At more and more festivals you can pay for your ticket afterwards, thanks to services such as Klarna. But is that wise?

Now that the summer season is approaching its end, it is again clear how unthinkable a summer is without music festivals. In the Netherlands there are more than twelve hundred large and small festivals, who together attract many hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts. A good line-up, a nice atmosphere-something like that can cost something. But in the meantime, ticket prices of 100 euros or more have become very common, and every year the festivals seem to be a lot more expensive.

For example, a weekend ticket for Mysteryland, which took place near Schiphol last weekend, cost 169.96 euros. Lowlands visitors already laid 349 euros last week for a place at the campsite in Biddinghuizen, and to see artists such as Raye, Chappell Roan and FKA Twigs. Ten years ago, three days of festival, camping and shuttle bus cost 195 euros here. Where inflation came to around 30 percent the same period, this festival became no less than 80 percent more expensive. Incidentally, it was sold out in no time.

Because organizers see that it is difficult for young people to continue to visit the increasingly expensive festivals, paying afterwards or in installments is on the rise. For example, around 4,000 of the 65,000 Lowlands visitors bought their ticket this year via Achterfagdaalsienst Klarna. Pinkpop, Hardstyle festival Defqon.1, Awakenings and Blijdorp Festival also lowered the access threshold in this way. According to the Association of Event Makers, up to 5 percent of all festival visitors now buy tickets with payment afterwards.

Through a service such as Klarna you can choose between paying within thirty days, or in three installments when you purchase a festival card. This is useful for the festival goer who does not have the money ready immediately and also for the organizers, who say they make their festival so more accessible. But there is also criticism. Buying a ticket ‘on credit’ saddles young people with a debt and interest charges, with possible fines and collection costs as a result.

For Saskia (30) from Enschede, payment is regularly a solution afterwards. She would rather not mention her last name because of shame about her expenses. “I get energy from festivals and always went to big names such as Lowlands and Down the Rabbit Hole. They are sold out at lightning speed. But I just worked, and with my income it was not always feasible to pay for the rent and festivals.”

Although she says she did not always handle money well, she was able to go to her favorite artists in installments in installments. “A privilege. And I knew that I could fall back on my family if I were to get into trouble. Fortunately, there was never a collection agency.”

Klarna does not warn

The danger that young people will get into trouble makes paying afterwards or in installments via Klarna controversial. In April, the Midden-Nederland court ruled that the costs that Klarna charges when someone fails to pay are part of their revenue model. This service must thus be dealt with as a consumer credit – a loan – with associated obligation to provide information about the costs and risks. The judge instructed Klarna to check from now on whether someone is able to pay off a debt. It must also warn every customer that borrowing money costs money: Klarna has failed to do so far.

It is not known how many young festival -goers will be in financial problems afterwards. Research by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) shows that in 2024 one in three Dutch people under the age of 35 will certainly use the option ‘Buy now, pay later’. Many of these users are the customer with several providers from paying afterwards. In proportion, this age group is most often confronted with reminder costs and referrals to a collection agency for non -payment.

One in six people under 35 is red at least ninety days a year. The AFM therefore wants additional payment services such as Klarna to perform a creditworthiness test with customers and join the Bureau Krediet Registration (BKR), so that lenders can check who already has debts.

Financial stress

Young people often underestimate the danger of spreading or afterwards, says Wilco van Dijk, professor of Economic Psychology at Leiden University. “People with financial stress are bad at planning and keeping an overview. Certainly young people, with whom the brain is still under development, are extra vulnerable to financial temptations. If you enter into multiple payment obligations, you can easily lose the overview and it can get out of hand quickly.”

Zoom in

Good information is therefore essential, says Karin Radstaak of Nibud. “People need to know what they are starting, gain more insight into the conditions and possible consequences of the use of services such as Klarna.” According to Radstaak, it remains more sensible to save and pay everything immediately: “If you already know that you want to go to a festival next year, see if you can already put money aside.”

That is precisely the approach that Jules Groenewegen (30) followed from Deventer. Last July he was on Down The Rabbit Hole and at the end of August he wants to go to Into The Woods in Amersfoort. He always pays in advance for a festival ticket. “I am absolutely not a fan of paying afterwards, because you can’t spend what you don’t have.” Whoever wants to go to a festival, believes Jules, “should leave other things and work more or save.” And it doesn’t work yet, says Jules, “Then that is very unfortunate, but paying afterwards is not the solution.”

Expand

The festivals offer afterwards or in installments pay because of the increased costs for organizing and the greater uncertainty whether enough tickets are being sold. Berend Schans, director-director The Association of Dutch Poppodia and Festivals (VNPF): “After the Coronapandemie, the costs for energy, material and the gages of artists increased. But also the excise duties on beer [die sinds 2024 met 8 procent zijn gestegen] And hiring self -employed people and other staff, which costs us 60 percent more than in 2019, press the budget. ” And those incurred costs are calculated in the ticket price, says Schans.

With the increased costs, it is uncertain for organizers whether they will ultimately play quits through ticket sales, says Schans. This way he sees that organizers nowadays ‘think three times’ before they organize a festival. Schans: “By offering the option in spread or afterwards, organizations hope that people are more likely to buy a ticket, so that they have a faster view of how they are doing financially.”

That is the reason that Blijdorp Festival in Rotterdam will pay for the first time in installments this year through their own payment system. Frankie Dros, co-organizer of the festival, noticed that visitors waited longer due to the increased ticket prices before they bought a ticket. “Anyone who bought a ticket early but paid in installments was cheaper this year than someone who paid last minute. Because we are not about huge amounts for us [tussen de 40 en 60 euro] we think this system is responsible. ” Dros explicitly emphasizes that he has not opted for Klarna, because his festival does not want to contribute to “a culture in which everyone buys on the puff and deals irresponsibly with money”. Their own payment system does not work with interest or fines.

‘Unsympathetic way’

There are also organizers for whom payment is out of the question. “The revenue model of companies such as Klarna and Afterpay depends on people who do not meet their payment obligations,” says Rob Telgenkamp, ​​director of Dauwpop, a smaller -scale festival with 15,000 visitors in the east of the Netherlands every day. “Ultimately, people themselves decide to pay afterwards. But the collection, the often exorbitant costs thereof and the interest only put many people into trouble.” That is why Dauwpop does not participate in this “very unsympathetic way of making money over the back of people. Not now and not in the future,” says Telgenkamp.

The organization of culture and music festival Into the Great Wide Open, which takes place every year in the last weekend of August on Vlieland, first offered pay afterwards via Klarna. “In 2022 and 2023, almost five hundred of the six thousand tickets were paid that way,” says Stef Deters of Into The Great Wide Open. The festival stopped this year. DETERS: “On the one hand we do not want Klarna to earn money through spread or afterwards, on the other hand we do not want to encourage building debts.” Festival tickets are expensive, he thinks, “but if you don’t have the money, you shouldn’t spend it either.”

Bente Bollmann, head of festival marketing at Mojo, the organization behind major events such as North Sea Jazz and Lowlands, believes that the possibility of paying afterwards provides for a need for festival visitors. “Because you can pay in installments through Klarna without service costs, we switched from our own payment system to Klarna this year. That saves the visitor per transaction 7.50 euros.”

According to Bollmann, payment is “a socially widely accepted payment method” that also offer the large web stores en masse. Why would festivals be an exception to this? According to Bollmann, opting for paying afterwards remains a ‘own responsibility’. Berend Schans from the VNPF also sees this. “We cannot look into someone’s wallet. The risk of paying afterwards remains with the visitors themselves. But if you do not pay, you will not get access to the festival.”

‘Ticket after the first term’

Yet, according to Klarna, the latter is not entirely the case. Daniel Greaves, Head of Klarna’s Head of Communication, explains that as soon as the first term has been paid, his company transfers the full amount of a festival ticket to the organization, minus the rate she pays to Klarna to be able to offer its services. “The visitor then gets the ticket and can go to the festival, even if the amount due has not yet been paid in full.”

Greaves announced about the criticism of Klarna that Klarna sends five memories when the payment period is approaching. “If you miss a period, we will charge 7.50 euros per missed period, in addition to the amount due.” According to Klarna, customers are sufficiently informed and warned.

The payment company says it is working on better control to keep minors away and “during identity controls we look at whether there is a match at a credit information agency.” Customer data is also checked more stricter, says Greaves, and direct debit is available for the Payment option within thirty days, so that payments are automatically paid on time.

In any case, that question did not come from the 27-year-old Céleste, who “certainly does not intend” to ever use payment services afterwards. Because of her profession, she does not want the surname in the newspaper. “It is not useful to buy festival tickets if you actually don’t have enough money for that. I understand that people with a small grant also want to go to festivals, but it can be very insidious to make debts in this way.”

As an alternative, Céleste points to free parties and events. “As a music lover with less money, you can also go out.” She mentions Appelpop as an example, which attracts 125,000 visitors to the Waalkade in Tiel every year. “My tip: keep an eye on the Uitagenda of your hometown. For example, there are real bangers on the Appelpop line-up.”

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