Hop Farm And Benicassim Festivals Go Into Administration

In the current economic climate, making money from rock music is proving harder than ever. And it would seem that Hop Farm and Benicassim, two of the major European festival events, have proved the latest casualties of the recession. My Guitar Lessons are reporting that Music Festivals, the company owned by music entrepreneur Vince Power that runs the two festivals, is preparing to go into administration.

While shares in the company were worth 66.5 pence last June, they were suspended at just 2.12 p on Friday, meaning that the overall value of the company had slipped from £10 million to a mere £310,000. In a recently released statement, the company explained that a search for a financial lifeline had failed and they were moving for shares to be suspended:

“The board has in recent weeks pursued a number of different funding proposals but the company has not been able to procure the necessary funding it requires.” The over saturated European festival market and the summer’s Olympic games have been cited as reasons for the decline in festival attendance.

In other ominous music news this week, radio mogul Malcolm Bluemel is exploring a sale of Planet Rock, the U.K’s oldest commercial digital radio station. Planet Rock attracts nearly one million listeners a week, yet is reportedly losing £200, 000 to £300, 000 a year according to the Guardian newspaper. Bluemel came under fire from the station’s listeners back in June over plans to charge £5 for extra subscription-based content on the station, criticisms which he responded to in an open letter:

“For the last four years I have worked my backside off to keep this station going,” he said in the letter. “I am not a fat cat. If I was, I would have kept my money in my pocket, stayed at home with my wife and children and been £3m better off.”