Our new Podcast, Lockdown review, and our new Promotion Centre.

We’ve launched a new podcast series called The Guest List

We had planned to launch our new podcast series, The Guest List, with a festival special in the run up to the summer season… but best laid plans and all that.

Though we’ve still managed to churn out a festival special, of sorts, just recorded from our own homes via Zoom and discussing something we never imagined we’d have to discuss: an industry in turmoil following the outbreak of a global pandemic which has killed hundreds of thousands and may (or may not) have originated in a ‘wet market’ in Wuhan, China.

We are, of course, aware that discussing whether or not people will be able to go stand in a field and listen to music while drinking tepid beer may seem trivial right now. But with the live music sector worth over one billion pounds to the UK economy alone, plus the countless businesses and livelihoods now in jeopardy, we wanted to speak directly with festival organisers to see how they are coping and responding to the situation.

Is it reasonable to expect any festivals to go ahead this year? How different might the festival experience become in the wake of the outbreak? And how have artists and agents responded to the crisis? 

We pose all of those questions and more to our guests: Jon Drape, director of Engine No. 4 (Bluedot, Parklife, Snowbombing, Kendal Calling), Jorge Meehan, co-founder of JBM Music (Acropolis, Southern Sunset Festival, Reggae Festivals), Georgie Thorogood, director of Dixie Fields Festival, and Richard Dyer, co-founder of Highest Point Festival and Skiddle.

Lockdown review

We understand that the next lockdown period is due to be determined by the UK Government later today and in more detail on Sunday, and it is likely that upcoming events this month, June and possibly July are going to be faced with the prospect of cancellation. It’s important that Skiddle is updated to ensure your customers are informed. Our best advice is that you postpone your event where possible and if you have a rescheduled date that’s great, get it announced. Details on Skiddle’s postponement policy can be found HERE.

However, we also know it’s difficult to arrange a new date now so we suggest stating the new date as to be confirmed. This will allow you 28 days to reschedule and customers will not receive their options during this time. Please note, if you do not have a new date after 28 days, we will open the refund window for 7 days (with an additional 7 day grace period if customers contact us) to allow customers to request a refund, and reduce any chargebacks being raised.

We are encouraging customers to keep their ticket for rescheduled dates rather than return it. Of course, we understand that some customers may not be in a financial position to forgo their refund or might simply have other plans on the rescheduled date. Therefore, we will allow them a restricted time frame to opt for a refund.

Help us make the Skiddle Promotion Centre even better

 

• Fully mobile friendly
• Quicker to add events and tickets
• More control over your events without needing to contact Skiddle
• Bulk edit your events to save time
• Better stats and analytics
• More social media integrations
• Better communication with your ticket buyers

Our developers have been working really hard behind the scenes to create a brand new and improved Promotion Centre, rebuilt from scratch. We’ve seen it in action and it’s looking really good so far. But now we need YOU.

We’ve already sent out one survey, asking for feedback on the Dashboard. A big thanks to everyone that’s replied so far, this feedback has now been fed into the development team and is currently being worked on. If you’d like to participate in future Promotion Centre feedback and/or early access, please leave your details here.

Speak soon

Skiddle x