Major pop festivals have not had an easy time in recent years, and this is reflected in the trends on the stages: acts come closer and are often alone with their laptop or turntables. This is evident from research by Poplive, a research project of Erasmus University in Rotterdam, in collaboration with trade organization VNPF and organizer Mojo. They examined the festival landscape in the pre-pandemic years 2016 to 2019, the bounce-back year 2022 and last year, and compared the line-ups of eleven major festivals.
The large increase in the number of booked acts in the dance genres is particularly striking. In 2024, three in ten artists at major festivals called themselves DJs or producers; an increase compared to 2016, when just under a fifth of acts fit into that box. Examples are Justice and Fred Again.. who were headliners at Lowlands, Calvin Harris closed a day at Pinkpop, at Best Kept Secret there was Disclosure and (also) Justice, Down the Rabbit Hole had Jungle and LCD Soundsystem and at Zwarte Cross stood Armin van Buuren.
Rising costs
The festivals are faced with rising costs and sometimes high ticket prices. Several festivals such as Parkpop, Welcome to the Village and Tuckerville stopped in the past few years. And the Groningen festival Grasnapolsky recently announced that it would not be organizing a festival this year due to the financial situation. On the other hand, the musical offering at the major festivals has actually increased, the researchers write. From 29 performances per festival day in 2016, the average has now grown to 39 per day.
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It is striking that the increase in the number of women on festival stages seems to have stalled again. While there was a doubling between 2016 and 2022, fewer women were programmed last year than in 2023. According to the researchers, exactly a quarter of all artists performing at the festivals studied were women. They saw more women among the growing group of DJs and producers: from 3 percent in 2016 to 28 percent women last year.
The number of European artists is increasing, to more than 85 percent of the acts. Besides the Dutch, almost all were British acts (one in six), the rest came from Belgium, Germany, Ireland and France. Just under ten percent came from the US, Canada and Australia. The rest of the world was represented with 2.8 percent and delivered a total of 35 acts to the eleven festivals surveyed.
Less rock
More DJs means fewer rock bands. Their numbers have been declining over the past eight years. That could well have something to do with the high costs, but there have also been fewer rock bands in the charts in recent years.
At the same time, such a trend may well turn back in the other direction. Because what is known of next year’s programs is pretty rocky. Down the Rabbit Hole (DTRH) features veterans Iggy Pop and Patti Smith, and young dogs Amyl and the Sniffers, Wet Leg and Viagra Boys. Pinkpop has confirmed guitar acts such as Muse, Korn, Olivia Rodrigo and Weezer. Zwarte Cross has only announced one act and that is a rock band, Normal. And the Best Kept Secret (BKS) program is exceptionally heavily loaded with bands such as Deftones, Amenra and Gouge Away. By the way, there is also a producer as headliner, Barry Can’t Swim.
What has not changed is the trend that ticket prices have shown in recent years. In 2025, Pinkpop will pass the 300-euro limit for the first time in 2025, just like Lowlands before (which was 325 euros, the new price has not yet been announced): a weekend ticket costs 305 euros. BKS and DTRH are just below that, and both cost 299 euros for a weekend this year.