As we cross into the new year, we creep closer and closer to Download Festival 2025. The mammoth event is back and packed with more punches than a wielding mosher. Though most of us will arrive for the five days of gleeful mayhem in June with provisions in hand and a – very much in my case – last-minute packed bag of clothes, for some, the planning will have started much, much earlier. Download Festival bookers Jenny Cotter and Dannika Webber stand at this forefront. MetalTalk was lucky enough to sit down with them and learn more about behind-the-scenes at one of Europe’s biggest heavy music festivals.
Words: Monty Sewell
The tremendous size of Download Festival, amongst plenty of others, can create an almost unwillingness to grasp how exactly it all comes together. With this year’s headliners being Korn, Sleep Token and Green Day, along with countless other bands of both great notoriety and thriving promise, Jenny and Dannika did not shy away from discussing the pressures faced each year.
“The pressure changes for us,” says Dannika, “It seems like every year, we take on more and more within our roles. There are always more things that we get involved with. But on top of that, there is always the push to make it bigger and better. Every year, particularly with District X, which Jenny and I work on separately from the main arena, it’s like, okay, great. This year was amazing. What else can we do to make it bigger and better next?”
The anticipation of what will be different every year is actively discussed between punters right up to their day of arrival. As each event evolves, the ideas behind the innovations change. “I’ve been doing downloads since 2019, and Dannika, I think, 2020,” Jenny adds. “Back then, we would look to other people and ask them for advice on how they had been doing things.
“Slowly but surely, there has been a turnaround of teams and changes in who’s working on it and who isn’t. We are now suddenly, perhaps, the people who have the answers rather than asking the questions.
“So I guess that is basically paraphrasing what Dannika said of the role that we specifically hold has grown, which comes without pressure, and then you compete with yourself and what you’ve achieved in previous years. You also compete with other European festivals.”
Even with the size of Download being considerably huge, its competitors are also constantly on the lookout to grab the biggest and best acts for the following year. With tight schedules and time always of the essence, Dannika acknowledged the excessively early booking requirements.
“Well, we had already started booking 2025 before the 2024 festival had even begun. Every year, we need to start doing it earlier because it feels like everybody else starts doing it earlier.” It seems that missing out on that jaw-dropping headliner is not an option for anyone.
“You don’t want to miss out on getting certain acts just because you’ve been a bit too late. Or perhaps a band has just started planning a tour, and we think, maybe we can try and get in there first. Then perhaps they can consider coming to us instead of doing a tour.”
A big question from festival fans is how bookers choose who to put in the ring for the big weekend. Whether a headline slot on the Apex stage or an afternoon bash in the Dogtooth, the constantly evolving music scene and the shifting genre popularity within must play a part in the decisions made.
“I think we very much approach it overall as what bands are currently doing well in the alternative music scene,” Jenny says. “I don’t think we are out there thinking this genre is out, this genre is in. It’s more specific to the trajectory of the band, which might feed into some genres that age out and age back in. But we don’t lead with genre in mind. It is more about what we think would work for our audience.”
With almost the whole festival experience hanging on these decisions, emotions must be running high throughout the year when chasing the best possible outcome.
“I think generally, you know, sometimes we do feel a bit nervous about certain things. But we are never anxious about a specific headliner,” says Dannika. “I guess you never know, but there is a part of us that feels just confident in knowing how popular these bands are and how well their ticket sales are right now. My confidence has also come from a few years under my belt.”
Even so, social media will always be abuzz with opinions on the choices made. However, as Jenny acknowledges, it is almost always the small number of negative comments that are given the most light. “Social media reaction is not solely about how sales are going to go or how amazing the atmosphere will be at the event on the day.
“I’ve learned to be patient with the outcome and not just be like, I’ve read six negative comments, so we are doomed because I would have quit by now if that was the case. So I think it’s just learning, as a festival booker, how cyclically this plays out.
“I guess just like Dannika said, having confidence that we are fans of the bands we are putting down. So unless we’re totally out of touch at one point, there’s likely to be a lot of our peers, a lot of just people in the community who will, maybe not us both only on socials, but who will love it, and who will buy a ticket and just have the best time.”
With each year proving just that, there is no doubt that despite the occasional singular grumble, Download brings us a weekend nothing short of fantastic. With four arena stages, District X, countless food and drink outlets and ceaseless displays of entertainment, there is almost too much to choose from and no time to wonder what to do next.
“As Jenny said,” Dannika continues, “after doing it for years, you know there might be many people moaning about this particular thing or acting up online, but we know it will be really popular on the festival day. So we are confident in that knowledge. A few people might have a complaint, but you literally cannot please everyone. And, you know, some people do love a little online moan.
“You have to take it with a pinch of salt because you’re very confident that it will still be massive on the day of the festival, and therefore, it was the right decision. I have found that people are so much more vocal when it is negative, but then the festival is a sell-out. The atmosphere is incredible.”
Whether big bands or acts are on the rise, the team comes together to curate the incredible roster for the weekend. But how does everyone pull together?
“We all get into it,” Jenny says. “A stronger knowledge base comes from a couple of the team who can enlighten the rest of the team regarding a specific band or a specific sub-genre. But overall, with all of our opinions and all of our different bits of information that we’ve drawn from, say, a band being a support slot, or someone has heard who’s coming out with a new album. Or someone saw them play last week, and they’ve stepped their set up massively.”
For any bands looking to get their shot at the Download stage – or any festival, that is – the opportunities are endless. But in the upper echelons of the booking side, there have been plenty of stories about what had to be done to get those huge names onboard.
“The classic one, before Dannika and my time, was the AC/DC headliner,” laughs Jenny. “Which is memorable even today. But part of making it happen, or accommodating the band’s wishes, was a bespoke, separate main stage for them, which, from what I’ve heard, was briefed pretty late in the day compared to other production requirements.”
Those who remember walking into the 2010 Download arena and seeing two ginormous main stages must have been gobsmacked. “It was totally worth it, but the work that went into the request was humongous from every team involved. It is funny in hindsight to be like, yeah, they can command whatever they want. I can’t think of anything that will top that, anything that will be bigger outside of that, on the more business side of things.”
Another infamous factor of the festival is, of course, the annual secret set. Last year’s feature was Parkway Drive. I distinctly remember hearing about five different guesses – none of them Parkway Drive – with each person proclaiming that they were 100% right. Both Jenny and Dannika were unsure of how these sets keep such secrecy each year.
“Everything else about Download tends to leak,” says Dannika, “So I genuinely have no idea how it doesn’t come out because it has always been in the works for a long time. Last year, people kept thinking it was My Chemical Romance or all these other bands. I actually have no idea how that manages to stay secret. I don’t know. I would love to say that we have a bulletproof system, but it is just luck.”
Who will it be this year? No guesses yet, but one thing for sure is that whoever it is, it will be damn good. Another thing for sure is the growing diversity seen within the acts on the billing. A notable rise in female musicians taking to the stage is congratulated, but for the booking team, it is always about the talent on the rise.
“We do try to have more conscious thought around that, but I wouldn’t say that when I joined Download, it was my purpose. It is more organic than that,” Jenny says. “We do try to organise the meetings to ensure we enable diversity where required. But it’s only ever for slots and what makes sense.
“But sometimes bands aren’t able to play, or a slot doesn’t work for them. I think it would be so enlightening for the hit list of offers made to ever be made public. People would see it and be like, of course, they’ve thought about these bands like, of course, they have. It is just that that year, it didn’t work. The result is only a tiny part of who has been put forward. We would love to see more and more.”
The amount of work that goes into these kinds of festivals seems continuous and arduous but so worth it. Time off must be minimal between each festival season for both of them.
“I feel like August is a bit quieter,” Dannika says. “The current festival season is still going, though, so we are doing some debriefing, but a lot of our team is still working on other events.”
Jenny continues. “I guess neither of our jobs is 100% download, and our job roles outside Download are slightly different. My quiet period is towards the end of July or the start of August. Immediately after the Download, On Monday, there are usually a ton of Download sideshows. So, actually, leading up to and straight after Download, we tend to be just as manic. Then we get some time before heading straight into planning for next year.”
A full-on role, but with the benefit of seeing such events being put on, the question of how they climbed the festival booking ladder had to be asked for anyone looking to head into a similar role.
“That’s a hard one because we have all come to it from different backgrounds,” says Dannika. “But I guess for us, we have been so just immersed in these genres since we were teenagers. It has been a way of life for us for a very, very long time, even before we ever joined the Download team.
“This eventually led to us working in the music industry and then finding our way to working within touring. And therefore, because of our passion for that genre, we were then asked to join the Download team. But I think number one is obviously just having a strong passion for and knowledge around the whole scene and culture.”
Jenny continues, “It isn’t something you can just apply for. For example, the Download Booker job wasn’t advertised. You know what I mean? I’ve come from a background of working in labels, PR, interned part-time roles, and finally, full-time roles, and then getting my foot in at Live Nation. Knowing that live music was where my kind of non-description passion for music lay.
“You have to be open to the opportunities that get thrown your way. If you are naturally in the right place at the right time, with the right interests and a little bit of luck sprinkled in. It is not something that I could have ever predicted I would end up doing as much as I knew I wanted to work for music; I just couldn’t have imagined.”
Being in the right place at the right time and a sprinkle of good luck stands for so much of the creative industry. But after speaking with both Jenny and Dannika, I see nothing but respect and admiration for the work they do to put on these events.
Download Festival 2025 looks as delicious as ever and we cannot wait to be back on the fields of heavy music glory.
For tickets and information, click here.
