Ageing Artists top the bill

Still Young

Universal concerns about the lack of new headline acts to take the place of the music industry’s ageing A-listers have been graphically underlined by research carried out by IQ Magazine. Analysing the age of frontmen (and women) who headlined the UK’s nine biggest festivals over the past 20 years, the average age has crept northward almost year-on-year.

In the mid 90s, the average age was 32, while this year the average age was 50. Taking IQ’s data a step further, Spotify director of economics, Will Page, and financial publication, The Economist, included some younger demographic dance music events in their calculations. But despite the help of the youthful DJs topping those bills, the average headliner age still increased to 42 over the last two decades. The research will no doubt be the subject of further debate at the International Festival Forum this September.