1. Performers
The cost of booking your festival acts will vary the most. This booking agency lists their booking fees as ranging between £300–£2000 per band. But famous acts can cost you a much larger amount.
2. Site hire
Unless you’re able to strike a good deal with a local farm, you’ll have to hire a festival venue. These can cost you around £100 per person per day, or around £5000 per day fixed-price.
3. Staging
How much does a stage cost for a festival? Small ones can be hired for £700, medium ones will set you back around £1,500–£3,000, whereas the biggest ones can cost as much as £20,000.
4. Utilities
Expect to spend £60,000–£100,000 on electricity alone for a festival of 10,000 people. Although you don’t have to give out free water, you still need to pay for the toilet and shower water on top.
5. Waste disposal
The same festival with 10,000 attendees will also produce a lot of rubbish that you have to clean up. Set aside another £30,000 just to clean up the environment after the festivities.
6. Printing and signage
Signage, banners, and other printed materials are surprisingly cheap compared to all the other expenses. Let’s call it £1,000 for our music festival with 10,000 attendees.
7. Marketing
Most B2C businesses spend around 16% of their gross annual revenue on marketing. Since Glastonbury has a revenue of around £37 million, they’d have spent around £5.5 million on marketing.
8. Technology
You’ll need a ticketing app to help you manage ticket sales and gather attendee insights. But you’ll also want to invest in admin tools for your team, so set aside another £1,000 for that.
9. Equipment hire
You can get a festival PA package for hire for around £850, but that only covers one stage. Multiply that amount by the number of stages you plan on setting up for your music festival.
10. Insurance
You’d think that insurance premiums would sky-rocket with so many people attending a music festival. But you can, in fact, get insurance for as little as £62 for a festival of up to 20,000 attendees.
