In this edition of the bottom line, we're looking at festivals, mud, music and cues for beer,

or literature festivals? It seems every town in the UK wants one.

But do they actually make money for the organisers?

Hello, welcome to the programme.

You don't need me to tell you that Britain has gone festival-tastic in recent years.

The summer comes, the sun shines, the fields fill up with outdoor music festivals,

towns and cities from Chittingstone to Cheltenham, from Hexham to Hay, host literary festivals.

It's all part of the experience economy.

We don't want to buy material things these days.

We want to participate in shared events.

So today we're going to examine the business of festival management. It is a particularly

stressful activity. If I tell you that Glastonbury costs tens of millions to organise and made

a profit of under 900,000 after tax for its 2016 show, you know, there's

little room for mistakes, and that is in a business where it is all too easy to make mistakes.

Well, I've three guests who know all about putting festivals on. They run three very different

businesses, so let's meet them. First up is Simon Taff, co-founder and director of the End of the Road Festival,

which is held in Wilshire. Tell us about the festival, Simon.

It's a festival mainly for music lovers, like real record collectors, I suppose.

The bands are involved in helping create.

They might choose their own bands to play.

They might choose their own films. Yeah, they might choose their own films.

Yeah, it's a music lovers festival.

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