Music Week: Gordon Masson    

IT IS ONLY A FEW SHORT MONTHS SINCE the formation of Britain’s first organisation for independent music festivals, but the fledgling body is already making

waves with some well thought out initiatives that are capturing the imagination of the wider live music sector.

The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) became one of the myriad trade bodies in the UK music industry when it was announced at the Association of

Independent Music annual meeting in June, but while others often take their time to make an impact, the new kids on the block are off to a flying start. Last month AIF announced plans to create a Security Task Force whose remit would be to specifically target tent theft at festival sites. “The Security Task Force is now out to tender to all the major reputable security firms and 80% of them have already come back to us,” reports Ben Turner, one of AIF’s founding partners. “The idea was never meant to be exclusively for the indies – we always wanted to broaden it out to the whole festival community and the feedback has been very positive,” says Turner.

That is music to the ears of Bestival promoter Rob Da Bank who reveals that theft from the camping site at his event was partly responsible for the concept of forming

the AIF. “Tent theft had never crossed my mind when I was setting up Bestival, but it’s a problem that nearly all festivals suffer from, so the idea is basically to have a specialised team who can work with the various police forces and security firms working at festivals around the country to identify the gangs who are responsible,” explains Da Bank. That first major initiative, although a simple idea, is a significant step indeed, but another founding member of AIF believes the biggest contribution the association has made so far is even more rudimentary. “All the indie promoters are getting together every four or five weeks and I think that is actually the biggest achievement to date for AIF,” states James Barton, promoter of the Creamfields Festivals.

Da Bank agrees. “We were all a bit fearful of each other a year ago, but that is changing. Now we’re all sitting around sharing ideas with each other and people are being honest; well, honest up to a point – we’re still talking about commercial rivals, after all.” Barton continues, “I knew a few promoters beforehand, but there has been very little communication up to this point. Now I know a lot more festival promoters and it’s obvious that we all share the same values and have the same goals, even though it’s very much a mixed bag of festivals and promoters.”

Turner pays tribute to UK Music chief executive Feargal Sharkey in helping the AIF get off the ground. “Feargal was instrumental in helping us set up, as well as

introducing us to the media,” notes Turner. Now Turner and his cohorts are planning to lean on Sharkey and his organisation to make sure that AIF members, large and small, are included in any lobbying efforts or legislative moves that might affect their sector. “AIF wants to become part of that one voice and it’s on our list of things to do. UK Music is still settling in and it’s early days for us both, but we definitely want to be represented when there are things going on at a governmental level that might affect the festival scene,” says Turner. That is a theme Barton picks up on. “As a collective we have a much stronger voice,” he observes. “That’s important because we want to be heard, consulted and at the table when there are discussions going on that affect us. It’s only fair that Bestival or the Big Chill or Creamfields or whoever has a voice when [Culture Secretary] Andy Burnham wants to make representations about festivals.”

The AIF board currently consists of 17 individuals, while the membership covers about 25 festivals as well as the Eden Project and other interested parties such as insurance firms. Additionally, the AIF has appointed Claire O’Neill as its general manager, working out of the AIF offices. “Claire went to about 20 festivals this summer, working at most of them doing everything from artist liaison to stage management, so it’s great that we have her running AIF,” says Da Bank. “It’s important we have someone who can keep their finger on the pulse. O’Neill will help the organisation bring aboard new members, but Da Bank is in no hurry to see AIF swell. “There are something like 450 festivals in the UK now, but 350 of those are probably miniscule. Needless to say there is a lot of work to be done on our membership numbers, but we’re not in any mad rush,” says Da Bank.

With festivals using the winter months to pull together their artist line-ups, Turner notes, “We now have the head space to strategise and concentrate on what we can do to improve the independent festival market.” One initiative high on the agenda is unsurprisingly the environment. The impact that festivals have on greenfield sites can be horrendous, but Da Bank is hatching plans to assist AIF members in their efforts to improve the situation. “The more people talk about the environment, the more ideas you hear about and I’ve learned a hell of a lot about reducing your carbon footprint purely from conversations at the AIF board meetings,” admits Da Bank.

Barton believes that when it comes to being green, the bigger festivals can learn a lot from their smaller AIF colleagues. “A lot of small festivals are running their events with zero emissions,” says Barton. Indeed, the Creamfields founder is adamant that the discussions among AIF members will be the key to the organisation’s success. “The collective experience of the people involved in the AIF can definitely help make each other’s festivals stronger, better and more sustainable,” he notes.

Another idea Da Bank is championing is a mentoring scheme to give people a leg up in the festivals market. That, he says, could be particularly important as the ticket- buying public think carefully about their live music budgets in 2009. “It’s unavoidable that people are looking ahead and thinking about where to spend their money,” says Da Bank. “Rather than people going to two or three festivals, they might just go to one or two. Perhaps if they only went to one festival in 2008, they might not go to any in 2009.”

Other ways in which AIF can look to help its members include collective purchasing where festivals can club together to negotiate better rates with suppliers. “There are ways of saving money by cutting costs through the likes of sharing infrastructure or hiring the same staging or portacabins,” says Da Bank. And he reveals that the conversations between members are surprising everyone. “People are talking about land rent. That never used to happen, but I know there are conversations going on about what promoters are paying for their festival sites.”

Looking to next year, Turner hints of a major TV deal that could be in place for all AIF member festivals to boost their profiles. “There’s a large TV offering being talked about and all of our member festivals are involved in that discussion,” he says, declining to elaborate.

Elsewhere, Turner is hoping that the organisation can start talking to other sectors of the market to help strengthen the UK music industry. “With all the talk of 360-degree deals, the lines are blurred between the recording business and live sector now and the two should definitely talk more,” he says.

Whatever lies ahead in 2009, the formation of the Association of Independent Festivals will provide a voice for numerous events and help ensure the festival scene remains buoyant. “We’re still finding our feet and we don’t know what’s around the corner, but we’re now more prepared than ever and, where need be, we can make sure there is a delegation from the AIF to represent the independent festivals sector,” adds Barton.

“There are lots of festivals out there that are unknown, but these events can help set the agenda for the future no matter how big or small they are.”