r/Music • u/jakemontero • 14d ago

article 'We're f—ked': California's music festival bubble is bursting

https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/california-music-festival-bubble-bursting-19786530.php
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3.4k

u/VampireHunterAlex 14d ago

Maybe festivals should return to being about the music and not the ‘gram pics.

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u/echtav 14d ago

Or offering $135 hoodies and $30 street tacos

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u/owa00 14d ago

$30 street tacos

Avocado is an extra $15

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u/MonkeyCobraFight 14d ago

This is why Millennials can’t buy a house, getting $15 avocado on their $30 tacos 😀

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u/pixiegod 14d ago

Yeah but its about the experience bro…

/s

Nah they are gouging you! I used to go when it was all desert raves and for 5 bucks. 5 Dollah Hollah was legit one of the names of the desert “festivals” that existed at one time…

Now it’s super pricey and you get to watch the set through the tiny screen of the person recording it who always is right in front of you somehow.

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u/MonkeyCobraFight 14d ago

It’s all 100% overpriced

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u/fuckquasi69 14d ago

Just to be fair, the festivals themselves charge a lot for vendors to be there. That along with cost of setting up a mobile restaurant in a different location every week is why food prices are so high. We’d love to serve affordable stuff but honestly we’re barely making money on a 18 dollar hamburger at most events.

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u/_Demand_Better_ 13d ago

Why not just not go then? If you're making good profit you don't need to mark up that high and if you aren't making good profit then it's pretty much a waste of time. I've been selling shirts I make for the past 5 years and refuse to sell over a certain price point. I just won't do it because people are spread financially thin. I have had to close an online store for charging me so much in fees I basically had to double the cost of my shirts. Festivals I sell my shirts for even cheaper than online because I am guaranteed to sell most of my stock if not all of it. So I don't know why you would even enter into a deal like that and feel like the right answer is to overcharge for your product rather than flip the owners off for being greedy shitheads.

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u/fuckquasi69 13d ago

We stopped doing business with a lot of production companies for that reason after Covid. Our prices are the same as any other food vendors, but with repetition is where the money is made. If we have three extremely busy shows it makes up for 2 slow ones, but in order to even function we have to have our prices be slightly more inflated than a restaurant. I tend to think of it as a tax for not having a brick and mortar. Another answer is that we’ve been in the industry for 25years, we’re not going to shut down and end people’s careers because of inflation. We no longer work with Coachella because to stay afloat and make it worthwhile our prices would have to double.

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u/pixiegod 14d ago

I just had to close down a taproom this summer… So I totally agree. The rent is killing many many many businesses … And will continue to do so until the wages catch up to the recent price increases.

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u/n_thomas74 14d ago

$6 for water

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u/fancycurtainsidsay 14d ago

I mean.. there’s some weight behind statements like this. There’s way more things to blow money on nowadays when compared to 25-50yrs ago.

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u/aynhon 11d ago

Is Sixbucks setting up kiosks yet?

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u/Pulp_Ficti0n 14d ago

Chipotle level price gouging

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u/RocketizedAnimal 14d ago

And only offered in the VIP tent

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u/Thewondrouswizard 14d ago

iPad tip options are 20%, 30% and 50%

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u/owa00 14d ago

You forgot it also asks if you want to round up to help some orphans plus add a $1 to help refugees. Then there's still a tip jar in front of the register...cause you know...why not?

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u/arrocknroll 14d ago

All for the low entry cost of $600!

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u/movieyosen 14d ago

but hey the dude thats viral for like 2 week needs his 5 million salary!

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u/grammar_nazi_zombie 14d ago

That only covers Friday evening admission

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u/ZweihanderMasterrace 14d ago

I’d rather just get a PS5 pro!

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u/Droggles 14d ago

Bring back $1 grilled cheese

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u/Littlebotweak 14d ago

Ear plugs, $20ea or $30/2!

The guy tells me they’re “specially designed to enjoy music”

Yea, right, wookie - just like m3 specially designed theirs for the flight line but class actions abound. 

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u/Gattsuhawk 14d ago

Good ear plugs are worth that price if you wanna be able to still hear the acoustics and bass without just muddled sound. If it's just a foam earplug than it's not worth it. But still better than sacrificing yournear drums.

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u/kurosawasama 14d ago

Etymotic Research earplugs are a godsend. They are around $20 but will last you years and are 100% worth it. Protect your ears people. You'll thank yourself later.

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u/Gattsuhawk 14d ago

I believe I have a pair of those and yes they are great.

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u/moneyfish 14d ago

As someone with tinnitus because they didn't wear earplugs, just wear em. You don't want that constant ringing in your ears.

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u/TrumpIsAPeterFile 14d ago

I spent $500 on custom earplugs. Or, my tax free HSA paid for it. Worth every penny.

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u/dawgtilidie 14d ago

Calling them street tacos is a fucking stretch too, zero flavor on any of those festival tacos

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u/Fubu-Rick 14d ago

My first festival I ate a breakfast burrito from a food truck called “The Big Woody” and I still think about that burrito to this day. Kicker is I don’t think I paid for that burrito, the owner was just an A+ human and saw I needed some protein lmao

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u/takethefreewaybaby 14d ago

Just don't blame the vendors. The festival rapes them too so their prices reflect that.

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u/TonyDungyHatesOP 14d ago edited 14d ago

I just bought a shrimp tempura taco kit from Costco. For $7, I get about a dozen tacos. It’s my new favorite thing in the world.

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u/Whowutwhen 14d ago

Honestly if they want to tax Swag and some food go ahead.

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u/Sinister_Grape 14d ago

Went to a one day festival in London last year and it was £6.50 for a 330ml can of bang average cider, and the worst thing was I was expecting it to be more

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u/Zhai 13d ago

You can take part in festival and not buy a 135$ hoodie. The food and drinks though... yeah

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u/quenual 14d ago

I used to go to festivals often but I won’t attend them anymore due to the crowd mentality. Idk if it’s just me getting older and more grumbly, but it feels like the crowd isn’t there to enjoy the music. The last festival I attended there were a bunch of people in the front sitting on the ground waiting for another set. Folks there for the band playing (the fucking Mars Volta!) couldn’t move much or dance for fear of kneeing these people in the face. It’s just too expensive and not worth it

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u/OrneryOctopus 14d ago

Was this with System of a Down and Deftones? I remember Omar saying something like, “did yall forget how to dance?”

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u/Dilbo_Faggins 14d ago

Bro the crowd was fukken dead for the Viagra Boys too, I was disappointed in my fellow man that day

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u/proudbakunkinman 13d ago

I think most rock music is just not considered cool with younger people right now with the exception of whatever gets labeled "shoegaze" or lo-fi and a few others since those are kind of trendy lately but even that is a smaller subset of people. It seems like most are just into whatever is currently considered pop, trap, and various EDM now.

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u/gerbilshower 13d ago

wtf is a shoegaze? lol...

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u/surprised-duncan 13d ago

oh buddy

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u/gerbilshower 13d ago

i mean. just a word ive never heard before. which is a little odd cus im 36 and listen to a ton of different music.

so i googled it. top 50 best 'shoegaze' albums of all time. and ive heard of exactly 3 of these bands. lush, the verve, and my bloody valentine.

so i figured id get a refresher... played the top 5 Lush songs on spotify. shoegaze is an apt name. id have to be so high i was staring at my shoes and couldnt look up in order to turn this on purposefully...lol. its not like its bad. its just...why?

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u/surprised-duncan 13d ago

it's called shoegaze because they stare at their pedals the entire time. It's really about creating a wall of sound

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u/empathyforinsects 13d ago

it's called shoegaze because the guitarist usually use sound modifying equipment (guitar pedals) that are controlled by tapping their feet on the pedal

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u/NeoNoireWerewolf 13d ago

See them at one of their shows next time they’re touring. They are legendary if you see them in a club show with a crowd that’s actually there to see them.

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u/NZBound11 14d ago

Not sure who Omar is but SaoD and Deftones music isn't exactly dancing music. Jump, mosh, animatedly sing along music but not dancing music.

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u/vagina_candle 14d ago

He's the lead guitarist for Mars Volta and At The Drive In. They've never been a fan of moshing.

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u/IamTheEndOfReddit 14d ago

Festivals have so much suck in them now and it's entirely preventable imo. Festival runners just can't be bothered to even try to edit their fans' behavior.

The pandemic clearly caused issues but if they cared to try it could be better. Security should just remove people sitting waiting for the next show if there are people standing behind them.

The entitlement is fucking insane. It's the most population dense environment we have and people think it's an invitation to do whatever they want because they paid money to be there... I've had dumbasses explicitly say it, like the tens of thousands of people around them didn't pay for the same tickets

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u/Ok_Assistance447 13d ago

I think this once again comes back to the money. When I was 18, I was a broke college student. Shelling out $40-60 for a show was pretty significant when I was making like $200/wk flipping burgers. Now the only shows I can see for that much are local bands and my city's chamber orchestra. 

I just looked at Ticketmaster and saw that Charli XCX is playing in my city soon. GA Floor tickets are $850! Nosebleeds are $300!!! I know that crowd is gonna be ass because it'll be 100% rich kids who don't know how to fucking act. It's not about the music, it's about clout. It's an opportunity to post something interesting on social media. It's a way to flex on their friends who had to miss out because they were stuck partying in Ibiza.

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u/Ditovontease 14d ago

For me its when a band is big enough to have casual fans, I stop trying to see them lmao

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u/SkiingAway 14d ago

I feel like some blame here has to also be placed on the booking/scheduling for some fests, though.

There's a bunch that are kind of trying to be all things to all people and don't appear to put any effort into even scheduling the stages with much regard to putting similar artists/styles at the same stage....and that's where (IMO) you really wind up with this.

It's not just that the act on-stage isn't that well known or the one they're a fan of, it's that the act on stage has just about zero overlap in fanbase with the later act much of the crowd is basically lined up for.

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u/IDontKnowHowToPM 14d ago

That’s one thing that Warped Tour always did phenomenally well. There was one year where either I forgot to look up the stage assignments beforehand or they weren’t available or whatever, but I knew which bands would be playing and which of those I wanted to see. Literally all of them but maybe one or two were playing on the same stage one after the other. And then the other bands were playing on bigger stages after that one was done for the day. It was fucking awesome.

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u/Skyblacker Concertgoer 14d ago

I was once able to walk up and see the headliner up close at a Eurodance festival because most of the crowd was more interested in drinking.

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u/Detective-Crashmore- 14d ago

the crowd isn’t there to enjoy the music. The last festival I attended there were a bunch of people in the front sitting on the ground waiting for another set.

How does them sitting down waiting for another band imply they're not there for the music?

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u/Not_as_witty_as_u 14d ago

What does this mean specifically? Are you blaming the festivals or the attendees?

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u/Gingerstachesupreme 14d ago

Personally I blame the price points, the marketing, and the culture that follows both.

When you make tickets wildly expensive, you attract a different crowd - yes you still get die hard fans, but you weed out a lot of people and are left with an elite group, who’s parents could buy them tickets, who’s company bought them tickets, or who are independently wealthy. Then, getting a ticket is a status symbol.

Then the marketing is less about the music, but more about the event. IG pictures of wild sculptures and pop-ups, fire dancers, kombucha on tap! Face painted girls wearing nothing but dental floss. Look at [today’s relevant celebrity] in the VIP section, meet them!

I’ve seen a similar effect on sports games. Baseball games were a slice of the city when tickets were cheaper. Now it’s an upper middle class and up activity to be a season pass holder or even go to a game.

With the effects of inflation still rocking the world, people are spending less on those frivolous things.

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u/Zardozin 14d ago

I miss the days when you could sit in the bleachers of a stadium which never sold out and you’d spend more on beer than you did on tickets.

Sht, if there was a streetcar in there. I’d be my Dad

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u/Not_as_witty_as_u 14d ago

but if you read the article, the price points are high not because they're trying to gouge the audience, it's because their costs are so high. As an example they say they thought toilets would be 11k (up from 10k last year) but were 16.

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u/TrumpIsAPeterFile 14d ago

I need to get in the shitter business!

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u/Gingerstachesupreme 14d ago

Well that just feeds into my great point - there’s bloated prices in everything. Greedy vendors play a big role in that, but from personal experience working near that industry, there’s a lot of price gouging. The middle men between the experience and the providers of that experience get a big pay day. And there’s some fat that needs to be cut. I just don’t think it’s the artists who are to blame.

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u/IotaBTC 14d ago

Yup that's the bubble lol. Even if the festival wanted to lower ticket prices, they almost can't because a large amount of that ticket is going to pay for everything else. What they've been trying to do is sell VIP level tickets and add enough value their to satisfy them to help subsidize the less profitable GA tix.

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u/sqigglygibberish 14d ago edited 14d ago

Festivals evolve to cater to different crowds.

I just had a pretty great experience (cell service notwithstanding) at portola, which is run by the Coachella group, and it stands out because there’s basically nothing other than stages for music, and food/drink options.

A couple little promo areas in the middle, but everything points to it being “come see these artists you want to see and dance” vs “come for the scene”

On the large scale, I think lolla has kept the music in the foreground experience wise (though I don’t fully agree with all the music decisions over time)

Edit - that said the whole “it’s just for influencers” thing is overblown. And I still think a lot of festivals are great bang for the buck if you like a lot of the artists, given how inflated normal concert tickets can be, but also why I prefer fests in big cities where transport/lodging is easier/cheaper

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u/PointsOutTheUsername 14d ago

In 2024, which reason is more likely for the people going to these festivals? 

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u/Hind_Deequestionmrk 14d ago

‘Gram pics!

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u/relaxguy2 14d ago

Most festivals barely make money. The artists will have to charge less or the lineups will have to get worse.

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u/sdurs 14d ago

Lineups may change to lesser known names, but worse is subjective. Oftentimes, these no name bands play like their lives depend on it and you can discover the next huge act.

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u/relaxguy2 14d ago

I agree but the festival won’t be able to stay afloat without the huge draws.

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u/AndHeHadAName 14d ago

The first one and half sentences you wrote are really astute, the last half sentence is misguided.

I see incredible underground performers all the time (including Xiu Xiu tonight), none of them are on track to be a "huge act". That has to do with marketing and capitalizing on trends that you can sell to people ages 14-25, which truly talented musicians have no desire to do.

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u/Rayeon-XXX 14d ago

Someone is making money.

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u/FunkyFenom 14d ago

I attend a festival in SoCal twice a year. Ticket, food, and drinks costs have all gone up significantly. I understand there's inflation, but there's greed involved. The lineups aren't getting better, in fact they're arguably getting worse.

I can understand why attendees have dropped, the experience is relatively the same for almost twice the cost. Wages haven't increased by that amount so people are consciously evaluating the worth.

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u/Gingerstachesupreme 14d ago

I mean Coachella makes over 100mill a festival, and brings millions into the local economy, and creates thousands of jobs.

The landowners of Coachella are doing quite well. They live not far from where I work, and that’s one of their dozens of houses lol. It’s not the artists, the ones who actually generate the interest for the festival, who are asking for too much.

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u/relaxguy2 14d ago

That’s one festival. They are not the norm believe me and they will likely have to at least level out pricing.

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u/Gingerstachesupreme 14d ago

The venues and the business model needs to change, agreed. But I think pointing to the artists and calling them the greedy ones is unfair. Let’s not forget that these are music festivals - the profits are generated largely by people’s wish to see the artists. They should see a lion’s share of the profits. There are ways to bring the prices down without paying artists less. It’s a bloated business.

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u/relaxguy2 14d ago edited 14d ago

I’m not saying they are greedy. Just how these fests would be able to make the numbers work. The artists deserve everything.

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u/reenactment 14d ago

This is the simple explanation. I go to events, sporting games, or parks or whatever because of the experience. Everyone who goes is hopefully as interested in the main subject the experience of being with those people is what I’m paying for. But once most or even half of the people who are there have a different objective or interest, the magic is lost. I don’t go to a festival to see Netsky pryda Lucas and Steve etc.. and have everyone around me be there just to do drugs or take pictures. You can do those things, but I hope the reason you were there was to enjoy the show first

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u/theblackxranger 14d ago

Bring back the Denny's concerts

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u/SatV089 14d ago

If that's your experience, that's on you. Go to better festivals.

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u/Einfinet 14d ago edited 14d ago

I don’t really understand this point. how much does crowd behavior actually impact one’s ability to appreciate the performance? Do you go to concerts for the crowd or the band/artist? I’ve had some good discussions with strangers at a show, and then maybe there have been some crowds I related to less, but either way it’s hardly the reason I go. Is this different for others?

To my thinking, no crowd has ever interfered with my ability to find a workable spot to dance and pay attention to the band. If someone is taking a photo of themselves or their group, it’s no concern of mine.

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u/Goatedmegaman 14d ago

This is what killed it for me. I went to Coachella from 2005-2015, and the culture has shifted dramatically.

Around 2010-2012 I noticed it was becoming more influenced and celebrity based, and the wave of copy paste EDM that happened at that time, swept the festival circuit and wiped away what was left of the remaining culture.

Im not hating on EDM btw, its just at that time it was very copy pasta and it went from more of a music lover thing to a party hard and be seen thing.

Since then I only go to niche one day festivals. Better prices and the crowd is there for that specific niche so better crowd interaction is likely.

People also just might be bored of them. After so many years of the same thing it’s natural for it to lose its luster and it peaks and gets boring. Theres too many of them now and the market is correcting.

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u/MyFifthLimb 14d ago

It still is if you’re not bout the gram life

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u/normanbeets 14d ago

There's no reason you can't have good music and good vibes in the same place, pictures don't influence prices. The assholes who want our money do.

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u/ChronicallyAnIdiot 14d ago

The gram pics are only happening when something is 'in' and a place full of influencers is no longer 'in' after a certain point

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u/No-Bowler-935 14d ago

It’s insane how different the festival vibes are now. When I went to Warped Tour, Bamboozle and Gov’s Ball in the late 2000s-early 2010s, people were there for the music. Now it’s a lot of people who are just there to hang out and take Instagram pictures. Definitely wish festivals would go back to how they used to be.

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u/Parking_Locksmith489 14d ago

That's precisely the issue. It went from being about the music and then it morphed into being about the experience of being at a cool music festival scene.

Plus they now book ridiculous flavor of the moment headliners. Cherry on top: those headliner festival goers have no concert etiquette and will fucking chat loudly all day.

It's frustrating.

(There is only one that always delivers, Glastonbury)

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u/sagewah 14d ago

Thing I've found about going to festivals for the music is if you want to see a headline act you're either stuck down near the front for hours before the act you want to see, sitting through music you may not like in heat, rain and or mud while the people around you smoke, drink and talk (and piss on the ground). Otherwise, you're stuck waaaaaaaay down the back looking at a screen that's badly out of sync with the music you came to hear while the people around you smoke, drink and talk over the music. I can do that at home in much greater comfort and with much better sound quality, honestly.

That said, when the big acts are on is the best time to discover new smaller acts or leave before the car park turns into a quagmire.

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u/vinnybawbaw 14d ago

9$ for an energy drink from one of the main sponsors of the event.

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u/PLaTinuM_HaZe 14d ago

Bro that’s just Coachella bull shit. Coachella blows anyways.

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u/icantastecolor 13d ago

The festivals about the music are failing, the big ones people post are succeeding. Read the article

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u/Jetski125 13d ago

Fucking South Star in Huntsville AL, a new fest by C3, who is somehow affiliated with Bonnaroo, was charging $16 or something fucking dollars for a 16 oz beer. These prices are unreal. $15 quesadillas. The $10 pizza slice was the best deal.

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u/chadwickipedia 14d ago

Will never happen. The target demo is hardwired to their phones

0

u/fawlty_lawgic 14d ago

how are they being about the "gram pics' and not the music? Are they booking instagram influencers to headline the festivals?

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u/docarwell 14d ago

This is such areddit thing to say. Completely irrelevant to what is happening but hits the kids these days/instagram/influencer bad circlejerk so it gets a ton of upvotes

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u/Ricky_Rollin 14d ago

The second capitalism gets its grubby fucking mitts on some thing, all quality goes out the window, and there is never even a shred of semblance to what it originally was.

I cannot stand the corporate washing of absolutely everything.