The ‘mortgage’ of Primavera Sound 2023, or how to go to the festival paying your ticket in installments

Primavera Sound is back, but at what price. Considered one of the most powerful music festivals at a national and European level, it has surprised its faithful, as well as those who were considering attending this macro-event for the first time, with a consignment of tickets for sale at stratospheric prices, not suitable for anyone’s pocket. There may be several factors that have caused this increase, that start from 325 euros at least to 520 euros for a general subscription (this, without counting the VIP passes, which are much more expensive) and which has left many fans stunned.

The organization has decided to change the business model that it had been applying almost since its inception (it started in 2001 and since 2005 it has been held in the Parque del Fórum in Barcelona) in view of the cultural event scheduled for June 2023. On this occasion , Barcelona will not be the only venue to host the almost 200 concerts prepared by Primavera Sound, adding Madrid as a new enclave for the celebration of bowling and other related activities.

In the previous edition, that of 2022, Primavera Sound was held for two weeks, from June 2 to 11. The cost of the common ticket for each week was 245 euros (450 in the case of the VIP pass), but it was reduced somewhat if full attendance at the event was paid: 425 euros for the two weeks (850 VIP euros). This year, things look different with the relocation of the festival. As stated on the website itselfthe amount of the subscription becomes 325 euros plus taxes both in Barcelona (from June 1 to 4) and in Madrid (from June 8 to 11), with a pass to Primavera a la Ciutat included.

Prices that are reduced again if the joint season ticket pack for the two cities is purchased: 520 euros to which would have to be added, in principle, expenses related to transportation and lodging in both cities if these resources are not available. If we talk about the VIPs, things get bigger: 545 euros is the individual amount set for Madrid and Barcelona, and reaches 900 euros if tickets are purchased to attend the festival in both cities. As for the price of tickets per day, these have risen to 125 euros (185 in the case of VIPs). Although they have discounts for residents in the two areas for 275 euros (plus distribution costs), and in the case of the City, also for Carnet Jove. But is it worth going to the same festival in two different cities?

Madrid and Barcelona practically share the same Primavera Sound line-up, although both cities have exclusive bands

The ‘maneuver’ executed by Primavera Sound in recent times would have emerged from this approach. The organization of the festival has taken advantage of the new location in the Madrid capital to promote a system of concerts different from that of previous years: now, Madrid and Barcelona will share the bill, except for a few notorious bands that will perform exclusively in one or the other city. To give an example: those who buy tickets to Primavera Sound will be able to enjoy bands and artists such as Blur, Kendrick Lamar, Depeche Mode or Rosalía herself. However, only those who buy the Madrid season ticket will be able to see live The Mars Volta, Bad Gyal or Crack Cloud.

For their part, only those who go to the event in Barcelona will have the privilege of seeing Ghost, Arthur Verocai, The War on Drugs or Israel Fernández and Diego del Morao, among other bands so far announced. Primavera Sound has thus decided to promote a business model projecting practically the same groups in two different locations and with special performances that require greater investment by the company. He had already been establishing the idea years ago, with the celebration of Primavera Sound Oporto; idea that has been consolidated with the expansion, this year, of the brand to Latin American countries (Brazil, Argentina, Chile) and the US, where these macro-events have taken place, although with different artists.

Payment in installments, the future of macrofestivals?

Perhaps aware of the high cost of tickets, at Primavera Sound they have been implementing since 2013 -as the organization has indicated to laSexta- a new payment format that in recent years, and gradually, has been installed in Spain: the financing of subscriptions in installments to attend the festivals. Paying little by little to attend a musical macro-event of the characteristics of this event is not a new idea, far from it. Various Latin American festivals, as the ‘EDC Mexico’and Europeans, as the ‘Leeds Festival’ in the United Kingdomhave been testing this ‘budget plan’ for some years now to make it easier for users to attend them without disbursing a huge amount of money first.

With this formula it seems that have studied the situation of their target: largely young people who, given the socioeconomic context, are in a precarious situation or cannot invest so much money at once in a plan like this. “It’s something that our public demanded of us. It’s very useful for people because the outlay is more expensive at once,” they tell us from Primavera Sound. In Spain, events like Andalusia Big Festival or the CalaMijas Festboth in their first edition, or others already known as MadCool or BBK Live have already promoted this year’s and previous calls a payment model in installments that would encourage the purchase of increasingly more expensive subscriptions. However, your application carries serious risks for the users themselves by the volume of payments to face.

The mere fact of tracking payments is often very complicated for the buyer. Something that cannot happen in any case, according to the rules proposed by Primavera Sound: “We remember that the purchase of the ticket in installments implies a commitment to pay on the indicated dates. In the event that the payment to the indicated account is not possible for reasons beyond the control of the Organization, we will consider its obligations breached and, therefore, it will be considered that the ticket has not been purchased and, consequently, payments made will not be refunded“.

This situation poses a new and dangerous paradigm for consumers in the face of possible indebtedness or unconscious loss of income. The two consumer associations contacted by laSexta admit that they have been addressing this issue for a relatively short time, so they have not even been able to establish protocols or packages of recommendations aimed at alerting consumers to the type of purchase they are making and its consequences in case of non-payment, although they assure that they continue working with the aim of guaranteeing minimum information and protection to make this type of purchase.

A bubble that doesn’t burst

But What is the origin of this notable price increase? Primavera Sound points to different factors; among them, the pandemic and inflation: “It has affected the rise in the production costs of live music. As has happened to other festivals, things before as easy as the production of a festival – raising a stage, connecting the wires to be connected… they have risen a lot because of the pandemic“. Many of the companies that provided logistical support to these festivals closed, and given the shortage of material and personnel, prices have skyrocketed.

Another reason that has led the aforementioned appointments to increase the value of their passes. An increase that, as indicated at the beginning, also seems difficult to assume for a large percentage of common attendees of these festivals. Are they the only reasons? “Inflation is a pretty clear reason. But we all know that, applied to any industry, a large percentage of inflation ends up being pure profit.” This is how Sixto Martín, singer and guitarist of the Malaga group ‘La Trinidad’, sees it, specifying that “the music industry is just another part of that gear, just like a bank or any other company can be”.

But for Martín, the exorbitant prices of Primavera Sound also respond to another element: “In addition to the fact that the contracts are no longer for one date, but for two, that (the festival) has moved to two cities and is doing that franchise in Latin America and the US weighs heavily, increasing the money to be paid. But they will expect twice the benefits“. The musician from ‘La Trinidad’ provides another piece of information that would affect this issue: Brexit. “Bringing in British bands has become very expensive in the wake of Brexit; the permits and licenses they have to get to leave the UK and enter the European Union”.

The festivals have gone to cover all those expenses, the basics. But that means going to festivals with much less risky lineups.”

“Before, it cost a small band two duros to come. Now, it costs a full band about 1,500 euros to come to work, to tour venues. We are not talking about bands that we do not know, but those small ones that before they could go on an adventure and now they can’t“, continues the musician. The same thing is happening from the festival: “Bringing things from the United Kingdom since Brexit is no longer the same, nor from the US.” In no case does this increase seem to have occurred due to an increase in the cache of, At least the small groups.

“This has been a fairly general trend. In the same way that it was said that after the pandemic we were going to come out as better people and we have ended up being the same society, the same thing has happened with musicians,” adds Sixto Martín, who specifies: “It was said that it was going to end with the hegemony of some bands that have been playing the same record in a loop for years and with astronomical caches. But we haven’t been better bands. Some have raised their cache and we’ve fucked up the ones below”. The musician refers to the “typical bands that are headliners in Spain and abroad”.

This observation would also be key when analyzing the aforementioned amounts, due to the type of investment involved. “The festivals have gone to cover all these expenses, the basics. But that means going to festivals with much less risky lineups, in which small bands are not promoted, they are not committed to creativity or something that is out of the ordinary. the rule; for more experimental projects or outside the radio formula“. However, from Primavera Sound they believe the result is the opposite: “This autumn, many groups have explained on their personal pages that they could no longer tour because a tour was not worth it. This affects festivals, in the sense that you have to raise the price of some things. There are groups that either you bring to a festival, or you can’t see them.”

“With this formula, you can have enough budget to bring risky tours with small, experimental groups, which otherwise find it convenient to tour theaters, where they would have to set prohibitively high ticket prices”, they insist. Live music billed more than 380 million euros in 2019 in our countrybut the pandemic devastated a sector that has had to reinvent itself to once again be a reference in the cultural leisure plans scheduled for the summer.