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“The Great Escape has established itself as the
best place in Europe to discover new bands.”
- The Times
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
F E S T I VA L O V E R V I E W
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
F E S T I VA L I N T R O D U C T I O N
8 years in, The Great Escape has undoubtedly
established as Europe’s leading showcase festival
and music industry convention.
Each year, the festival attracts over 350 of
the world’s most exciting new artists to one
of the most vibrant cities in the United
Kingdom, Brighton.
In Brief
3 days, Thursday - Saturday
35 Venues plus unique perfomance spaces
including historical museums, the beach,
shop fronts and hidden spaces
650 Live performances
16,000 music fans of which 3,000 music
aficionados
“The Great Escape is without doubt
one of the most important and
undervalued festivals in Europe, let
alone the UK. The Great Escape has
everything you’ll ever need. Ever.”
– Festival Mag
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
THE HEADLINERS OF TOMORROW
Haim (2012), Tinie Tempah (2010), Jake Bugg (2012), Mumford & Sons (2008), Adele (2007),
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
TGE ARTIST ALUMNI: 2006 - 2013
2006
Bat For Lashes
British Sea Power
The Cribs
The Gossip
Klaxons
The Kooks
The Maccabees
Midlake
Mystery Jets
Richard Hawley
2007
Adele
Foals
Friendly Fires
Gallows
Kate Nash
Laura Marling
Leathal Bizzle
Mr. Hudson
The Noisettes
The Rakes
2008
Beach House
Bon Iver
Crystal Castles
Example
Ladyhawke
Mumford & Sons
Santigold
Vampire Weekend
The Wombats
The xx
2009
Cloud Control
Kasabian
Django Django
Idlewild
Metronomy
Noah And The Whale
The Joy Formidable
School of Seven Bells
The Temper Trap
White Denim
2010
Chase & Status
The Cribs
Delphic
Ellie Goulding
Everything Everything
Hurts
SBTRKT
Tinie Tempah
Warpaint
Wild Beasts
2011
Anna Calvi
The Antlers
Bastille
Daughter
Ed Sheeran
Frank Turner
The Naked & Famous
Tribes
The Vaccines
Villagers
2012
Δ [Alt-J]
Aluna George
Disclosure
Grimes
Haim
Jake Bugg
Lucy Rose
Palma Violets
Peace
Savages
2013
Chvrches
Deap Vally
King Krule
Iggy Azalea
Jaguwar Ma
John Newman
Mac DeMarco
Swim Deep
Temples
Tom Odell
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
F E S T I VA L FA C T S
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
F E S T I VA L D E M O G R A P H I C S
Delegates
Festival Consumer Facing
Media / Marketing Reach
Attendance: 3,000 delegates
Attendance: 13,000 attendees
Media Attendance: 360 journalists
Participants: 135+ industry speakers
Gig Venues: 35
Media Reach: 150 million OTS worldwide
Networking: 27 official events
Stage Partners: 71
Media Partners: 21 active partners
Age: Predominately 22 – 48 years old
Core Programme Artists: 350 artists
Marketing: 8 month international campaign
Trade: 54% buyers vs. 46% sellers
Number of Countries Represented: 27
Festival Programmes: 15,000 printed
Gender Split: 63% male vs. 37% female
Alternative Escape Venues: 16
Convention Programmes: 5,000 printed
Alternative Escape Participants: 277
Industry Database: 50,000+
Primary Age Group: 18 – 34
Social Media Reach: 30,000+ engaged
Gender Split: 54% male vs. 46% female
Trending: #TGE13 top-3 nationally
Geographical Split:
21% Brighton
27% London
37% rest of UK
15% outside of UK
TGE App Subscribers: 3,000+
Industry Sector: A&R, Agents,
Artist Managers, Broadcasters, Commissioners,
Digital Commerce, Distributers, Export Offices,
Festival Bookers, Financial Advisors, Journalists,
Labels, Lawyers, Licensing Agents, Media and
Marketing Agencies, Merchandisers, Music
Supervisors, PRs, Producers, Promoters, Public
Funders, Publishers, Social Media Agencies, Trade
Bodies, Venue Bookers and more.
Texting Service Subscribers: 900+
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
PA R T N E R S O F T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
The Great Escape continues to collaborate with
a portfolio of some of the most innovative and
creative content partners. Supported by our
relationships with numerous brands, media
partners and public funders, The Great Escape is
able to deliver a unique and diverse programme
unlike any other.
Key brand partners: Red Bull, Lynx, Urban
Outfitters, VEVO, Krusovice, Dr. Martens, Levi’s,
Relentless, Topman, Virgin, Ford Bands In Transit,
Ted Baker, Sonicbids, Gaymers, Road To V,
T-Mobile and Red Stripe.
Key media partners: Metro, Channel 4, Artocker,
Rockfeedback, UNCUT, CMU, The Fly, BBC
Introducing, Noisey, Drowned in Sound, Company
Magazine, Hype Machine, NME, The Guardian,
MOJO, NME Radar, Xfm, MTV Two, Music Week,
Line of Best Fit, Kerrang and XYZ.
Key funding partners: Arts Council England, UK
Trade & Investment, PRS for Music Foundation,
British Council, Brighton and Hove City Council.
“The Cannes of the music world.”
– Steve Lamacq, BBC Radio 6 Music
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
T H E F E S T I VA L L O C AT I O N S
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
3 3 C E N T R A L B R I G H TO N LO C AT I O N S
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
BRIGHTON DOME SHOWS
After the continued success of 2011 and 2012,
The Great Escape 2013 featured another three
shows at the Brighton Dome, each taking place
on a different night of the festival often to
audiences aged 14+. Bastille, Billy Bragg
and Everything Everything all performed to
packed out crowds, with Bastille standing out in
particular as a sold out show.
As in previous years, Brighton Dome shows were
ticketed separately to the rest of the festival with
those festival goers who had already purchased
wristbands being given the option to ‘top-up’
their ticket for an additional £7.
By selling separate tickets to Brighton Dome shows
it allowed new audiences to experience and engage
with The Great Escape, many of them for the first
time, with over 4,000 new ticket buyers making
purchases to see this year’s shows.
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
T H E F E S T I VA L H U B
Returning for a third year, the main outdoor focal
point at The Great Escape was the Festival Hub
which takes over Brighton’s Jubilee Square.
The Festival Hub is programmed with live musical
talent that runs from 12pm – 9.30pm daily.
The Festival Hub also functions as a wristband
exchange open from 10am – 10pm daily so all
13,000 festival goers interact with the space at
some point during their stay in Brighton.
Located in the city centre the space is also enjoyed
by the public, allowing bands & brands wider
engagement.
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
SECRET SHOWS
+ OUTDOOR PERFORMANCES
The concept of secret shows and outdoor performances has been alive at The Great
Escape since being introduced back in 2007. Over the years, what started out as a
series of branded street gigs has morphed into something much more bespoke and
unique, while maintaining the all important element of mystery and surprise. Four of
these very special shows from 2013 are detailed below.
itch – Brighton Museum and Art Gallery
A brand new partnership with Brighton Museums and Museums at Night resulted
in this spectacular event which saw a select number of attendees being led through
an avenue of exhibitions ‘after hours’ by a number of artists performing unplugged,
leading up to a final performance by itch.
Thumpers – Urban Outfitters
Alt pop duo Thumpers were selected to perform an exclusive in-store show at the
Brighton branch of Urban Outfitters. Unlisted in the programme and announced
through The Great Escape text service only, this show was super exclusive with celeb
spotters spying one Keira Knightley in attendance.
Palma Violets – The Haunt
Arguably the most talked about show of the whole weekend, Palma Violets headlined
an exclusive night at The Haunt on the NME Radar stage. Announced via The Great
Escape text service, the band took to the stage at 2.00am to a venue close to bursting
and performed a full 30 minute set.
YADi – Brighton Wheel
A much loved performance space outside The Brighton Wheel saw a wonderful show
from YADi. Announced through TGE social media channels, this performance captured
the impromptu essence of the original TGE street gigs, with crowds gathering out of
nowhere before melting away at the end of the set.
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
CONVENTION OVERVIEW
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
CONVENTION INTRODUCTION
The Great Escape convention runs concurrently to the live music
programme between 9.30am – 6pm daily. 2013 saw the convention
evolve considerably, taking on two new panel venues (Dukes @
Komedia and The Basement) and several new delegate party spaces.
In addition, a brand new DIY strand was programmed on the
Saturday for the grassroots industry, who turned out in force to gain
knowledge and first hand experience from some of the most well
respected individuals in the music business.
Returning with its usual mix of business seminars, panel discussions,
case studies and high end keynote speeches, The Great Escape
convention saw considerable expansion of its networking programme
with a total of 10 targeted speed networking events and 10 official
delegate parties taking place.
Aimed at both experienced music industry delegates and up and
coming business talent, The Great Escape convention covers a
full spectrum of new ideas and business initiatives and is the ideal
location for delegates to do business, meet new contacts and expand
their networks. The 2013 convention was also used as a platform
to launch two very different, but both very exciting, new business
initiatives, courtesy of Music Glue and the Momentum Music Fund.
Since The Great Escape first launched in 2006, our delegation has
grown from 650 to 3,000 attendees.
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
CONVENTION SPEAKERS
Convention Speaker Highlights 2013
Historical Speaker Highlights
Billy Bragg Artist
Alan DaveyArts Council England
Jemima Kiss
The Guardian
Kevin Godley
Whole WorldBand
Korda Marshall
Infectious Music
Lucy WoodEat Your Own Ears
Brian Message
ATC
Vanessa Reed
PRS for Music Foundation
Everything Everything
Artists
Mark FosterDeezer
Patrick Walker
Youtube Music
Serena Kutchinsky
The Sunday Times
Alison Wenham
AIM
Michael Eavis
Glastonbury
Colin Greenwood
Radiohead
Daniel EkSpotify
Frank Turner
Artist
Norman Cook
aka Fatboy Slim
Paul Epworth
Producer
Seymour Stein
Sire Records
Brian MolkoPlacebo
Rob da Bank
Radio 1 / Bestival
DJ ShadowArtist
Tony Wadsworth
BPI
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
MEDIA REACH
The Great Escape engaged with a total of 21 media partners whilst 360 national and
international journalists attended and reported on the festival. With the event growing
in size and prestige on a yearly basis, media reach increased by 50% compared to 2012,
from 100 million to 150 million opportunities to see (OTS) worldwide. A strong media
partnership with Metro was coupled with high profile national coverage came from the
likes of The Guardian, The Independent and The Times (all of whom rated
The Great Escape with 4 stars) and Company Magazine, in addition to publications such
as The Financial Times and Daily Mail.
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
ONLINE PRESENCE
30,000 engaged fans on Twitter and Facebook
Growing presence across Instagram, SoundCloud,
Spotify, Tumblr and Pinterest
Averaging over 500,000 impressions on
mamacolive.com/thegreatescape per month
in the build up to TGE
The TGE hashtag #TGE13 began trending
nationally at number 3 for the first time at the
event
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
K E Y B U S I N E S S & P R E S S I N AT T E N DA N C E
National Business
Press And Media
13 Artists
4AD
Academy Music Group
AEI Media
ASOS
Bacardi Martini Ltd
Barbican
CAA
CODA
Chess Club Records
DHP Group
Eat Your Own Ears
Elastic Freetrade
Fred Perry Subculture
Glastonbury Festival
Hospital Records
International Talent Booking
Kilimanjaro Live
Little Big
Omnifone
[PIAS]
Quest Management
Red Bull
SJM Concerts
The Agency
Universal Music
X-Ray
Amazing Radio
BBC 6 Music
BBC Radio 1 & 1Xtra
BBC Introducing
Brighton Noise
Clash Magazine
Company Magazine
Drowned In Sound
The Fly
Gigwise
Hype Machine
Independent On Sunday
IQ Magazine
Line of Best Fit
Mail Online
Metro
Music Week
NME
Q Magazine
Record of the Day
Time Out
UNCUT
VEVO
VICE
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
CASE STUDIES
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
ARTIST CASE
Artist: Swim Deep
Country: UK
Label: Chess Club
Swim Deep first performed at The Great Escape in 2012 on a Chess
Club records showcase in Psychosocial alongside Haim and Chet
Faker. Soon after they signed with Chess Club to release their first
single ‘King City’ in May 2012.
Swim Deep returned to The Great Escape in 2013 performing to
capacity crowds on bills curated by NME, VEVO and This Is
Fake DIY.
Following on from The Great Escape, Swim Deep went on to
perform at festivals such as Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds,
Boardmasters and Benicassim with a UK headline tour booked in
for September 2013.
Swim Deep’s debut album, ‘Where The Heaven Are We’ was released
on 5th August 2013 to high critical praise, preceded by song of the
summer, ‘She Changes The Weather’.
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
PA R T N E R C AS E ST U DY
URBAN OUTFITTERS
OBJECTIVE
Urban Outfitters wanted to align with the UK’s most credible new
music festival so 2013 saw the start of the Urban Outfitters and The
Great Escape collaboration.
The collaboration was seen as a natural fit by both parties allowing
TGE to offer Urban Outfitters considerable value, including:
ACTIVITY
Pre, during and post event marketing support on TGE website
& Facebook
A pop-up in-store gig at the Urban Outfitters city centre
featuring Thumpers
Takeover of Komedia on Friday night. Urban Outfitters dressed the
venue with some tactical and refreshing branding e.g. giant bar top
sticker, wallpapering of specific spaces, palm trees on pillars etc.
The venue stood out and the branding effect was fun, intriguing
and different. The venue night featured Tropicall, Thumpers and
The Skints.
All artists fitted the brand ethos and played to capacity crowds with
the chance to perform wearing gifted Urban Outfitters product.
Post event, Urban Outfitters offered an exclusive 20% online
discount code to The Great Escape mailing list and social media
followers, a combined audience of over 80,000 individuals.
OUTCOME
TGE was the perfect brand to showcase Urban Outfitter’s new
music credentials and the multiple touchpoints allowed for credible
dialogue to a large audience.
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
PA R T N E R C AS E ST U DY
VEVO AND LYNX
OBJECTIVE
To showcase the launch of the VEVO & Lynx 2013 Summer>Six activity,
championing festival performances from the best emerging talent.
ACTIVITY
VEVO & Lynx joined together to partner the Warren with a fantastic
and eclectic line-up including a evening performances and exclusive
daytime acoustic sessions in the garden from the likes of Tom Odell,
Crystal Fighters and Iggy Azalea. The venue was fully branded both
inside and outside, including a mini photo booth and a graffiti wall
specially commissioned by Lynx.
At the end of each day, recorded sessions were posted online and
shared across Great Escape resources, resulting in over 303,000
combined views on the dedicated VEVO page. Between the Festival
Hub and delegate registration, Lynx also distributed 10,000 samples
to punters and public.
The Great Escape accompanied the Lynx and VEVO teams with
marketing, production and artist support - a partnership which led to
the 400 capacity Warren being the most popular venue of the festival
and to an all-round buzzing launch for Summer>Six.
OUTCOME
One of the most popular destinations across TGE showcasing some
of the hottest new talent, creating fantastic content and exposure for
Vevo & Lynx.
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
PA R T N E R C AS E ST U DY
RED STRIPE IMPROMPTU STREET GIGS
OBJECTIVE
The concept of ‘Street Gigs’ was first introduced to The Great Escape
back in 2007 and over the years, these have become some of the
most sought after shows at the festival.
ACTIVITY
8 Red Stripe Street Gigs
Locations revealed via time specific social media communications,
texting and downloadable videos
Highlights included Skinny Lister rocking the folk out of New Road,
King Charles enchanting the masses beneath Brighton’s railway
arches and Oliver Tank’s beautiful beach-side performance.
A new partnership with Brighton Wheel saw artists including
Admiral Fallow and Flip Grater give the most intimate of
performances in Wheel pods for competition winners.
OUTCOME
The activity raised awareness of Red Stripe’s credible involvement in
new music and helped reinforce their postition as beer of choice for
gig goers.
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
PA R T N E R O P P O R T U N I T I E S
TGE allows brands to engage with over 16,000
music fans in a creative and credible way
including:
Street Gigs in high profile places
Secret Gigs in unusual spaces
Venue takeovers
Festival hub takeover
Delegate area take over
Sampling
Headline Partnerships
Brand events
Bespoke Builds
Digital partnerships
Convention sponsorship including networking
parties/brunches etc.
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
With our venue focus, our carbon footprint is
far lower than most other live music festivals.
It is an ambition of the festival to develop and
grow our outdoor programme, however having
operated predominately in venues for the past
8 years keeping our carbon footprint stable, it
is an extremely high priority to ensure that any
additional activity aligns with the high standard
of low carbon emissions that we are used to.
41% of our festival goers travelled to Brighton
by train, with 25% already living in Brighton.
Less than a quarter of festival goers travelled to
Brighton by car.
We are planning to use recycled paper for all of
our printed materials, including flyers, posters and
both our festival and convention programmes.
The Great Escape has worked closely with Attitude
is Everything since 2006 to ensure that our
venues cater as much as possible for those with
accessibility needs.
Our outdoor stages are powered by Firefly Solar.
T H E G R E AT E S C A P E
C O N TAC T S
THE GREAT ESCAPE 2014 WILL TAKE PLACE ON 8TH – 10TH MAY 2014
Brand enquiries
Debbie Ward - [email protected]
Becky Tudor-Williams - [email protected]