- News
AIF’s Unveils Festival Forecast 2025
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By Ryan Moss
- 27 Jun 2025
- 3 min read
The Association of Independent Festivals has unveiled their Festival Forecast, which identifies 592 music festivals set to take place across the country in 2025.
Published for the first time, the detailed research maps the entire UK festival sector, revealing that 360 of the events are green field festivals, while 232 take place in single or multi-venue formats. The forecast also breaks down festivals by size: 4 are classified as ‘major’ (80,000+ capacity), 7 as ‘large’ (50,000–79,999), 33 as ‘medium’ (20,000–49,999), 334 as ‘small’ (1,000–19,999), and 214 as ‘micro’ (under 1,000).
The analysis illustrates the dominance of global corporations at the top of the market. Live Nation owns all but one of the UK’s major festivals, with the exception being Glastonbury, where Festival Republic’s Melvin Benn, a Live Nation executive, holds a director role. Live Nation’s total UK festival capacity sits at 880,000, while AEG’s portfolio adds up to 230,000.
Independent festivals, however, are the heart of the scene. AIF’s 148 member events collectively account for 1.35 million in total capacity, more than Live Nation and AEG combined. Independents outside of AIF’s membership contribute an estimated additional 1.5 million capacity.
The Festival Forecast 2025 also underscores the tough economic conditions many festivals face, pointing to solutions like the Fallow Festival Fund, launched by AIF earlier this year, and the LIVE Trust, a charity aimed at sustaining grassroots live music.
AIF is once again urging the UK Government to introduce a Music Festival Tax Relief to support small and micro events. Mirroring schemes such as Theatre Tax Relief, the proposal would offer tax breaks on eligible creative and music-related expenditure for festivals under 30,000 capacity.
AIF CEO John Rostron said:
“This is the first time we’ve been able to map the UK festival market in such detail, right down to the micro festivals that are vital to our sector. It shows the vast influence of corporate giants like Live Nation, but also underlines the vital role played by independent festivals. This document will be crucial in informing policymakers, regulators and the media as we move through the 2025 season.”
Download the Festival Forecast 2025 at https://shorturl.at/uyLxq
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