Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Iona Fyfe hits out at festival organisers for leaving musicians waiting THREE years for payment

The outspoken north-east singer said she also had to wait "many months" to be paid by the Doune The Rabbit Hole music festival.

Iona Fyfe has been a longtime campaigner for fair pay for musicians. Image: Iona Fyfe.
Iona Fyfe has been a longtime campaigner for fair pay for musicians. Image: Iona Fyfe.

Iona Fyfe has hit out at the Doune The Rabbit Hole festival organisers after they have left musicians waiting three years for payment

The festival still owes around £800,000 from last year’s festival.

It was held last July at the Cardross Estate near Stirling after being cancelled the previous two years because of Covid.

Appearing on BBC’s Good Morning Scotland on Thursday, the Huntly-born singer-songwriter who is a regional board member of the Musicians’ Union, said: “I performed at the festival in 2016 and 2019.

“It took many months to be paid. I was paid less in 2019 than I was in 2016. They came back to me in 2022 and asked to be paid £200.

“Unfortunately this has been going on for a number of years now.”

Iona Fyfe has championed traditional music and language. Image: Euan Anderson.

Union calls for Doune The Rabbit Hole boycott

The Bectu union which represents contractors, including stage crews and technicians, who work behind the scenes at musical festivals has called for a boycott of the festival.

Director Craig Murray has accused the union of trying to “destroy” the event.

However, he took to Twitter to claim that his allegation of malice is not aimed at Iona.

He wrote: “It is aimed at Bectu and others who have spread an extraordinary set of malicious falsehoods with the declared purpose of destroying the festival.

“It is not a commercial or profit-making event. The owners have never taken a penny out – I know because that’s me.”

It is understood the festival’s business plan is to scale down the festival and generate a profit which would allow them to pay a third of the debts from last year.

Musicians report not getting paid

Ms Fyfe told Good Morning Scotland: “Mr Murray does maintain that no one from pre-2022 is missing money, but this is not the case when I am on the ground speaking to other musicians who have yet to be paid from previous iterations of the festival.

“I personally believe that if you haven’t paid your workers for last year, how on earth do you ensure that you can pay the musicians for this year?”

However, the Musicians’ Union has not called for a boycott.

Instead, they are asking performers to sign a contract with the festival which sets out a date before the festival where the artist will be paid 100% of their fee in advance.

Watch the official Doune The Rabbit Hole aftermovie below.

Ms Fyfe said: “If the money isn’t forthcoming they can then make an informed decision whether or not to go and play

“In 2022, many acts were not paid on the day which was agreed upon. They were on the wings, on stage, their hands were tied in order to not let their fans down – they were boxed into a corner.”

This is not the first time Ms Fyfe has been involved in campaigning for musicians to receive fair pay.

In October 2021, she wrote an opinion piece for The Press and Journal stating that often musicians are paid unfairly.

northern lights
Iona Fyfe recorded a new version of The Northern Lights in association with Aberdeen FC.

The outspoken 25-year-old has always been prepared to express her opinions on everything from Scottish independence – which she supports – to promoting her native Scots and cheering on the Dons.

Ms Fyfe ‘Bad practices all round’

Festival organisers also faced controversy after they asked volunteers to pay a deposit to work at the event.

Mr Murray said this is because a percentage of volunteers enter the festival claiming to work, but then disappear into the crowd and just get free entry.

Ms Fyfe said: “It should not be asking its volunteers to put down a £100 downpayment for the privilege of volunteering – bad practices all round.”

The Doune The Rabbit Hole festival is set to run from July 21 to July 23. Learn more on its website.

Conversation