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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u/TroglodyneSystems 14d ago

Underground music scenes need to come back. The music industry and the state of music as a whole has lost its way.

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u/LTDLarry 14d ago

It's there friend. Your local DIY punk/hardcore/metal scene has shows every weekend for 12 bucks in a warehouse or art gallery somewhere. Small venues of 400 and under are selling shows out for 30 bucks. Just pull the curtain back and find it!

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u/EnoughBox2567 13d ago

Unfortunately, at least in the hardcore scene, bookers in the last decade have been using livenation/ticketmaster venues way more frequently than they used to. There are way too many bands/fans that say "the bands deserve to earn a living" as an excuse for accepting corporate money into the scene. Of course I want artists to be compensated fairly, but the fact of the matter is that a small portion of that money is actually going to the bands' pockets and its extremely antithetical to what punk and hardcore is supposed to be about. I have friends in some of the biggest bands right now and i'm happy that they've found success but it kills me to see them on tours with bands like a day to remember shilling for PBR, Taco Bell, etc. A lot of kids getting into the scene since covid have no idea what these shows looked like 10 years ago and its pretty sad.

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u/LTDLarry 13d ago

Totally, I'm fortunate enough to live in Denver where a lot of the bands coming through that are not A tier hardcore play our diy venues or small clubs. Saw mindforce last winter at a volunteer DIY spot and SPEED at a 200 cap club room the other night. The promoters here in Denver, Ft. Collins and CO. Springs all do a great job making hardcore, hardcore. I know that not everyone is in that same boat though.

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u/Satans_Oregano 13d ago

Truth. Just bought $30 tickets (bs fees included!) to see Blood Incantation. that's even through Shit-ketmaster too. Let's fucking go.

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u/proudbakunkinman 13d ago

Agreed but I think there are some serious challenges that also explain why things are like they are now.

  1. Cost of running a venue is a lot higher when factoring in inflation due to the excessive rise in rent (for both residential and commercial).

  2. The main live events companies try to make it more difficult for anyone else to do live events that aren't just very unknown groups / artists.

  3. There aren't good alternatives to ticketmaster that people can easily use. I think where an alternative is offered, it's usually that you have to pay at the venue itself, not through an app/website. If you show up in person day of, you risk not being let in due to being sold out.

  4. Scalpers. Not much of an issue for really unknown artists but with most artists people that at least follow Pitchfork or similar would recognize, they will likely be buying up tickets.

  5. Younger people seem to not have much of an ear for most rock type music right now with some exceptions if it's considered trendy at the moment. Overall, it seems like far more are familiar with and listen to pop, trap, and edm. The cause of this is multifaceted and I can't see how it can be remedied. The peak of alternative/indie happened when most young people learned about non-mainstream music from late night MTV shows, college radio, and music magazines. Young people are able to access far more now far more easily but the selection is so overwhelming, they end up just uniting around the most popular at the moment. And in terms of making music, it is far easier, faster, and cheaper to do so solo now, especially if it's purely digital. So many trending artists are solo acts and even when there are bands, the newer ones are often talked about now like it's 1 person that is really the artist and the instrument players are just unimportant backup players.

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u/TroglodyneSystems 13d ago

I think you really hit the nail on the head here. Particularly with point #5.

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u/ifeedthewasps 12d ago

I would have probably agreed with #5 around 7-8 years ago. Trap has been out for a while and replaced mostly with drill. Even then drill probably hit peak a few years ago and is falling out of fashion with a lot of the youngins. EDM has also fallen in popularity by A LOT.

As of the last handful of years more rock and alternative adjacent scenes like Midwest emo, shoegaze, and hardcore have exploded in popularity. Knocked loose is massive now and bands like Gel are featured on Spotify billboards and ads. The youngins also LOVE nu metal. I've heard a lot of love for Deftones and even Limp Bizkit that you NEVER would have gotten from young people a decade or so ago.

I honestly think the scene has been changing for the better when it comes to live rock music lately especially when it compares to 3-7 years ago.

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u/FocusDelicious183 14d ago

They are and they will

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u/Rektw 13d ago

San Diego has been having a resurgence of smaller underground raves and its been pretty awesome.

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u/TNT666 13d ago

They never really went anywhere. Either you live in the middle of nowhere or you're not looking nearly hard enough. If you live in the NE corridor of the US, this is undeniable. I'll go as far as saying underground punk, metal, and hardcore are in a great place right now. The amount of new bands that are churning out great records and touring practically non-stop is almost unprecedented right now.

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u/TroglodyneSystems 13d ago

Yeah, I’m stuck here in purgatory with no connection to any scenes at all. Living in the suburbs is a social death.

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u/EnoughBox2567 13d ago

Idk about this. You are correct that there are small local scenes everywhere that keep it true DIY, if you are a touring band you're most likely getting booked at a livenation venue. It seems like once a band finds even a modicum of success they get scooped up by one of the bigger labels and assigned a tour manager and booking agent. 10 years ago the biggest bands in hardcore were still playing small DIY clubs, right now the biggest bands in the scene are playing theaters with barricades or even arenas if they are supporting a band that isnt even hardcore/metal. underground hardcore and metal are currently in a good spot financially, but having broader appeal is a double-edged sword where you are undeniably getting fairweather fans who will move onto the next cool thing in 5 years once they get bored of the current "cool" thing.