Elton John closed Glastonbury 2023 on Sunday night in what was billed as his last ever UK show. And while you might think that he and the other big names to perform would have pulled in the big bucks, that's not necessarily the case.
Preceding Elton as the headliners on Friday and Saturday were Arctic Monkeys and Gun N' Roses respectively. Meanwhile, hundreds of other acts played across the festival, including Lana Del Ray, Queens of the Stone Age, Manic Street Preachers, Foo Fighters - who were billed at The Churnups for their not-so-secret appearance - and many more.
The festival routinely attracts the world's biggest artists, both legendary and up-and-coming. Crowds are treated to mammoth sets by the Pyramid Stage's headliners, with Elton John completing two hours on Sunday night.
In previous years, headliners have included the likes of David Bowie, Beyoncé and Adele, reports the Mirror. You might assume playing such a huge gig would mean the musicians are being compensated with a pretty hefty sum, so you might be surprised to learn that it's not as much as you'd think.
Festival co-organiser Emily Eavis, youngest daughter of the festival's founder Michael Eavis, confirmed that artists get paid 10% less than what they typically get from other festivals. That is because Glastonbury prefers to donate £2million to charities every year, which dispels the myth that some headliners are paid £1million, as the number is likely much lower.
In 2017 interview with BBC Radio 6, she explained: "We're not in a situation where we're able to just give people enormous amounts of money. So we're really grateful for the bands that we get, because they're basically doing it for the love of it."
Founder Michael once revealed that Coldplay and Paul McCartney were both paid around £200,000 for past headline sets.
He said at the time: "I paid £200,000 for Paul McCartney and for Coldplay, and although it sounds a lot, they could have charged me far more."
The exact number each 2023 headliner gets paid will be kept under wraps, but in an interview with Metro, music consultant specialising in live music venues and festivals, Lyle Bignon, said: "The likes of Elton John and Guns N' Roses, who have decades of global fame behind them, can likely command higher prices running into the £250,000+ range."
In an interview with Somerset Live, Bestival organiser Rob Da Bank revealed that Glastonbury's budget is under £500,000 per headliner.
He said: "They cap their budget and even the headliners don't get paid more than 500 grand, I think, which is cheap for some of the headliners - and they've had a lot of them."
Although there's no bigger UK festival than Glastonbury, it doesn't pay its headliners more than others. For other UK festivals, headliners can earn upwards of £1million, according to Billboard. The reason is that Glastonbury aims to raise money for charity, which means headliners are paid significantly less.
Each year the festival raises funds for charities including Oxfam and Greenpeace, which means that they have a smaller budget, no doubt made even smaller by the cost of living crisis. But it's not the money that draws huge performers to Glastonbury, it's the festival's reputation and acts can rake in huge amounts of money after performing.
Emily told George Ezra's podcast: "Because of the TV and because of the exposure that they get, they do go on to do really well afterwards, so they'll sell records afterwards. So we're saying 'look, come and do this but even though there's a small fee, we can almost guarantee afterwards you'll make up for it'."
