Pod Concerts owner John Reynolds has said that the Electric Picnic will remain largely unchanged, despite the news this week that Irish promoter MCD will have a commercial relationship with this year’s festival.

“I can confirm that the new partnership will have no impact on capacity, and MCD have no involvement in any way — either booking acts, on-site or marketing,” he said.

It was announced on Monday that UK promoter Festival Republic had bought into the festival, and that Aiken Promotions – which had operated Electric Picnic with Pod Concerts since the festival’s inception in 2004 – would no longer be involved.

The most controversial element of the move, however, is that Festival Republic is co-owned by international promoter

Live Nation and Gaiety Investments. Gaiety Investments is the parent company of MCD, which operates rival festival Oxegen. Festival Republic controls some of the UK’s biggest summer festivals, including Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, and Latitude.

The Stradbally event was re-branded as a “Music Arts Festival” last year.

The first wave of Electric Picnic acts will be announced in the coming weeks. The festival will take place on September 4th, 5th and 6th.