The V festival, previously an England-only affair, is now set to go global.
The V Festival has been running in England for a decade, and has just expanded to include the US and Canada. Now Virgin chairman and lovable tycoon Richard Branson told Reuters that they are looking to spread the festival to Australia, Italy, Spain and South America.Branson insists that the high quality of recent line-ups (Britain's 2006 event featured Radiohead, Morrissey, Beck, The Dandy Warhols, Groove Armada, Lily Allen, Fatboy Slim and scores more) is due to dwindling album sales sending acts out on the road to make their money. He said, "Tours will play a much greater part in the coming years. From a band's point of view, they make more out of playing live than out of music sales."
While the self-proclaimed rebel entrepreneur has branched into credit cards, airlines, and mobile phone networks, Branson said that the V Festival was a chance to get back to the company's roots, when Virgin was a mere record label. He said, "We have gone into airlines, trains and other areas but our background was always to build a big music company."
