Malta techno festival Drumcode cancelled after company entrusted with event logistics goes bust

Drumcode festival, a techno event that was meant to take place in Malta on 15 September has been cancelled, organisers have announced.

The highly anticipated techno festival which last took place in Amsterdam in 2019, has been cancelled after UK-based company Pollen, entrusted with the organisation of the event, failed to live up to its commitments. Organisers said Pollen did not meet customer and venue safety standards, did not provide suitable staffing and failed in the financial management of the event. 

The line-up saw a number of leading figures in the music scene including Adam Beyer, Alan Fitzpatrick, Ben Klock, Joris Voorn and Richie Hawtin among others.

Tickets to this event were marketed as a four-day curated techno experience, with the ‘standard’ ticketing price beginning at €259 and ‘luxury’ tickets selling for €569.

The festival’s Facebook event page had 1,800 people marking themselves as ‘going’ and 4,800 saying they were interested.

However, producer Adam Beyer who is also founder of Drumcode Records, said in a statement shared on social media that “these serious failings, compounded by the absence and lack of communication of key Pollen staff and the well-publicised difficulties that the company is currently experiencing, left the delivery of the event compromised to the extent that we could not continue our involvement in good faith.”

In their statement, the Drumcode Festival team said that they have not received any payments from UK company Pollen, and have urged their followers to immediately contact the company to organise refund for the event and accommodation.

Pollen is a UK destination events platform company founded in 2014 by brothers Callum and Liam Negus-Fancey. According to international reports, the company is headed for bankruptcy after it failed to find a buyer. It has also failed to pay staff. 

The cancellation of this event was met with outrage on social media by party goers who were planning to attend the Malta festival.

Some have blamed the Drumcode organisers for choosing to work with the “failing company”, and also for announcing the cancellation just one month prior to the event taking place.

A number of those planning to attend had warned on the event comment section, before the cancellation was announced, against Pollen being involved, pointing out their dire financial situation.

Pollen has yet to comment on the allegations put forward by the festival organisers.