In November 2018, I wrote a research paper for my Bachelor of Entertainment Industries and was chosen to deliver it at the Creatix Music Biz Forum. This ‘TED Talk’ styled forum introduced me into the professional community, as I discussed “The Rise of Boutique Music Festivals”.
Introduction
This essay questions why the rise in boutique music festivals has been so significant in the past several years. Outlining the differences between large scale commercial “mega-fests” and boutique music festivals, the latter’s surge in popularity in Australia is examined.
Context review
Demographics
From the generations raised on Lollapalooza and Coachella, arises a gentler breed of festival, “Just because you can’t dance to techno for 15 hours doesn’t mean you lose it completely,” says Live Nation’s James Barton (Buerger, 2015). Moreover, the Sunday Business Post theorises this as a new definition of ‘adult behaviour’. In Ireland, for instance, a combination of better healthcare and higher income means that those above the age of 35 are no longer needed to grow up, “propelling the middle youth market”. Whereas, previous generations would rarely attend such events and were expected to settle down with as an adult (Anonymous, 2006). Declan Melia, lead vocalist for British India, admits that, “…the sheen rubs off as you get older and, at the very reasonable risk of appearing cantankerous, the idea of bumping shoulders with thirteen thousand un-showered ecstasy abusers in their late teens isn’t as appealing…” (Tone Deaf, 2015). A UK Festival Census survey showed that although 60% of surveyed festival attendees were aged under 30, those aged 45-64 were a fairly high 20% (Johansson & Toraldo, 2015). Additionally, 27% of the survey said they had children. This indicates a potential demand for older generations and family-friendly events (Johansson & Toraldo, 2015).
Participation and experience
Small-scale boutique festivals are not large festivals in-waiting, but instead, based around personal and subcultural identity-making experiences based on real-life encounters with other guests (Schmidt, 2015). Even the popular lifestyle identifier of ‘boutique’, clings to the recent obsession with health food shops, spa treatment centres and self-improvement courses (Anonymous, 2006). According to Joe Silberzweig from SFX Entertainment, “Millennials are an experience generation, they want you to take them somewhere totally unique” (Wilson, 2015). These festivals are more of an inclusive space, removing the VIP and premium separations, “Punters will likely interact with artists here… Very much a community vibe.” (Tone Deaf, 2015) Chloe from Panacea claims that people want more than just a concert, they want an experience, “… Some of the best and most memorable festival moments are the wacky, weird, wonderful and unexpected…” (Tone Deaf, 2015) According to an original survey, the majority of surveyors at approximately 55% would actually prefer an hour’s travel for a festival and, besides music, destination was rated the most important aspect. However, this survey only had 57 individuals answer it, with mostly 18-24 year olds and not many 35-44 year olds (Alder, 2018).
Individuality and saturation
According to authors of ‘Mosh Pit to Posh Pit’, Marjana Johansson and Maria Laura Toraldo, many customers are tiring of the over-sized locations, relentless marketing and mass-produced foods (Johansson & Toraldo, 2015). Similarly, a panel at SXSW discussed that, despite advancements in technology, large festivals are perceived by some as becoming generic (Keene, 2017). Music promoter, Michael Chugg, summarises this, saying that smaller boutique events will be the future of the music industry as they offer better service and facilities. For example, festivals like Laneway and the Byron Bay Blues Festival have, “…easier movement around the site, and quicker service for food and beverages.” (Druce, 2013). Perhaps the main selling point is the boutique’s attention to detail in all areas, becoming, “…a music event, Craft Beer & Beverage Festival, Foodies Festival, and Arts Festival all rolled into one.” (Tone Deaf, 2015). Megan Buerger from Billboard says that some over-capacity festivals “swarm with kids, peacocking bloggers and aggressive bands” (Buerger, 2015). Combatting this, some boutique festivals enforce an exclusive invite-only platform and others capping attendee capacity at 500 (Buerger, 2015). Unfortunately, the new organisers of Festival Republic had mistakenly introduced commercial sponsors and mainstream headliners to the established boutique event, underlining the need for individuality by shrinking ticket sales (Robinson, 2015).
Research Question
What are the factors that have contributed to the rise of boutique music festivals in Australia?
Discussion
Demographics
The overall consensus is that mega-fests are for younger, party-minded 16-25 year olds, whereas boutique festivals have surged to cater to the older fans yearning to return to the simplicity of the music and immerse themselves in the culture (Buerger, 2015). By using the Pareto principle, whereby the 20% of fans provide 80% of artist revenue, it is possible that the older generations could be the music loving 20%. These ‘super-fans’ should be a critical target market (EventBrite, 2016). Thus, the blurring of the previously wide generation gap creates a perfect opportunity for music festival organisers to introduce a new breed of festivals catering to those in their late 30’s (the boutique). This music generation, growing up surrounded by music as their main source of culture, are still wanting to live life to the fullest and not settle down as “adults”. However, at a certain age one seeks a more respectable environment. Selecting a more specific demographic with particular tastes will ensure a more stable business model compared to the fickle youth with changing trends and less spending power.
Participation and Experience
Society’s lingering obsession with self-indulgence and DIY all links back to one key concept; experience. Combine this love for experience with music and a disposable income, what is formed are boutique festivals. Craving a mini holiday, these punters will pay more for an event separate from the drinking fuelled partying and aggression, and ‘posers’ for social media. Interacting with more like-minded music lovers will create that feeling of being community, creating a sense of involvement and participation. Millennials want an all-over experience, not just music and drinking, but unique experiences. Unlike traditional concert-model festivals relying on high-profile musicians that attract mass audiences, the boutique festival is said to ‘idealize participation and resist spectatorship’ (Johansson & Toraldo, 2015). For example, the demise of Soundwave which was a simple music based festival, led to the obsession with Splendour in the Grass offering a range of participatory activities including craft activities, music and dance workshops, and spiritual workshops. Unlike other events, people at boutique festivals can get a real taste sensation, rather than simply a boozy one, they want more. The Examiner summarises this, saying that, “…you can no longer just shove a bunch of disorganised names on a poster and expect the fans of those artists to swell to the proportions required to sustain a festival financially or in terms of engagement.” (Druce, 2013).
What makes a potential customer choose one festival over another, especially when the line-up is obscure and unknown? What makes one go out of their way to sample each artist’s music and decide to attend that festival? The answer is theme. If organisers themed every aspect possible, with art sculptures, themed stages and hourly events, even at a glance, it will be evident that this is a once in a lifetime experience. By creating an experience-based theme similar to that of Burning Man and the Frozen Dead Guy Days, with interactive art displays, themed events like the latter’s coffin racing, polar plunging, frozen t-shirt contests, ice turkey bowling to tribute the frozen resident in the town’s hills (Anonymous, Festival Fever, 2017), communal bonfires, and a local creek or natural swimming hole in the venue, the boutique festival will go above and beyond their competition. This inclusive and communal vibe will carry out throughout the event, especially if everything was tied into the festival by having the creek a low-key stage during the afternoon.
Individuality and saturation
One issue with this ‘one size fits all’ model is that people begin to see through the mass-marketing tactics, tiring of the genericity of the same formulaic structure and line-ups. Events need an individual identity for the very different audiences they attract. Otherwise organisers get the overcrowded, youth-oriented raves of mega-fests. By using smaller venues and having smaller capacities, organisers can create a sense of exclusivity, less walking and waiting, and more personal space. The pure laziness of stringing together a poorly thought out line-up with no general theme does not attract the individuals who will be more profitable. Simply, creating an individual identity assists festival organisers to stand out from their competitors and increase ticket sales. In summation, the different types of festivals have opposite aims. It seems that, although large festivals cater to the younger age bracket, they also have no distinct theme and generally want as many attendees as possible. Whereas boutique festivals aim for quality over quantity.
Another simple idea is to centre the line-up on a few certain artists that fit the theme then find similar support acts. Although most festivals have similar genre artists on each stage at all festivals, many do not actually cater to the same audience and must leave that stage for another or are not interested in any particular artist for another hour. By copying the concept of a concert structure (that is, having artists that resemble each other’s style) organisers can ensure the festival displays an individual feel attracting the right crowd. For instance, Taylor Swift’s tour with support artists Camilla Cabello and Charli XCX are targeted to one particular audience and are more likely to appreciate each female artist. Perhaps this feminist theme is also a possibility, tributing each stage to a theme, whilst including songs that fit that theme as their covers in their set.
Conclusion
The factors that contribute to the rise of boutique music festivals are the key demographics, the love of participation and experience in events, and the need for individuality in festivals to combat the oversaturation. These boutique events have a vastly different target market and thus, will not replace large scale festivals, but fill the gap in the live music industry. Although this essay answers the question of what the key factors are and shows that large festivals will likely remain, it raises new questions for the future of live music. For instance, how do festival organisers continue to push the boundaries to think of new and exciting ideas to keep the public interested? And is there enough room in the industry for a more in-between festivals for the 20-30 year olds that want less binge drinking teenagers, doing recreational drugs but also less family oriented with people like their parents attending?
References
Alder, A. (2018). Boutique Music Festivals. Retrieved from Survey Monkey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-NQTPYCRDL/
Anonymous. (2006, September 03). The boutique generation that refuses to grow up. Sunday Business Post. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/817477909?rfr_id=info%3Axri%2Fsid%3Aprimo
Anonymous. (2017, May). Festival Fever. Health and Fitness. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/1951041002/fulltext/FD921693AFD7416APQ/1?accountid=13380
Buerger, M. (2015, May 30). Micro-Festivals: The Next Music Trend? Billboard. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/1703187770/fulltext/14196CBAC88C41BCPQ/1?accountid=13380
Druce, A. (2013, October 27). Festivals failing to adapt: Ritchie. The Examiner. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/1445193352?pq-origsite=summon
EventBrite. (2016). The Australian Music Consumer Report 2016. Australia: Media Insight Consulting. Retrieved from https://mkto.eventbrite.com/rs/269-CEG-133/images/2016%20AU%20Music%20Consumer%20Report.pdf?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWVRReU5XUm1NVFF6WkRnMCIsInQiOiJQY3BaSG5DRVFhajlvNGlSa2JFRVFmY0lRekpCVmRHZWo1M1hibzRJV1VtQlJJc1VpS0lRTENSRHZZNlUwWnk4c0ZaNU1DMnNEWU9ta0htNHJERFJ0MjV
Johansson, M., & Toraldo, M. L. (2015). ‘From mosh pit to posh pit’: Festival imagery in the context of the boutique festival. Culture and Organization, 220-237. Retrieved from https://www-tandfonline-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/doi/full/10.1080/14759551.2015.1032287?scroll=top&needAccess=true
Keene, D. (2017, March 30). Considering the Future of Music Festivals. Retrieved from ProSound News: https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/live/considering-the-future-of-music-festivals
Reidy, H. (2011, December). Music to your wallet? Your Money, pp. 28-29. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/1242455263?rfr_id=info%3Axri%2Fsid%3Aprimo
Robinson, R. (2015). Music Festivals and the Politics of Participation. London: Routledge. Retrieved from https://www-taylorfrancis-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/books/9781317091998
Schmidt, B. (2015). Boutiquing at the Raindance Campout: Relational Aesthetics as Festival Technology. Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture, 35-54.
Tone Deaf. (2015, October 09). Why Boutique Aussie Music Festivals Are The Future. Retrieved from Tone Deaf: https://tonedeaf.com.au/why-boutique-music-festivals-are-the-future/
Tone Deaf. (2015, October 26). Why The Future Of Music Festivals Is About More Than The Music. Retrieved from Tone Deaf: https://tonedeaf.com.au/why-the-future-of-music-festivals-is-about-more-than-the-music/
Wilson, J. (2015, June 03). The Future of Music Festivals: How Technology Is Shaping a New Era of Experiences. Retrieved from Huffinton Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-wilson/the-future-of-music-festi_b_6806904.html
Annotated Bibliography
An annotated bibliography by Ainslie Alder, focusing on the failures of music festivals.
ABC . (2017, April 30). Fyre Festival furore after Ja Rule’s ‘luxury’ music event cancelled. Retrieved from ABC News: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-29/fyre-festival-furore-after-ja-rules-luxury-music-event-flops/8482192
This ABC news article gives an unbiased and detailed account of the cancellation of Fyre Festival with primary sources such as photos and videos from attendees. The quotes from the festival goers and organisers themselves can be used in a case study of why festivals often fail in the current climate.
Cummings, J. (2010, August 6). Sponsorship within the Australian Indie music festival scene. Journal of Media & Cultural Studies , 675-685. Retrieved from https://www-tandfonline-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/doi/full/10.1080/10304310802311642?scroll=top&needAccess=true
This in-depth journal study on corporate sponsorships allows Cummings to examine the impacts of branding and commercialisation on Australian indie music festivals. In particular, the ‘experience enhancement’ techniques implemented by sponsors of the Big Day Out and Falls festivals which some believe to greatly impact the authenticity and ‘true meaning’ of the experience.
The simple wording and thought-provoking manner of this peer-reviewed article provided great insight into the consumer’s experience and misgivings of attending expensive and large-scale festivals such as Big Day Out due to the quantity of advertisements and sponsorships. Although it did not have a great deal of statistics or straight facts, it used primary sources such as quotes from festival goers which give researchers an insight into the public opinion.
Hiller, R. S. (2016, August). The importance of quality: How music festivals achieved commercial success. Journal of Cultural Economics, 309-334. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/1811117920?pq-origsite=summon
The journal article by Hiller examines the difficult hiring decisions in large music festivals, using helpful statistics such as what type of artists are most likely to be hired when facing the different quality and variation needs of consumers. This not only shows important issues in the music industry, but also other industries with similar input decisions.
The peer-reviewed paper is fairly difficult to read with unnecessarily complicated words but, when read carefully, is extremely insightful.
Merrill, J. (2015, June 23). Rock Around The Crops. Retrieved from The Independent: https://search-proquest-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/1690279994?pq-origsite=summon
This news article is an inspiring and detailed account of Glastonbury’s success factors and what factors the organisers focus on when booking the line-up. It centres on an interview with Glastonbury’s main organiser (alongside her brother) Emily Eavis. It delves into the theory that their biggest reason for success all these years is staying true to their ethos and only accepting corporate sponsorships which strongly contribute to their chosen charities. However, it is a primary source and hence, must be scrutinised as Eavis must protect their image. For instance, all donations come with a tax rebate, which is one example of how her quotes can be skewed to the benefit of the festival family. Despite these usual risks with primary sources, with great attention, one can use triangulation and external sources to evaluate the reliability of what is said.
Pegg, S., & Patterson, I. (2010, May 27). Rethinking Music Festivals as a Staged Event: Gaining Insights from Understanding Visitor Motivations and the Experiences They Seek. Journal of Convention & Event Tourism, 85-99. Retrieved from https://www-tandfonline-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/doi/full/10.1080/15470141003758035?scroll=top&needAccess=true
Pegg and Patterson research visitor engagement in the Australian music festival scene in their journal. By surveying 1,500 visitors at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, the authors investigate their main motivation for attending. This shows the changing nature of engagement in the experience economy and the importance of niche groups attending particular festivals. With a large survey group, it is believed the results should be reliable for this topic. However, as mentioned in Vinnicombe’s journal, each festival may have different results as they have different target audiences, therefore, a comparison of results from different music festivals may be more reliable. The book, Rethinking Music Festivals as a Staged Event, is a peer-reviewed journal using primary source data in the form of surveys to gain insight into the lack of understanding of Australian festivals.
Robinson, R. (2015). Music Festivals and the Politics of Participation. London: Routledge. Retrieved from https://www-taylorfrancis-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/books/9781317091998
Music Festivals and the Politics of Participation, is a vital look inside the international festival culture and the shift towards mass market. Dr. Roxy Robinson discusses the British and global change in the festival scene from the handful of formulaic large-scale festivals to the hundreds of thousands attending ‘boutique’ field festivals. Through an in-depth study of the emergence and evolution of festivals, Robinson shows the impacts on the new competitive industry of music festivals.
This peer-reviewed book, specifically the fourth chapter, Boutique Festivals, gives an educated insider’s insight into the success of this new type of ‘boutique festival’. This briefly advises organisers a new formula for festival success, including distancing itself from that of a concert-level event and focusing on the experience aspect.
Vinnicombe, T., & Sou, P. U. (2017, March 17). Socialization or genre appreciation: the motives of music festival participants. International Journal of Event and Festival Management. Retrieved from https://www-emeraldinsight-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/doi/full/10.1108/IJEFM-05-2016-0034
Vinnicombe and Sou’s research paper investigates where most studies on festival attendance go wrong. With the hypothesis that the usual single-case studies research does not generate generalisable motivations, the findings show that music festival attendees are motivated by the music whereas general festivals are motivated by socialisation. This shows a different thesis to other articles in this list which focused on certain music festivals. Supposedly, there has been little development in the motivation items used in festival motivation studies since the 1990’s.
This journal article has a clear hypothesis and argument, but is backed by substantial research and data. Although the paper seems so to be slightly repetitive and unnecessary, it provides an in-depth look into the true reason ‘punters’ may attend music festivals specifically which all organisers must be aware of. It is more of a research paper into what the problem is, rather than providing examples for solutions.
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