Challis In No Uncertain Terms

According to Challis, arguably one of London’s busiest lawyers, when promoters agree to the basic contract – show date, stage time, fee, deposit terms, etc. – they also sign up to the terms of the rider.

The problem, as Challis explained in an interview with specialist digital mag Festival Insights, is that promoters may not actually be furnished with this rider until “a week before, a day before, or even on the day of the event.” The problem is understandably made worse when there can often be at least three of these riders, covering such things as catering, hospitality, technical requirements and billing. It’s not a problem for the big fests such as Glastonbury, Roskilde Festival in Denmark and Scotland’s T in the Park, which all have their own standard terms to sort of “override” any unagreed terms that the agent may later send out.

Since 2012, members of Yourope – the 80-strong European festivals association and one of Challis’s clients – have started to use their own standard terms for appearances at their festivals. Basically the Yourope terms aim to protect promoters from signing contracts that would otherwise force them to provide extra services set out on a separate rider that they haven’t seen.

Apparently opinions differ on how well it’s succeeded and the International Festival Forum – the ILMC’s new festival conference – has scheduled a panel to discuss it Sept. 30. The UK’s Association of Independent Festivals is also looking into producing its own set of standard terms.

Challis’ other clients include Glastonbury Festival and The Prince’s Trust. In 2006 he co-founded global campaign group A Greener Festival, and is a visiting professor in law at Buckinghamshire New University and a visiting fellow at Sheffield Hallam University. He’s a board member of the International Centre for Crowd Management and Security Studies, and also edits Music Law Updates.