Analysis of the Local Impact of Hosting the Glastonbury Festival - Coursework Example

Glastonbury Festival: Model Music? An Analysis of the Local Impact of Hosting the Glastonbury Festival [ID Music festivals can be wonderful ways to promote a town. The town of Woodstock has become permanently associated in the public mind with one of the most famous festivals of history. But festivals do incur a tremendous amount of noise, time, sound, volunteer work, promotion and other costs both direct and indirect. Given that, is the Glastonbury Music Festival worth the costs? The challenges and costs of any festival can be enumerated as follows: Noise. Aside from the music, more people means more noise pollution in the town and even in the countryside. Space and parking. More people need more parking and take up more physical space. Lodging. Hotel, motel and bed and breakfast lodging has to be sufficient for demand. Pollution and trash. Many visitors leave behind trash, stampede grass, and damage the environment. Woodstocks field was destroyed after the concert. Monetary cost. There is cost in terms of clearing aside space which could be capitalized in a different way, setting up booths, getting raw production, etc. Time and volunteer hours. Safety and liability issues. If something is unsafe, then the city might be exposed to liability or to negative publicity. Crime potential. Con men, pickpockets, muggers and thieves can prey on a festival like this. This incurs enforcement and PR costs. Therefore, the costs have to be weighed against substantial benefits, many of which cannot be measured directly or are externalized onto the public. What evidence is there of gain? The Glastonbury festival makes substantial money. On site, the festival grosses an average of £25,579.70 in food and drink, shopping, entertainment, services, memorabilia, and other forms of income. That is a decent amount. Off-site, it grosses another £ 26,470.23. That is truly the figure that is relevant for the town of Glastonbury. If the festival grosses a lot on-site, it might not cover the costs of the festival and be a net loss. But presumably, established businesses in the town make money per each new customer. Further, even if the festival made money on site, it would still not be helpful to the town per se but instead helpful to only a few people within it unless it led to people visiting off-site businesses and services. The point of the festival from the perspective of the town is to generate immediate revenue in terms of tourism then deferred revenue in terms of interest and later visits. What are the profits? “Estimated spending by Glastonbury Festivals associated with staging the 2007 festival was £21.2million (over the period November 2006 to October 2007)” (Mendip, 2008). Subtracting the 21.2 million from the 52 million gross still leaves 30 million pounds made in one year. This is a tremendous amount of money for a town, for charity, and for businesses. The statistical breakdown for the attendance is also promising to indicate the benefit for tourism and exposure of Glastonbury culture. The visitor profile is more than three-quarters “other regions”, some of which will be out of England or the United Kingdoms. This means that the majority of the festival-goers are unlikely to regularly come to Glastonbury barring the festival. The rest come from all over England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Only twenty three percent come from the Southwest England area that Glastonbury is in. However, the statistics indicate that almost no one comes from abroad. This is a major problem. Glastonbury needs to make sure that it promotes internationally if it seeks to keep attendance and revenue growing. Recent events have guaranteed profit for the festival. “The future of Glastonbury festival was secured for five years yesterday after a deal was reached between the farmer who runs the event and a private promoter” (Allison, 2002). But safety issues have plagued the festival in the past and are a concern. “The three day festival...was cancelled last year [in 2001] after the number of gatecrashers the previous year caused fears over crowd safety” (Allison, 2002). The solution was to contract an “event management company”, the Mean Fiddler group, to provide security and organization for the festival (Allison, 2002). Not all tourists are made the same. If the festival attracts celebrities and VIPs, it can bring even more attention to the town. Take Kate Hudsons supposed attendance in 2010: “he 31-year-old star, who is starring opposite Jessica Alba in new flick The Killer Inside Me, is rumoured to be dating Muse frontman Matt Bellamy, who will be performing at the festival. The pair have been spotted on a number of dates and were most recently seen enjoying dinner at the Spotted Pig restaurant in New York. According to UK newspaper The Sun, Hudson will be flying to Britain to watch her rocker boyfriend perform with his band at the Somerset festival this weekend” (MusicRooms, 2010). A difficulty about measuring the benefit of the concert is measuring its true cultural content and reputation against its profit. The creator wanted it to be a way to show off authentic culture, but accusations of selling out have begun to haunt the festival: “The acts have changed from Marc Bolan and Al Stewart to the likes of Coldplay or Chas n Dave, amidst suggestions that the rock festival is being killed by a corporate culture” (Matheson, 2005). Glastonbury will need to discuss what they want from the festival. What about other metrics that Glastonbury could use to see if the festival is worth the time, noise and money? Articles about the festival could be counted, then coded to see if the festival is being reported on positively, negatively or neutrally. Studies could then be done to see if the festival is contributing positively. In particular, articles can be counted to see if the trade and critical magazines are thinking that the festival is still authentic. Statistical models could be used to explore if tourism or revenues of town businesses can be connected to the Glastonbury festival. Crime statistics are not favorable to Glastonbury versus other festivals. “The number of recorded crimes and arrests at the Notting Hill Carnival is relatively low compared with the much smaller Glastonbury Festival. At the three-day Glastonbury Festival in June, where attendance was restricted to 100,000 tickets, there were 187 arrests, mainly for theft and drug possession; another 15,000 people were thought to have got in free. Last year, Avon and Somerset police made 244 arrests, again chiefly for theft and drug offences, and recorded 1,130 crimes. In the past three years Glastonbury has had no murders but there have been several drug deaths at the site or soon after people have left” (Hurst, 2000). Glastonbury is also smaller than other festivals (Hurst, 2000). It would need to make a plan to expand vis-a-vis the other festivals like Notting Hill, Glyndebourne and Edinburgh. Luckily, summer festivals are on the way to expanding as the music industry is hurt by piracy and other factors. “Five years of falling sales sector sees revenue increases owing to live gigs, overseas licensing and getting to grips with digital Dizzee plays the main stage at this years Glastonbury Festival, which along with other summer Music events has helped boost sales” (Topping, 2010). The live industry has been growing by 9.4% per year, which means that the Glastonbury Festival is set to expand explosively. With the right promotion, it could make more money. Using this information to promote the concert could be a key way to make the festival worth Glastonburys time. Since the music industry is declining in the UK in general, Glastonbury has much more bargaining power at the table. They should leverage this to get top acts. The festival needs to find a better security solution. “Mr Eavis said a five year agreement had been signed which allowed the Mean Fiddler to take 20% of the net profit from the festival after charities had been paid. This will rise to 40% by the third year” (Allison, 2002). This cut of the profit, after charities, is a large amount and could make it less beneficial for the town. But this could be a cost of expansion. If they are giving Mean Fiddler that much, they should demand promotion. Glastonbury Festivals charity benefit is admirable, but the town should evaluate if they are giving too much to charity to justify the festival. Luckily, the expenditures on Mean Fiddler have been entirely justified. According to police, crime had reduced drastically, by about 21% (Jury, 2004). Injuries were also down due to a supposed “outbreak of common sense” (Jury, 2004). People brought better tents, avoided knocking over ovens and tripping on stakes, and did not get sick or injured in the mud as in prior years. The crime rate is plummeting, which will make people more willing to attend vis-a-vis other festivals that formerly were safer. Those concerned about the costs of the Glastonbury Festival in terms of safety and crime risks for the town should bear in mind how big the economic benefit of the festival is. “The world famous Glastonbury Festival impacts on the worldwide economy to the tune of more than £73million, figures from a unique study reveal today [April 10 2008]. The figure is one of dozens featured in a new report by Mendip District Council on the economic impact of the Somerset event” (Mendip, 2008). Seventy-three million pounds is a massive contribution to the local and global economy. The festival is also highly prestigious. It has won awards nationally. This helps promote the town. What about the green costs, the pollution, the trash? The festival is committed to minimising the amount of waste, and managing the on site collection of that waste efficiently, “reduce, reuse and recycle”. We want all festival goers to think ‘zero waste’ and to take home what they bring onto the festival site. We want festivals goers to think responsibly when they are packing there things to come to Glastonbury, don’t bring items that will end up in Landfill, or that you won’t be able to take back home again. “Limit what you bring, and clean up behind you.” (Glastonbury Festival). The Festivals official policy is to clean up trash and avoid using landfills, instead recycling almost half of the trash created by the festival (Glastonbury Festival). It is also beginning to recycle electrical equipment and electronics as well, in addition to “cans, glass, paper, wood and organic waste”. Noise, air and water pollution are still serious problems to be concerned with, but the town can and should discuss with Mean Fiddler and festival directors how to reduce those problems as well. The official commitment to green policies is a promising sign that any such potential problems can be solved in the future. Ultimately, the costs of the festival are real, but the festival has solved its major problems in terms of security, crime and pollution. As it now makes thirty million pounds a year, it would be extremely imprudent for the town of Glastonbury or the festival hosts and organizers to change course. Works Cited Allison, Rebecca. “Five year deal saves Glastonbury festival”. February 21, 2002. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/feb/21/glastonbury2002.glastonbury Glastonbury Festival. “Our Green Policies”. http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/information/green- glastonbury/our-green-policies Hurst, Greg. “Glastonbury Festival has worse crime rate”. The Independent. September 2, 2000. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/glastonbury-festival-has-worse-crime-rate- 698796.html Jury, Louise. “Festival founder fumes over events exploitation”. The Independent. June 26, 2004. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/festival-founder-fumes-over- events-exploitation-733551.html Matheson, Clare. “Glastonbury: A corporate sell-out?” BBC News. June 20, 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4485821.stm Mendip District Council. “£73M Impact of Glastonbury Festival”. April 10, 2008. http://www.mendip.gov.uk/NewsArticleL.asp?id=SX9452-A7825825 MusicRooms. “Kate Hudson reportedly going to Glastonbury Festival”. June 24, 2010. http://www.musicrooms.net/showbiz/9729-Kate-Hudson-Going-Glastonbury-Festival.html Topping, Alexandra. “Summer festivals boost sales to reverse music industry decline”. The Guardian. August 4, 2010. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/04/uk-music-industry-sales- increase Read More