Emily Eavis: Why Glastonbury pays bands "10%" of what other festivals pay...

29 January 2019, 13:43 | Updated: 30 January 2019, 13:03

The festival organiser has discussed why Glastonbury pays bands significantly less than any other commercial festival on George Ezra's podcast.

Emily Eavis has discussed the fact that Glastonbury pays the artists on its line-up significantly less than any other festivals.

Speaking on George Ezra's podcast, George Ezra and Friends, the daughter of festival founder Michael Eavis discussed everything from the history of Glastonbury to some of the bands she loved growing up.

Asked by the Shotgun singer what she thinks makes Glastonbury so special, Eavis replied: "We've got integrity in that we kind of do it our own way. There are elements like all the charity stuff that we try to do... The fact that we're trying to give money away to charity and not make big profits, that's unusual for a business of this size."

She added: "Obviously people would try and save money on the areas, but we put all the money into the areas so you do get these incredible areas that are just like another world. But then we also don't pay the bands big fees, and so we're competing with really big commercial festivals who pay bands... like we're 10 percent of what they'd get from any other..."

Glastonbury Festival organisers Michael Eavis and Emily Eavis on site in 2009. Picture: Jim Dyson/Getty Images

When the Budapest singer said artists realise how special Glastonbury is and what an honour it is to be invited, Eavis replied: "That's really sweet of you to say about the fee, because I think that you understand it and you've been and you've got it.

"But I think it is harder for artists who haven't been especially when they're coming from the States and you're going 'this is really significant' and the agent looks (at the fee) and is like 'is that a joke?'"

She added: "But the thing that happens every time is because of the TV and because of the exposure that they get, they do go on to do really well afterwards, so they'll sell records afterwards, so we're saying 'look, come and do this but even though there's a small fee, we can almost guarantee afterwards you'll make up for it'."

In the same interview Emily Eavis gave fresh hope to The Cure fans that the band could still be in with a chance of topping the bill in 2019, as the festival booker revealed they were one of the first bands she really got into.

Asked if she remembers the moment she got into music for herself rather than always being surrounded by it, Eavis replied: "I was born in '79 right, so the festival in the '80s it was quite - the music we had on, certainly in the early 80s was much more of a kind of certain genre.

"There was only really one stage and [...] it was more like Elvis Costello and Van Morrison and great artists like that, but in the early 80s it didn't really cross over to the pop culture in the kind of popular way that it does now."

She added: “And then I suddenly probably in the early-late ‘80s when I was probably 9 or 10 that I started getting really excited by my own kind of music. Do you know what I mean?

“Like I got really into The Cure for example and then they ended up playing and I was like: ‘This is amazing [...] this festival is quite cool'”.

The Cure have been confirmed to play various festivals across Europe including Glasgow Summer Sessions, Belgium's Rock Werchter and Serbia's Exit Festival, but there is still a Glastonbury-shaped hole in their live dates so far.

Watch The Killers gush about their amazing secret set at Glastonbury Festival 2017:

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