Rob Hallett, the former president of international touring for AEG Live, believes that a glut of festivals is having a detrimental effect on the UK’s live music scene.
The chief executive of promoter Robomagic, a company he founded in 2015, told Billboard that organisers are being forced to pay too much money to secure artists because of the number of rival events.
Hallett, who left AEG Live after 10 years in 2014, also said that failure to nurture new acts is a bigger threat to the music and live events industry than the secondary ticket sector.
“The money that’s being paid, not just for veteran acts, but for newer acts who have had a couple of hits [is too high],” he told Billboard.
“There’s too many festivals. Everyone’s fighting for artists, consequently the festival market gets messed up. One of the words that needs to be in the promoter’s vocabulary more is the word no. It’s a two letter, one syllable word that most promoters seem unable to use.”
He added: “Getting record companies, promoters and agents to work together to grow new talent for the future. A lot of people say secondary ticketing, but we have got to get acts to sell the [primary] tickets before secondary tickets become valuable.
“How many tickets remained unsold this summer? How much was lost in festivals this summer due to lack of content and the same old tired acts going around doing the same old festivals? Millions of pounds are dropped in this country alone.”
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