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Glastonbury Festival has revealed a near-doubling in its annual profits, days after being criticised by singer Neil Young as a “corporate turn-off”.
According to accounts filed in Companies House, pre-tax profits rose to almost £6mn for the year to March 2024, from £2.9mn in the previous 12-month period, with revenues rising to £68mn from £57mn.
The summer festival uses its profits in part to fund charitable donations, with £5.2mn given over the 12-month period to a range of good causes such as the NHS, Oxfam and Greenpeace.
Glastonbury also paid £1.3mn to charities and local groups in return for services at the site, such as for volunteer stewards, while giving thousands of tickets free to locals.
However, its altruistic ambitions have not stopped criticism of the festival’s commercial tie-ups, with Young saying on his blog this week that Glastonbury’s partnership with BBC — which broadcasts much of the festival live — meant it was “now under corporate control”.
The Canadian musician said he had been “looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all-time favourite outdoor gigs” this year, but that “we were told that BBC was now a partner in Glastonbury and wanted us to do a lot of things in a way we were not interested in”.
Other brands that have partnerships with the festival include the Co-op, which runs an on-site supermarket, and telecoms group Vodafone.
The festival also attracted complaints from festivalgoers this year about overcrowding at some of the more popular acts on smaller stages, such as Bicep, Barry Can’t Swim and the Sugababes. Overall capacity of the festival has increased over recent years to 210,000 people over the weekend, about 7,000 more than in 2022.
During the year, the festival spent £3.7mn on acquiring more land, the accounts show, potentially signalling even further expansion in future. The accounts say that the company aims “to keep ticket prices as low as possible, while managing the effects of rising inflation, so that the festival remains accessible, with demand for tickets far outweighing supply”.
The accounts also show that Michael Eavis, who founded the festival in 1970 on his land at Worthy Farm, has now transferred his shares in the company to his daughter Emily. Michael remains a director of the company.
Glastonbury said in a statement to the Financial Times: “Having entered his 90th year, Michael Eavis is . . . proceeding with his long-held plan to pass control of the festival over to his daughter, Emily. The past few years have already seen Emily take over the day-to-day organisation of the event, and this latest change is simply another part of that process.”
Each year the festival hosts more than 4,000 performances at more than 100 stages across pop, rock, hip hop, dance, jazz, folk and classical, as well as theatre, circus, cinema and poetry reading.
Glastonbury in 2023 commissioned a report to measure its economic impact, which found that the festival generated about £168mn of income for UK businesses, including £32mn for businesses based in Somerset.
“Following record losses caused by Covid — when Glastonbury’s 2020 and 2021 events were unable to go ahead, costing the festival millions — we were pleased to enjoy successful, dry Glastonburys in both 2023 and 2024,” the festival said in the statement to the FT.
“This has enabled us to continue to rebuild the event’s vital financial reserves, while also allowing us to continue to support good causes and charities.”
