A Guide To Starting Your Own Music Festival
Over the past 10 years, the popularity of the music festival has gone from strength to strength. From the heady days of Woodstock to the gargantuan gatherings of the worlds biggest music festival - Summerfest - which annually attracts up to 1 million people theres nothing to stop you getting in on the action as well. All music festivals need to start off somewhere be it the backyard of someones house to a local park. Keeping your ideas realistic, affordable and achievable will guarantee the popularity and success of your music festival to grow. When planning your first music festival there are a number of very important factors you need to consider; the first of which being your location. If you are planning a small music festival with a handful of bands and a local audience you may wish to consider using a large back garden or area of community parkland. Getting permission of those who own the land is essential, if you fail to do so you could find yourself arrested! Being aware of the noise involved is also important and you should be completely honest with yourself, those involved and local people about what the festival will entail. Once youve found a suitable location for your music festival the next factor to consider is technical requirements. Sponsorship is a great way to save money, especially if you can get support from companies or organisations that are willing to lend speakers, staging or even volunteers to organise and police your event. Power supply is a particularly important topic and considerable time should be given to investigating safe and affordable generators. Running your festival off the mains simply isnt a practical option so investigating the power options available is on top, if not near the top, of your agenda. Once you have your location and technical requirements prepared, its now time for the fun part - booking your bands and advertising. Cutting costs by finding bands that are happy to play for free and support an up and coming music event is a must for any first time festival organiser. Roping in friends and family to poster and flyer is also another good idea given the cost of promotional staff can quickly push your overheads up. If youre looking to cut costs even further, theres also the option to advertise online via social networking sites instead of buying posters and flyers which can often become costly once design, printing and postage is included. Finally, the most important part of organising your own music festival is your budget. Starting off with big ideas might provide you with something to aim for but can prove extremely costly with plenty of promoters willing to testify about the risks of starting your own festival. Essentially a music festival is a business venture and any business should be supported by a firm financial plan. Visiting your local enterprise centre and doing plenty of research on any eventuality will allow you to kick back and enjoy when everything comes neatly together.
