Gotobeat, an AI-central promoter, ticketing service and marketing company, is branching out into festivals with the appointment of Mike Lightford as head of festivals.

Mike was previously the director of music of Cornwall’s Boardmasters and Bristol’s NASS Festivals. Mike also worked for Barfly Group, Warner Music Group, Ministry of Sound and MAMA Group over a twenty year career.

The new appointment also comes alongside news of the company’s first festival programme. Taking place at London’s Beckenham Place Park, the six-show series will open in July 2027 and spans two weekends. Gotobeat says that more than 10 artists will perform each day across two stages, and will welcome a capacity of 12,000 attendees per day.

The debut festival announced in the series is Unión, a Latin festival which the company says will focus on current Spanish and Latin American artists.

The news follows Gotobeat’s July launch of an arena tour division, adding to its expansion across the events and festival markets.

Mike said: “I’m thrilled to be joining the Gotobeat team at such a pivotal moment for the business.

Beckenham Place Park is an amazing site, and we have the opportunity to create something really special as we launch the company’s first festival programme. We’ve got a fantastic line-up coming together that caters to a wide range of music tastes, and I’m very excited to be a part of it.”

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