THE AGE OF FESTIVALS
Tuesday // August 11, 2015
The modern music festival has emerged as the environment where music, fans, and brands can all come together to connect and share something more than just a social media post. The nature of the music festival is more : more music, more people, more connections, more choices. This demand for more has contributed to a shift in the music industry where festivals have dominated the live music scene.
The Rise in Music Festivals
Over 32 million people in the US attend at least one music festival a year, with nearly half of all festival attendees being from the millennial generation of 18-24 year olds. Festivals are immersive and social, which is why it is no surprise that festival going has become a favorite pastime for the millennial generation. It echoes a shift in consumerism where millennials would rather spend money on experiences than things.
The rise in multi-day festivals, such as Coachella, Stagecoach, and Electric Daisy Carnival, has contributed to the nature of more. The benefit of a music festival is that there are enough bands and artists performing, that fans can hop around during sets and hear dozens of bands in a single weekend. But fans aren’t paying upwards of $400 for a single GA ticket to just listen to music. Fans want to experience the freedom and excitement that connects a crowd of strangers and turns them into a community.
“We're not touching each other," says the rapper Murs, who founded the Paid Dues festival in Los Angeles. "Technology has separated us so much, it's natural for us to have this desire to come together and festivals really cater to that communal nature."
Festival Impact on the Music Industry
In 2014, the North American concert industry was valued at $6.2 billion. That’s $5 billion more than it was 10 years ago. Now that music festivals have gone mainstream, they are bringing in millions of dollars in profit on their own.
The profitability of music festivals makes it a great financial investment for the music industry. Fans are willing to spend a couple hundred of dollars to see a multitude of popular artists in a single weekend – getting more bang for their buck. And this willingness to spend money on the festival experience is the reason that festivals are bringing in millions of dollars in ticket sales alone.
In 2014, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, one of the largest and most profitable festivals in the US, grossed over $78 million in ticket sales. That doesn’t even include the ridiculous amount of money that came in from concessions, advertisements, and sponsorships.
While the music industry has been struggling to make money off of music sales, it has found a huge source of revenue in festivals and live performances.
Benefit of Festivals
Bands and artists are increasingly dependent on live performances instead of record sales to make money. The physical labor and skill involved in festival production has saved the roadie from the same demise as other labor jobs. That means that the demand for you as instrument techs, tour managers, lighting specialists, and others has skyrocketed.
According to Gary Bongiovanni, the editor of Pollstar, “Employment opportunities in the live-music industry have never been better. While record-company jobs have nearly disappeared, road and tech production crew gigs continue to grow.”
This rise in festivals creates thousands of more jobs to handle show operations – jobs that are being posted on TourReady. Even if you’ve booked a tour that’s 6 months to a year long, festivals offer a perfect solution to fill downtime in between gigs. Most festivals are only 3 days long and can lead to valuable industry connections – not to mention a nice paycheck.
Festivals are popular all over the world, but finding local crew with legitimate experience can be difficult. With TourReady’s industry specific search and location filters, employers can find crew exactly where and when they need them - saving time and travel expenses.
Music festivals are the epitome of the word more – more music, more people, more connections, and best of all, more jobs. TourReady is the best website to find and be found for festivals around the world – satisfying the need for more jobs and more crew.
