Criticism sees Killarney festival stage scrapped

A Kerry-based music festival has cancelled plans to host a stage for up-and-coming Irish acts, having been accused of asking emerging artists to pay to appear at the event.

The Killarney Festival of Music & Food in June is to host Burt Bacharach, Jools Holland, and TEXAS among other acts, but the terms and conditions attached to playing its Actbacker stage drew online criticism.

An email to bands who had expressed an interest in playing the stage indicated slots were available to 18 acts who would be required to sell a minimum of 50 day tickets to play at the festival. The more tickets a band sold, the higher up they would appear on the billing.