Insomniac puts half of its employees on furlough scheme

American electronic music promoter Insomniac has seen no other option but to furlough roughly half of its staff as CEO/Founder Pasquale Rotella has detailed.

Having to work from home, the existing employees at Insomniac are having to roll out refund procedures from their own homes after the cancellation of a handful of its festivals as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Insomniac recently postponed Beyond Wonderland SoCal and The Gorge and have offered current ticket holders an upgraded passage to next years editions or a full refund if the customer is unable to attend in 2021. Understandably, this process has been rather slow and it seems that things might get even more challenging for Insomniac as they have made an pivotal decision regarding their staff. In a statement, Rotella outlined his verdict:

“Like many other companies in our industry impacted by COVID-19, Insomniac made the difficult but necessary decision to furlough certain employees. […] It is our full intention to bring those team members back on board once events are allowed to occur again, and the business is in a position to support the additional staff.”

Insomniac isn’t the first and certainly won’t be the last events company to negotiate financial troubles due to the pandemic. The live music industry as a whole has taken a huge hit with bans of mass gatherings annihilating any chance of significant revenue. Hopefully the Insomniac staff affected can return from furlough soon and successfully bring back some of America’s most prestigious festivals next year on the same scale.

Image Credit: Jose Murga for Insomniac Events