Scenes like this one from Glastonbury Festival in pre-lockdown times may seem like a distant memory to us now, with so many unexpected changes having taken place in recent months since COVID-19’s arrival. We asked almost 1,500 people in our independent music festival survey*, carried out just days before lockdown, whether they had serious concerns over Glastonbury being postponed, in this its 50th year since its first festival was held in 1970. Opinion was split, with just 56% of people in the survey thinking it would be postponed this year. With the benefit of hindsight, given that we went into total lockdown just days after this survey, this figure might seem surprisingly low to us now.
Top 10 UK Music Festivals
Which UK music festival do you think came top in our survey? Well, Glastonbury was the clear winner! Here are the UK’s top 10 music festivals, according to our survey results:
| 1. Glastonbury Festival |
| 2. Download Festival |
| 3. Wireless |
| 4. Reading and Leeds Festival |
| 5. V Festival |
| 6. Creamfields |
| 7. Isle of Wight Festival |
| 8. BoomTown |
| 9. Latitude |
| 10. Bestival |
Top 5 Standout Acts on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage since 1970:
You may recall that the planned headline act for Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage this year was Paul McCartney, but how popular was this billing? According to our survey, only 12.49% of people strongly agreed with this choice.
Here are the top 5 artists who did make it as Glastonbury’s standout acts since 1970 in our survey:
| David Bowie | 2000 |
| Adele | 2016 |
| Beyoncé | 2011 |
| Jay-Z | 2008 |
| Oasis | 1995 |
Which Age Groups Are Most Active Music Festival Goers?
The survey showed that Millennials and Gen X were the most active festival-goers generally, and people between the ages of 35 to 54 were the most likely to have been to Glastonbury Festival than any other age group.
Over 40% of people in the survey had never been to any music festival, with this figure rising to 55% in the over 55s age group and dipping to 35% for 16 to 24 years old. 44% of people in the survey aged over 55 said they would not have wanted to go to Glastonbury this year even if they had a ticket!
Our Chief Executive, Francis Martin, had this to say about the Music Festival Survey Results:
“With many music festivals understandably having been put on hold this year due to Covid-19, it seems from looking at social media that many have nevertheless found some solace by dusting off their musical instruments, mixing new tracks and sharing their music online. The survey results showed that 13% of those in the survey own and play a musical instrument or musical mixing equipment.
As an insurance provider, we provide flexible, user-friendly insurance covering musical instruments, equipment and accessories – cover can be added for sheet music, vinyl record collections, gadgets, mobile phones and more. We’re doing everything we can to support our customers, new and existing, during these times. If you have any questions regarding your policy or if you are interested in finding out more about our music insurance, don’t hesitate to call our Customer Contact team on 03300 244 005 or check out our product page https://www.theinsuranceemporium.co.uk/products/music
* This survey was conducted by Censuswide, with 1,457 respondents who had ever attended a UK festival OR listen to music. The fieldwork took place in UK between 11.03.2020 – 12.03.2020. Censuswide abide by and employ members of the Market Research Society which is based on the ESOMAR principles.
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