PRESS RELEASE

GLASTONBURY NOT SO HOT IN 2008

04 May, 2008

As music lovers prepare to decide if they can face the hassle of trying to buy tickets for this year’s Glastonbury Festival on Sunday, Seatwave, the UK’s favourite fan-to-fan ticket exchange, is predicting that 2008 will be the year of the smaller, boutique festival.



Worries about the weather, frustration with the overly complicated and restrictive ticketing system, and disappointment with the less than stellar line-up seem to be conspiring to make Glastonbury this year’s damp squib of festivals. Seatwave’s Marketing Director, James Burgess says: “Fans are increasingly losing interest in going to Glastonbury. It’s too big, too much of a hassle to get to, has a disappointing line-up, and it always rains! Instead we’re seeing loads of enthusiasm for some of the smaller, niche festivals like Latitude, Green Man and End of the Road.”



In fact it was Rob Da Bank’s eclectic Bestival that commanded the highest price per ticket on Seatwave’s site last year, with fans so desperate to grab some of the action that they were willing to pay almost twice face-value.



“The smaller festivals really are hotting up” continues Burgess, “Bestival continues to go from strength to strength with a 400% increase in sales since 2007 alone, and this year we see that Oxford’s Cornbury festival has a rare appearance from Paul Simon, as well as popular headliners such as Crowded House and KT Tunstall. Why bother trudging through crowds and mud to see Jay-Z when you can enjoy a much more intimate atmosphere at a smaller festival.”



In a recent interview with Seatwave’s resident music editor, UK act Morcheeba listed Mosley, Bestival and Cropredy as their ones to watch. Fans would be forgiven for not recognising a couple of them!



Seatwave’s figures also show that many festival lovers are eschewing the UK’s offerings all together and heading further afield to get that special experience. Last year, foreign festivals accounted for only 1% of all festival activity. This year, that figures has jumped dramatically to 16%. Germany’s Rock Am Ring, Spain’s Benicassim and Serbia’s Exit are all proving popular with those giving Glasto a wide berth.



Burgess concludes “People want something different from a festival these days, whether it be a trip abroad, or catching an up-and-coming act in an tent with just a few other people. The hype around Glastonbury has really cooled off as many fans just can’t be bothered with it anymore!”



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For further information please contact

Louise Rutter
Portland PR
T. 020 7842 0135
E.

About Seatwave
Seatwave is the UK's largest fan-to-fan ticket exchange. Seatwave was launched in February 2007 by Joe Cohen, ex Ticketmaster and ex match.com, and early stage Venture Capital firm, Atlas Venture. It has more than 400,000 tickets on sale at any one time, 20 times more than eBay. Seatwave guarantees that tickets come only from legitimate sources and will represent them accurately and honestly. All tickets include 'TicketCover™' free of charge, providing a 100% money-back guarantee for event cancellation and a number of other possible misfortunes. The company is based in London. www.seatwave.com

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