It’s not often my blogs are aimed at artists, usually I have have a handful of artists I give advice to / send stuff to from time to time, but thought I would open it up a little. So if your an artist/act, believe it or not, your already leaving it a bit late to apply for certain festivals. The Biggie, for me certainly, is Glastonbury Festival. If I had to choose my favorite on earth, it would be Glastonbury. It’s just so much more than a music festival. Neither is the list compiled of the big festivals, smaller festivals such as Moseley Folk Festival are small, but simply brilliant, you usually have to start small don’t forget.
Okay so I’m not going to go through a list of ALL of them and neither am I detail how to apply, the list & links should basically inspire to check them out, do some research and apply if your music would be suitable for the said festival. Some won’t have formal ways of applying so you’ll have to ask nicely for the promoters contact details and send them some music along with an early Easter egg or something, they’ll remember & thank you for it. Despite it being only January, your already running late to apply to some, others haven’t opened for submission yet either. Okay so here goes and good luck, If I’ve missed any out, spread the love a bit and comment them so everyone can check them out. One last thing, if you know of anyone who’s in a band or anyone who would find this list useful, please link them up to it!
- Glastonbury Festival – details of how to apply here
- Trucker Festival – website
- o2 Festival – website
- Reading Festival – website
- Isle of Wight Festival – website
- All Tomorrow’s Parties – website
- Acoustic Festival – website
- Download Festival – website
- Beach Break Live – website
- Guilfest – website
- T in the park – website
- LAtitude Festival – website
- Glade Festival – website
- Lovebox – website
- Womad – website
- V Festival – website
- Shambala Festival – website
- Greenbelt – website
- Big Session Festival – website
- Camp Bestival – website
- Bestival – website
- Relentless Wakestock – website
- Cambridge Folk Festival – website
- Blissfields – website
- Brighton Festival – website
- Dot to Dot festival – website
- End of the Road Festival – website
- Evolution Festival – website
- Field Day Festivals – website
- Futuresonic – website
- Green Man Festival – website
- Hydro Connect Festival – website
- Indie Tracks Indiepop Festival – website
- Jersey Live – website
- Secret Garden Party – website
- Summer Sundae – website
- The Big Chill – website
- The Great Escape – website (hurry!!!)
- Two thousand Trees Festival – website
- Underage Festival – website
- Wickerman Festival – website
- Wood Festival – website
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Nice list. Another big tip – which is the same as when writing to gig promoters – make sure your band fits the sound and ethos of the festival!
And it can’t hurt when writing to festival promoters to mention how you do fit in with that ethos – mentioning bands who have played the festival in previous years who you’ve also played with, whether you’ve been to the festival in previous years, what you like about the bands who play there etc
Indeed Duncan, slightly touched on that saying ensure the music is ’suitable’. Ethos is possible another approach to hit them with.
I have a post saved in draft’s about the best way to promote yourselves to various types of companies, 99% of them get it so wrong. Seen a few other out there so will see if I get the chance to finish it and publish it. Thanks for the points though Duncan, if you think of anything else please leave another comment and forward this to any artists you think would benefit. Anthony
[...] Anthony Herron’s Blog | Uk Festivals – Which one’s to apply to… I’m not going to go through a list of ALL of them and neither am I detail how to apply, the list & links should basically inspire to check them out, do some research and apply if your music would be suitable for the said festival. Some won’t have formal ways of applying so you’ll have to ask nicely for the promoters contact details and send them some music along with an early Easter egg or something, they’ll remember & thank you for it. Despite it being only January, your already running late to apply to some, others haven’t opened for submission yet either. Okay so here goes and good luck, If I’ve missed any out, spread the love a bit and comment them so everyone can check them out. One last thing, if you know of anyone who’s in a band or anyone who would find this list useful, please link them up to it! (tags: newswire festival strategy) [...]
Excellent post. I fully agree with you about Glastonbury being more than just a festival. The sheer scale of it along with the amount of effort that goes into creating an almost Disneyland for adults is astounding.