[Dixielandjazz] Good News for SOME Music Festivals

[Stephen G Barbone]

May be of interest for some of the Festival movers and shakers who can  
draw some parallels from gthese festivals to OKOM festivals.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband

April 15, 2010 - NY TIMES - By Ben Sisario
At Coachella, Strong Start to Season of Festivals


This year the promoters of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts  
Festival in Indio, Calif., gambled that even in a bruised economy fans  
would not be able to resist the lure of a three-day weekend of  
connoisseur alt-rock, hip-hop and dance music in the desert sun.

For the first time in its 11-year history the festival — which runs  
Friday to Sunday with Jay-Z, Pavement, Faith No More, Muse and Thom  
Yorke’s new band, Atoms for Peace, among the headliners — sold only  
three-day passes (for $269), removing single-day tickets from its  
menu. There was no shortage of griping; a “Single-Day Pass/Wristband  
Petition Group” on Facebook has more than 6,000 members and a long  
chain of angry comments. But Coachella’s gamble has paid off: this  
week it announced that it had sold out its allotment of 75,000 weekend  
passes.

In explaining the change, Paul Tollett, the promoter, said that having  
everybody there the entire time would help simplify attendees’ hotel  
and camping arrangements, and that a three-day Phish festival last  
fall in the same site, the Empire Polo Club, had no single-day tickets  
and was still “incredible.” But most important, he said, he simply  
wanted to be like the big kids — the huge, venerable music festivals  
in Europe during which fans commune for days in tents and muddy fields.

“I want to take the training wheels off,” Mr. Tollett said in a  
telephone interview. “I want to be like the other festivals around the  
world that create these magical weekends.” (As commenters on that  
Facebook page have noted, selling only weekend passes means there is  
less likelihood of low attendance on days with weaker lineups.)

As one of the first major music events of the year, Coachella is a  
bellwether for the entire concert industry, which makes most of its  
money in the summer. And many concert executives said they expect that  
this year, like the last, will be good for big tours and big  
festivals. But how good it will be for smaller, less star-studded  
affairs is unclear.

Gary Bongiovanni, the editor of Pollstar, a concert industry trade  
magazine, called Coachella’s sellout “an excellent sign” for the  
overall business. “Our numbers show that 2010 is off to a good start,”  
he said, “and coming on the heels of a surprisingly good last year,  
which flies in the face of what you’d expect given the economic  
environment. The festivals that are going forward this year all seem  
to be doing fine.”

Those successful festivals include smorgasbords like Sasquatch in  
George, Wash.; Lollapalooza in Chicago; and Bonnaroo, in Manchester,  
Tenn. Sasquatch, over Memorial Day weekend, has sold out, and  
Lollapalooza (in August) and Bonnaroo (in June, and which only offers  
tickets for the full four days) are selling well, according to  
representatives. Some niche events are also popular draws: the dance- 
oriented Ultra Music Festival in Miami last month sold out with  
100,000 attendees, and the indie-rock Pitchfork festival in July —  
capacity 18,000 per day — sold out of its three-day passes weeks ago.  
(Single-day tickets are still available.)

Not all festivals have been so lucky. Some, like Vegoose in Las Vegas,  
sprung up in hopes of emulating the success of Coachella and Bonnaroo  
but folded quickly. Others, like Rothbury in western Michigan and  
Pemberton, near Vancouver, British Columbia, have officially gone on  
hiatus, leaving fans wondering if they will ever return. The fate of  
All Points West, a two-year-old festival in Jersey City, is also  
uncertain; its promoter, AEG Live, has made no announcements about it,  
and executives there have said they are weighing whether to bring it  
back this summer.

The festivals that have remained, many in the industry say, have done  
so by establishing a clear aesthetic and by marketing themselves as  
vacation destinations. Ashley Capps, one of the promoters of Bonnaroo,  
said that about half its attendees come from outside the southeastern  
United States.

“The festivals that are surviving,” said Tom Windish, an agent whose  
clients include Justice, Major Lazer and Hot Chip, “are putting  
together strong bills that are not just dependent on top talent.  
People are interested in a broader variety of music now and are not  
necessarily interested in just going to see one band.”

Whether the success of festivals like Coachella cannibalize  
nonfestival ticket sales is another question.

Last year, according to Pollstar, $4.6 billion worth of concert  
tickets were sold in North America, continuing a decade-long upward  
trend. But Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, says  
that 40 percent of its tickets still go unsold, and last year the  
company offered steep ticket discounts and other promotions, backed by  
aggressive marketing. Live Nation merged with Ticketmaster in January,  
and the concert industry as a whole is closely watching the company to  
see what it does this summer.

Jason Garner, a top executive at Live Nation, said in an interview on  
Wednesday that the company is likely to continue marketing efforts to  
reduce its 40 percent unsold inventory. But he still had a positive  
outlook for the year, saying that concerts remain an attractive draw  
for fans despite the economy.

“We were one of the very few consumer businesses that grew last year  
and that tells you everything about the importance of live music in  
fans’ lives,” he said. “A concert by Lady Gaga is not discretionary  
spending, it’s a huge part of her fans’ lives.”

Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball Tour, promoted by Live Nation, continues  
through the summer. She is also playing at Lollapalooza.