Britain’s music festivals will have to start pulling the plug on events for the second year in succession if they do not get government support to give them the confidence to book acts and contractors, the industry said on Tuesday.
Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, chief executive at music industry trade body UK Music, said event organisers needed a date for when live music could resume and also for the government to back an insurance policy in case the pandemic caused new cancellations.
Ranging from Glastonbury, the world’s largest greenfield festival, to events dedicated to opera, folk, rock and everything in between, live music contributed 1.3 billion pounds ($1.8 billion) directly to the British economy in 2019, UK Music said.
Njoku-Goodwin said it might seem strange to talk about saving the summer in January as infections spiralled and England went into a new national lockdown.
“But actually summer is meant to be the moment where our country is going to bounce back from…