No.8 Music Festivals
When you think "Music Festival", for most fans a few big summer events
come to mind: Coachella, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits. Huge, sprawling
fields with multiple stages, campgrounds, and swarms of music fans,
all there to catch the biggest acts in music, all in one location.
What do these jy-normous summer music events have in common? True,
"Many of the Same Bands" is one thing they have in common, but more
notably, these festivals were "born" in the early part the 2000s.
Music Festivals are not exactly a new invention. The 1960s were loaded
with them. In addition to countless local events, there were the
Monterey Pop Festival, Newport Folk Fest (still around), and of course
Woodstock. Then, some biker stabbed a fan to death at the Rolling
Stones' headlining show at Altamont, and just like that, the music
festival was dead, too. Well, not quite, but for the most part artists
stopped teaming together at festivals and mainly toured on their own
for the next two decades.
Music Festivals are not exactly a new invention. The 1960s were loaded
with them. In addition to countless local events, there were the
Monterey Pop Festival, Newport Folk Fest (still around), and of course
Woodstock. Then, some biker stabbed a fan to death at the Rolling
Stones' headling show at Altamont, and just like that, the music
festival was dead, too. Well, not quite, but for the most part artists
stopped teaming together at festivals and mainly toured on their own
for the next two decades.
In the early 1990s we saw the birth of Lollapalooza, which back then
was a successful traveling festival with big acts, but fizzled after
only a few years. Not counting some successes like Ozzfest and Lillith
Fair (also traveling festivals), the 90s (along with the 70s and 80s)
were mostly devoid of festivals. Ironically, the disastrous "Woodstock
'99" may have helped launch the comeback era of the Music Festival. In
just a few more years, the music industry would see the proliferation
of not only the "camping" music festival like Bonnaroo, Coachella, and
Sasquatch!, but an explosion of literally hundreds of regional festivals
in every genre of music.
One explanation for the rebirth of music festivals is simple
economics: CD and music sales have fallen off a cliff, and now artists
rely upon live performances to make up the difference. For music fans,
it's a bargain to see many of our favorite acts in one location, for
one ticket price. For artists, a big festival paycheck for one-off
performances are a boon to their bottom lines. Some fortunate bands,
like Vampire Weekend and MGMT, are invited to play up to 20 festivals
a year and collect far more in festival fees than CD royalties.
To be sure, every new trend is prone to growing pains, and a period of
saturation and glut is inevitable. The All Points West festival in New
York, which in 2009 boasted a lineup of Radiohead, Beastie Boys, and
JayZ, has canceled the 2010 event. Then again, maybe the glut is in
Rock festivals, as other festivals such as Stagecoach (Country) and
Electric Daisy (Electronica) are doing just fine, drawing over 100,000
to their 2 and 3-day events. In any case, it's safe to say the Music
Festival Era is here to stay and will most likely continue to
flourish, as promoters find ways to differentiate their events and
cater to the particular tastes of niche music fans.
Want to play a festival? First you'll need to submit your music. One
of the easiest routes is through SonicBids.com, an online music firm that specializes in
submitting artists' electronic press kits to thousands of music
festivals around the world. Born in 2000, about the same year Major
Record Labels peaked in CD sales (anyone notice a pattern here?),
Sonicbids has grown by leaps and bound, claiming to have 210,000
listed bands submitting to 20,000 promoters. The company charges a fee
to submit your music to each festival, but you'd pay the same
application fee if you mailed your press kit directly to the event.
- MusicSubmit.com
