Two years in hell. While Hellfest, the metal music festival, resonates with its first howls, Aurélie Hannedouche lets out a cry of alert. Interviewed by - this Thursday, June 27, the director of the current music union noted fatalistically: “43% of our member festivals were in deficit in 2023. In 2024, unfortunately, it promises to be even more complex. »
The cause? Certainly not attendance, which peaked last year. Aurélie Hannedouche points the finger at inflation, which has caused costs to skyrocket. All costs, from the artist’s fee to security, have increased according to her “by 15 to 20%”.
The other issue is the already overloaded schedule of festival-goers and the competition between events to attract them. “Many festivals have shifted their dates to avoid the Olympic Games period and to keep security personnel available.” As a result, the bulk of the summer’s musical programming is concentrated on a few Saturdays and Sundays in July or at the end of August, regrets Aurélie Hannedouche.
The year 2025 could be just as complicated
Over time, his fear of seeing certain festivals go out of business has turned into an almost certainty. Because, last year, the National Music Center (CNM) played the role of firefighter with an aid system for businesses in difficulty. “Thanks to the CNM, few festivals have finally disappeared in 2023, but I fear that in 2024 this may be the case,” worries the representative. The improvement will wait until 2025, then? Not really, according to him.
Several gray clouds appear on the horizon. On the one hand, the fees of the “headliners”, Aurélie Hannedouche even speaks of a “speculative bubble”, hoping that it will explode, “because it is becoming absolutely unhealthy”. On the other hand, there is still competition, but coming from the artists themselves. After a year 2024 on which certain groups or singers have decided to give up, “there will be a lot of dates in 2025 (…), a lot of Arenas and stadiums”, anticipates the trade unionist. The only reason for rejoicing in the face of this surge of XXL musical events, small events which are based on a concept, a local anchor, have, according to her, a card to play.
