"We have a deficit of one million euros", festivals in serious economic difficulty

Geoffrey Branger 08:06, July 17, 2022

Festivals without health restrictions are back this summer.

All these giant concerts are delighted to return to the front of the stage and to welcome many people who have come to have fun.

Good news for the organizers, particularly marked after the coronavirus crisis.

For them and especially their finances, the stake is vital.

Musilac in great danger

Because these two years have left traces in the coffers of the organizers.

Their economy is on the edge.

And if some festivals are full, for others it is more complicated, between competition, the purchasing power crisis, the coronavirus and the phenomenon of injections.

The Musilac festival in Savoie – which ended on Sunday July 10 – only sold 80,000 seats out of a possible 100,000.

"Musilac has a deficit of one million euros, which puts us in a position of not being sure at all of still being alive in 2023 and the years to come", explains Rémi Perrier, the co-founder of the event. 

Refueling is now mandatory

In order not to lose money or to survive, a festival must therefore sell all or almost all of its tickets.

The behemoths of the summer fill up like the Hellfest, the Solidays, the Francofolies or the Vieilles Charrues, an economic imperative henceforth for its boss Jérôme Tréhorel.

“In a normal situation, the festival had to sell tickets at 90 or 95% of the gauges in order to balance. With the double impact of inflation and shortages, we are around 10, 20 to 30% of increase according to our sectors of activity, that means that even if they are complete, the Vieilles Charrues festival is at risk", he analyzes.

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And with artists' fees increasing exponentially, most festivals are overspending, so much so that not all of them are sure they can continue in 2023.