Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has presented his theory as to why rock music is struggling to produce new, big name festival headliners - and according to him, it's to do with major corporations seizing control of the live music sector. Speaking to Swedish radio station Bandit Rock, Dickinson posits that a lack of risk-taking and dearth of smaller, independent venues has made it harder than ever for young bands to rise up the ranks.
"You can count the headliners on the fingers of one hand," says the singer (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). "People who are capable of - you put them at the top of the bill and people say, 'Oh yeah, I'll go and see that.' And, unfortunately, the reason for that, I believe, is the big corporations took everything over, and they're interested in making money, so they propagate the big headliners, but they don't bring on the bands that create the drama to create the fanbase, to create the dedication to bring it up. Because you don't become a headliner overnight. You become a headliner by doing loads of gigs at loads of places and fans and people follow you and all of a sudden you're at Wembley Arena and you're thinking, 'Oh my god, these guys are playing arenas. And the next step up from arenas is, 'Oh, they're gonna go and headline a festival. Oh, yeah, great. They're a festival headliner.' And at that moment you go take a step up into that world."
