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Merchants of Metal

“It helps me, being the eternal optimist – a requirement for any mad idea,” comments Paul Gregory, founder and promoter of Bloodstock festivals. Faye Coulman documents the unprecedented success of the UK’s most prestigious extreme music event to date

While the likes of Glastonbury and Download annually sate mainstream appetites, heavy metal enthusiasts were left wanting where live entertainment was concerned, until the birth of Bloodstock in 2001. Forged from a mutual appreciation for heavy metal, organisers Paul Gregory and Vince Brotheridge were struck by a marketing concept which was at once creative and commercially viable.

“We chose to bring little known acts from Europe to perform at a UK festival instead of them performing at smaller venues in London,” Paul explains. “Our talent-luck for bringing bands from Europe for their UK debut is where we gained our reputation.”

Since the festival’s distant origins as an indoor event in 2001, Bloodstock witnessed fifty per cent expansion each year thereafter, which culminated in the launch of Bloodstock Open Air 2005. Though the UK is largely esteemed the homeland of heavy metal, prior to the advent of B.O.A, Britain was the only European country without its own major, open-air metal event. Paul and Vince have now fully established and conquered their highly specific niche in the music industry. The pair’s business awareness and artistic vision was successfully reconciled in the form of promotions and website design body, AMust4music. An acclaimed artist, mf Paul’s numerous cover art projects provided ready-established connections with a range of reputable acts, including classic rock legends, Saxon. His dark, iconic designs also constitute the focal point of both Bloodstock’s promotional web features and merchandise. Ever innovative in marketing approach, Paul remarks: “We are always looking at developing new merchandise and have bespoke artwork year on so as to not bore with the same old same old.”

In close proximity to conveniently placed sources of accommodation and local eateries, The Assembly Rooms, situated in the heart of Derby, presented the ideal venue choice for the original indoor festival. Despite the initially crippling costs, Bloodstock 2001 received rave reviews from both local and national press, as well as an enthusiastic reception from 700 fans. “We were always confident,” Paul reflects, “but it’s been a hard road with a lot of casualties.”

The capacity of the indoor festival, capable of hosting 2,500, presented a considerable limitation given the sell-out success of Bloodstock 2004. In 2005, plans for open-air expansion, to be run alongside the original indoor event, were announced. Given the festival’s limitless scope for international talent and diversity, it seemed only appropriate that Bloodstock should embody the vast, outdoor characteristics of its European counterparts. Long-time friend and business associate, Thomas Jensen, of Germany’s Wacken festival, extended his marketing expertise to the prospective venture. Catton Hall, in South Derbyshire, satisfied the problematic search for an outdoor venue, given its suitably secluded location and capacity of 10,000. Paul and his cohorts’ tireless dedication precipitated a marketing triumph born of overseas ideology coupled with the loyal, intimate values of the regional metal scene. mf

“Bloodstock started with a team of people with an idea to put on a festival of the music they all loved,” Paul affirms. “We have a loyal fan base that help with the festival’s ever-growing need for helpers. Our motto: ‘By the fans for the fans’ are not just words.”

In 2005, an interview with Metal Hammer accurately identified the source of Bloodstock’s marketing ingenuity. Paul told the magazine: “I think a lot of promoters are only going to book things that are sort of big at the time. That’s where we’ve got our niche,” he stated before concluding: “We’re not followers, we’re leaders.”

Not since the greatly mourned departure of Donington’s Monsters of Rock festival had the British metal scene anticipated a live event of such gargantuan import. While Bloodstock continued its annually staggering rate of expansion, the promotions team endeavoured to raise the profile of the festival by every conceivable means. In addition to the team’s marketing scheme, corporate titan, HMV rendered tickets readily available to the public, displaying promotional flyers and posters nationwide. Together with leading rock and metal cable and satellite TV show, Scuzz, Bloodstock received a tremendous publicity boost. As many aspiring entrepreneurs will appreciate, Bloodstock’s early promotional measures, though inventive in strategy, suffered considerable financial limitation.

Of the team’s enterprising origins, Paul reminisces: “I believe we did quite a good job in our early promotion efforts given our lack of knowledge at the time. We mf had street teams, advertising, obviously, in all the metal magazines and local papers. We had a very limited budget, which at the time was almost zero.”

In light of his own seasoned expertise, he urges fledgling promoters to: “Work on the basis that nobody has ever heard of your festival. Street teams, advertising, radio, television if you can get it and mostly be creative - think out of the box.”

Despite the extraordinary success enjoyed by Bloodstock 2007, Paul remains steadfast in his prevailing ethos of self-promotion and dedication to the local metal scene. Media exposure was extended also to the unsigned sector of the festival via an Internet facility, which allowed for the uploading of music videos created by aspiring artists. Undoubtedly the promotional core of the thriving operation that is Bloodstock, the official website offers still further marketing opportunity for both upcoming promoters and musicians.

Perhaps the organisation’s greatest initiative thus far, “Metal 2 The Masses” 2008 aims to further media exposure for both Bloodstock and more minor sectors of the industry alike. Promoters are requested to purchase a franchise of “Metal 2 The Masses”, producing an invaluable association with the reputable name of Bloodstock Open Air. Online voting for various groups of unsigned artists, presented by each independent promoter, begins in June. It is anticipated that the venture will do much to raise the profile of live metal in its entirety, providing promotion for Bloodstock while establishing a sound basis for future developments in this sector of the industry. mf

Although Bloodstock occupies a specialist niche, fellow subcultural industry professionals have proved consistent in their support of the organisation. In breakthrough year 2005, Metal Hammer music magazine cited Bloodstock as Britain’s best independent metal festival. Acclaimed extreme metal publication, Terrorizer, also revealed Bloodstock as the No.3 Biggest Musical Event, based on the results of a readers’ poll held in 2006. As anticipation for the 2008 festival nears its dynamic climax, Terrorizer’s June edition hails Bloodstock as one of the metal scene’s most celebrated forthcoming events.

“Bloodstock hasn’t strayed from its original ethos as a metal meeting for metalheads…” the article enthuses. “Those European metal superfests oughta start worrying; Bloodstock is bringing metal home