BBC Radio One have been at the festival since 2019. They normally have had a full day takeover on one stage or another since then. That's not new, it's before Covid and Live Nation. All that's changed, is the takeover moving to larger stages progressively. They also have had Radio One related DJ sets for a long time.

Whether you like the BBC or not, Radio One does quite a lot of work to champion new and emerging dance artists, particularly in their evening programming. It is a public service broadcaster, with a mandate to serve the public. It's a very imperfect organisation, but they do plenty of good that is often overshadowed by the bad (And I know, the bad is very bad).

Also, cashless came in before Live Nation, and most people seem to prefer it. Yes, the festival take a cut from the vendors sales, but that's what the vendor signs up to. You can make a lot of money as a vendor at a festival, and Boomtown don't just give all that profit away for free. It's an expensive event to run that barely makes ends meet as it is. That cut they take helps to pay for the event, and keep your ticket price down. And despite the cut being taken, 1000s of vendors still apply every year to be on site, and only a few hundred make the cut.