we introduce 2 new members in Simon and Mark who are both massive rock and metal fans. They work on major festivals such as Download, Reading & Leeds, Glastonbury to name a few. The role at Breaking Bands of the security team is not to be seen unless they are needed. We want people to enjoy themselves, have a moshpit and party and these guys understand that as festival goers themselves. With the addition of them as permanent members of the team, they can add a great safety feel to the festival without encroaching on your fun.

The Media Team:
Matt is our artist liaison manager. His role includes checking the bands in and making sure the stage managers know they have arrived. Matt will make sure the bands have all the information for where to go, at what time. He liaises with the Press Officer Ra who in turn, liaises with all the media that come to cover the event. Ra will make sure the bands and the press get introduced, help with interview schedules and work around the media tent keeping the press up to date with any late changes too.

Sustainability Officer:
This is a new role headed up by Ali who has attended a number of environmental seminars since we signed up to the Vision 2025 project to cut our carbon footprint by 50% by 2025. Ali assists all teams on helping make all areas of the festival environmentally friendly. From energy to plastic cups it’s a role Ali is very keen on and as such, is helping us all learn a lot about how we can get a carbon neutral festival in the future.

And finally… The Volunteers:
We always pay homage to our amazing volunteers. They are the core of the festival teams and really do make a massive difference. Every festival has a volunteer team who take a few hours a day to help us in areas such as litter picking, checking the toilets, helping the ground staff, working the gate, checking wristbands etc. We have some regulars that like to do it every year and some that want to try it one year just because they have seen how much help other volunteers have done. We really do value the team, whether it’s for a free ticket, experience or they just want to give back to the festival. They mean the world to us.

We are opening the volunteer form very soon for this years festival. Register your interest on the following link https://form.jotform.com/220443041730340

So that’s our teams. So much going on throughout the year means many of us meet up 4-5 times a year to share ideas and work out any issues. Without all these teams working together there would not be a festival.
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BEHIND THE SCENES OF BREAKING BANDS FESTIVAL: WHERE THE MONEY GOES

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.