A festival in the UK once either meant a gargantuan, impersonal mudfest, or a chaotic illegal gathering. These days, there’s a much wider choice of options. Most notable in the last decade has been the rise of the so-called ‘boutique’ festival: a term used to describe more intimate affairs where attention to detail is paramount, debauchery needn’t be sought at the cost of comfort and stunning settings are the norm. Combined with a trend towards more painstakingly curated line-ups that bring the most underground and experimental sounds from clubland and beyond to such settings, the UK festival landscape is wildly different to that of ten or twenty years ago.
We speak to three of the UK’s foremost underground dance music festival promoters to find out more about building up an independent, grassroots festival – from the rural seclusion of Farr and Gottwood to the holiday camp hedonism of BLOC Weekend.
How did you guys get started? Tell us about your first event…
Oscar Thornton (Farr): We started in 2009 as a party on a friend’s piece of land for friends and family. We didn’t really expect much from it, but the reaction was so good that we ended up repeating ourselves the following year and making some more serious bookings.
Farr Festival
Tom Carpenter (Gottwood): It all started with a trip to Berlin in the summer of 2009. We were having an amazing time out there sampling the party scene, and it was then that we decided that we wanted to set up our own festival. Within a couple of months we had got so far into planning that there was no turning back, and luckily it all worked out. For some reason there was a crazy hype about the first one and we lucked out selling all of our 900 tickets within a month. We had no outside funding and initially got started by risking all we had, which was at the time £3000.
Alex Benson (BLOC): I got started by going to loads of raves and progressively getting more involved – DJing, working in the cloakroom, on the door etc etc. It was a cumulative thing, not really like – this is your first night…
Were you at all naive about putting on a festival in your first year in retrospect? What didn’t you anticipate?
TC (Gottwood): Yeah completely naive. Between us we had put on a few nights here and there but none of us had a clue as to how to run a festival. It was all a huge learning curve and every year still is. One big thing that we didn’t anticipate in the first year was that our ticketing company weren’t going to give us all the money from the ticket sales before the event. So all the money was there but we had no access to it until after the event which is a big problem when you need to pay almost all costs up front! Everything really has changed a lot 6 years on!
AB (BLOC): We made our best guess and then had a go at it. We were three quarters right, I’d say. I didn’t anticipate quite how little money we would make.
OF (Farr): For first couple of years we really didn’t look at developing it into a festival. So I don’t think we were naive, as we only became a festival when we were ready – both in terms of our audience and the resources we had at our disposal.
Did you have any experience of booking acts before? What are your tips for dealing with agents and negotiating?
AB (BLOC): Yes, from doing nights. There is very little negotiation with agents. If you can persuade bankable talent to take your money at all, you’re doing OK.
OT (Farr): I’d been putting on shows in London since I was 18 so already had relationships with some up-and-coming DJs. When dealing with agents, the best advice is to build up good relationships. They are in charge of what shows their DJs play so it’s important they like what you’re offering, so trying to meet as many as possible is key.
Gottwood Festival
TC (Gottwood): I didn’t at all, no. In the early years we relied heavily on booking artists that we thought would grow in profile nearer the time of the festival. It’s actually quite amazing to look back now and see how big some of the artists we paid next to nothing have now become. We have been very fortunate to have mostly worked with agents who are very understanding of the nature of Gottwood. Whilst we try and remain as fair as possible with our offers for artists, we also have to be realistic with our very small budget. Luckily most agents are understanding with our situation of being a small independent festival and so the fees we get our generally in relation to our size. As the reputation of the festival has grown, bookings have become that much easier. My main tip would be to never make any commitments that you can’t 100% fulfil. Not being able to pay an artist you are under contract to do will get you in trouble and word spreads fast around the music agencies. I used to work as an assistant at William Morris and so I have experience from both sides of which has helped me in my approach to bookings.
How did you build up a crowd / following?
OT (Farr): Word of mouth was the key in the early years, but that was all made possible because everyone who went had such a great time. Consumer experience is the key to most successful businesses and putting on a festival is no different!
TC (Gottwood): The first year was mostly friends and friends of friends. Our only way of advertising was via a Facebook group and so it would have been pretty hard to hear about it unless through friends or through one of promoters or stage hosts. We have never really been big into advertising, so our crowd has been built mainly through word of mouth and our excellent group of promoters, labels, stage hosts and media partners. We are blessed with an amazing crowd who are there just to have fun and who are mostly genuinely really into the music we provide. We decided this year that we had reached our ultimate capacity for the time being. Everything just seemed so right, so we have decided not to grow any further for the next year or so and even if we were after that, it wouldn’t be by much. I think the intimate nature of our festival is something our following appreciate the most and ruining that would be a sure way of spoiling that something special. We no longer really advertise at all, we have a great crowd and we want to keep it that way!
AB (BLOC): We started small and worked up. Once people have heard of you, they tend not to forget about you so it’s difficult to go backwards.
BLOC Weekend
What considerations do you have to make as a small independent promoter when you’re going up against the big boys?
AB (BLOC): Don’t be afraid to offer on the big acts
OT (Farr): There’s no way you can compete with them in terms of size and money, but actually with all the shows DJs are now playing, the ones that stand out most for them are the small, boutique ones that have a family feel to it. There are a few DJs who are desperate to come back year on year because they have so much fun and get to know everyone involved. It’s hard to achieve this when you’re running a big festival.
TC (Gottwood): To be honest we don’t really concern ourselves with the “big boys”. People tend to come to Gottwood because they enjoy smaller, more intimate festivals. We still manage to attract some of the best underground artists around, and they all appreciate we can’t offer them the same fees as the bigger festivals can. I think our line-up this year especially reflects this appreciation. Also we are in the lucky position where a lot of artists now come to us rather than us pleading with them to come and play like we had to in the early years! I think the most important thing for us was making the festival different from the others. We hand-build all our stages, make or put up all of own decor and try to avoid any generic or unthoughtful structures with no real character, or that don’t sit well against the backdrop of the site. We are as much about creating an experience in the amazing site we are fortunate to be located than anything else – an area of outstanding natural beauty, set in the woods, by the lake and only a 15 minute walk to the beach.
What’s your best advice for anyone wanting to start their own festival?
OT (Farr): Take your time. Only start a festival if it feels like the right time, grow organically and don’t force things.
TC (Gottwood): My main advice would be to establish yourself a strong brand, have a very good idea of your direction musically and get yourself a unique site. It is an extremely saturated market so you need to stand out.
AB (BLOC): Avoid untested venues.