Doune the Rabbit Hole Scotland's largest outdoor camping festival 'fails to pay artists' amid 2023 ticket sale

Scotland’s largest outdoor camping music festival has been accused of failing to pay artists despite launching ticket sales for next year’s event.

Doune the Rabbit Hole, which returned to the Cardross Estate in July for the first time in two years, confirmed there are “outstanding payments” still to be made to musicians who played at the event.

One performer, who does not wish to be named, has said he has been “ignored” after contacting the festival over payment.

The anonymous artist told STV News: “I reached out loads, but so has everyone else. Ignored over and over.

“If they knew they weren’t going to have the money, they should have told the bands before so we could make our own decision about playing for free.

“They’ve lied to us all. Said we’re getting paid to do a job and then say, ‘oh actually we haven’t got any money’.

“It’s now a con because they are selling tickets knowing it won’t cover costs.”

Headliners at the Stirling festival, which ran from July 14 until July 17, included Amy MacDonald and Belle & Sebastian.

A spokesperson for the festival said that “supply chain issues” affected income levels, which has not allowed it to cover the budget costs outlined for the 2022 event.

They said: “At the conclusion of Doune The Rabbit Hole 2022 there were some payments outstanding.

“Supply chain issues increased costs across the board and our income levels, in spite of attracting our biggest ever audience, did not increase sufficiently to cover the full 2022 budget on top of the costs sunk throughout 2020 and 2021 as we waited for lockdown measures to ease.

“Half of all tickets were sold pre-2020 at prices which would have been considerably higher had we known that the event would be two years delayed and 40% more expensive to deliver.”

The festival has said that investment has now been sought to “fill the gaps” and they have reached out to the artists affected.

The spokesperson added: “We only book acts who we love and the idea of leaving anyone out of pocket is the very antithesis of our intention.

“Investment has been sought to fill the gap and signs are very positive that this situation will be resolved soon. Those affected by this temporary cashflow challenge have been informed and kept updated and we are very grateful for their patience and understanding.

“Bringing a music festival back in 2022 was never going to be a walk in the park, and we are so grateful to all of the artists, crew, volunteers, suppliers, music fans and families who together created a really special and memorable event, which is now Scotland’s largest independent outdoor music festival.

“We look forward to moving forward and delivering our best festival yet in July 2023.”