New tiered program backs fans through the unpredictable realities of festival season, from rainouts and cancellations to set conflicts and everyday crowd chaos
Festival season is one of the biggest financial and emotional bets a music fan makes all year.
The planning starts months in advance. The group chat goes into overdrive. You book the flights, lock in the Airbnb, spend more than you probably should on the outfit, and spend weeks building the perfect set-time schedule in your Notes app. By the time you’re standing in the crowd, you’ve invested a weekend, a paycheck, and a lot of hope into a single experience.
And then the sky opens up. Or your favorite artist drops off the bill the night before. Or the person directly in front of you is six-foot-four, and you spent the entire headlining set staring at the back of their neck.
If you’ve been to a festival, you know the feeling. And if the data we collected this spring is any indication, you’re not alone.
Our national survey of festival-goers found that more than half have experienced a weather disruption or cancellation at a festival. Nearly 38% have had an artist cancel or get pulled from the lineup. Nearly a third have faced overlapping set times that forced them to choose between artists they’d been looking forward to for months. And when those things happened, 70% of fans said they had no meaningful recourse — no refund, no compensation, no acknowledgment. They just had to accept it and move on.
That gap between what fans invest and what they get back when things go wrong is exactly what we built FestProtect to close.
Introducing FestProtect
FestProtect is StubHub’s festival-specific protection platform, launching today ahead of peak summer festival season. It’s an extension of our FanProtect Guarantee, the same commitment to fans that has backed every StubHub purchase for over two decades, applied specifically to the unpredictable realities of festival season.
It works as a tiered surprise-and-delight system. Fans who experience a qualifying disruption submit a claim through a dedicated form at StubHub.com/festprotect. StubHub reviews submissions and rewards select fans, with every win amplified publicly so the community can see FestProtect in action.
The tiers are designed to cover the full spectrum of festival frustration, from the catastrophic to the comic.
Tier 1: Major Disruptions
This is the tier nobody wants to need. If your festival gets rained out, or an artist you came specifically to see cancels at the last minute, you’re eligible to submit a Tier 1 claim. Select fans may receive access to next year’s festival or tickets to a future performance from the artist they missed. The investment you made in showing up deserves more than a shrug.
Tier 2: Set Conflicts
This one is for the impossible choices — the moments when two artists you’ve been waiting months to see are scheduled at the exact same time on opposite ends of the grounds. You shouldn’t have to live with the regret of the set you didn’t see. Submit a Tier 2 claim and select fans may receive tickets to catch the artist they missed at a future show.
Tier 3: Everyday Annoyances
Some festival moments don’t make the news, but they’re no less real. The person in front of you who definitely should have bought VIP for the height advantage. The bathroom line that ate your entire favorite set. The neighbor in the crowd who decided that moshing was appropriate for a folk act. These are the “Instagram vs. reality” moments that every festival-goer collects like souvenirs.
For Tier 3, fans share their frustrations — photo or video encouraged, tag @StubHub — and select submissions may receive a same-day VIP upgrade, StubHub gift cards, merch, or swag.
Why Now
The timing isn’t accidental. Festival season has gotten more expensive, more planned, and more high-stakes for fans — and the data reflects it. Nearly 60% of festival-goers spend more than $300 per weekend beyond the ticket itself, covering travel, accommodation, outfits, food, and merch. More than 40% cut back on other discretionary spending to afford attendance. Nearly a third use credit cards or buy-now-pay-later services to make it happen.
When that level of financial commitment meets the natural unpredictability of a festival weekend, fans deserve a backstop. And yet, before today, no major ticketing platform offered one.
The results of our survey made the case plainly: 73% of fans said a protection program would make them more likely to purchase festival tickets. The most valued form of compensation, preferred by 37% of respondents, was a credit toward a future ticket purchase. The second most popular choice — preferred by 25% — was tickets to the next show from the artist they missed. Both of those are built directly into FestProtect’s tier structure.
The program also speaks directly to where fans are emotionally. Nearly half expressed some form of regret over a festival ticket purchase, most commonly due to high costs or disruptions outside their control. Nearly 30% said a bad festival experience made them more hesitant to attend future events. That hesitancy is a problem for the entire live music ecosystem, not just for StubHub. FestProtect is our attempt to reduce it.
How It Works
Submitting a claim is straightforward. Head to StubHub.com/festprotect, fill out the form with your order number, the festival name and date, and a description of your disruption. For Tier 2, tell us which set you missed and why you were looking forward to it. For Tier 3, include a photo or video and tag @StubHub on social.
The Season Ahead
FestProtect launches today with Governors Ball (June 4) as the first major activation. From there, the platform runs through the full summer festival calendar: CMA Fest, Summerfest, Lollapalooza, Outside Lands, and beyond. Each festival is a new opportunity to claim a disruption moment, reward a fan, and add a chapter to the story.
The tiers can operate independently at specific festivals or stack together as a unified program — which means whether you’re heading to one event or spending your whole summer on the festival circuit, FestProtect has a role to play in your season.
To submit a claim or learn more about FestProtect, visit StubHub.com/festprotect. To purchase tickets to this summer’s festivals, visit StubHub.com.
More from the StubHub Newsroom:
- What Kind of Festival Fan Are You? Meet the 6 Types and Find Your Fest
- What to Do If Your Event Gets Cancelled: A Buyer’s Guide
- Rocklahoma and Born & Raised Join StubHub’s Official Resale Network
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