A new UK Festivals Data Map has been launched, mapping over 850 festivals that took place in England, Wales and Scotland in 2024, where music was a key part of the entertainment.
The free, publicly available, UK Music Festival Resource is designed to be updated and help the industry count festivals, artist plan tours and fans discover new events in their area.
Commissioned by retiring Association of Festival Organisers General Secretary Steve Heap in partnership with EIF and LIVE, this UK Festival Data tool has been created by Chris Carey of FastForward Events, with funding from the Events Industry Forum (principal funder) and LIVE (supporter).
Launched on 14th January, 2025, on the EIF website , the content will be monitored and updated by the Fast Forward Events team for the first three months, then its upkeep will transfer to the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) for ongoing maintenance.
Steve Heap said “As I retire, after 38 years from managing AFO I wanted to leave behind the answer to the question that was so often asked by local and national government, by media, artists, agents and managers alike.
‘How many music festivals are there?’
“This is the answer in the first instance, and it is the foundation for ongoing data collection in the festival industry.”
Since there is not a comparable data set for 2023, this should not be mistaken for an improvement in the volatile and fragile UK festival ecosystem, nor should it distract from the concerning closures of festivals seen in 2024 and already being reported for 2025.
The research captures a range of small and regional events as well as multi-arts events that might not have been captured in other research more specifically aimed at music festivals.
The intention is to build as comprehensive a view as possible of all festivals in the UK, where music is a key part of the event. Festival definitions can be hard to pin down and vary by sector. To qualify for inclusion in this research an event must have four or more acts playing over a day or more than one day.
Chris Carey, founder of FastForward Events, said
“As well as accounting for the wide array of music festivals in the UK, we hope this work can help artists discover places to play and plan tours. For fans we hope they can discover festivals in their favourite areas of the country and get to new events in 2025.”
The on-line platform includes correction and addition forms where festivals are invited to register their dates for 2025, and offer any corrections and cancellations, allowing for the most complete data set of festivals across England, Wales and Scotland for the 2025 season-and beyond.
Jon Collins CEO LIVE said: “Live music in the UK is often short of robust data when it comes to setting out our value, size and make up. That can limit our ability to represent the sector effectively to policymakers and the media. One fundamental question for which we have long since sought an answer is finally addressed in this research. Having access to comprehensive and up to date information on the size and nature of the UK festival sector will fill a significant gap in our messaging. Thanks to Steve and Chris for putting that information together and out into the public domain”.
John Rostron CEO AIF said “It’s great to see the work from Steve and Chris come online, giving visibility to many festivals across the UK. I’m also relieved that they are going to handle the tweaks and changes that will come in for the next three months before the map passes over to us at Association of Independent Festivals where we will then ensure it’s available free to access for all.
“This will be an enormously valuable tool that researchers, audiences, suppliers and others can use to understand the festival sector and a great legacy gift from Steve to the sector he adores so much.”
