Music Festivals are failing, from Burning Man failing to sell out for the first time in a decade to Lollapalooza France being cancelled, this might be the beginning of the end to one of the greatest things music has to offer, but why?
Changing Times and A New Audience
In the past, many music festivals were the Mecca for music fans. From the insane Playboi Carti Mosh Pits as Rolling Loud Miami to the line dancing at Stage Coach, it was the place many people wanted to be. People would save money to go see a plethora of new artists as well as their favorites. Festivals were not just about the music, many people attending these festivals would use it as a chance to meet new people, drink, flex on instagram, network, do drugs, and just enjoy the overall experience.
Coachella, Rolling Loud, The iHeart Music Festival, these were all the places to be for many influencers, socialites, and music lovers. But, this deep love for music festivals is changing because no one is going to them anymore.
A website called the Music Festival Wizard shows how many music festivals have been cancelled this year as well as how many are done after 2024. The list includes festivals such as: Desert Daze, Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, Kickoff Jam, EDC China 2024, Sudden Little Thrills, Music Midtown, Made In America Festival. It is deeply saddening the amount of festivals being cancelled but many of them are being cancelled for the same reason, financial struggle.
Since the COVID-19 Pandemic many industries never recovered or were completely lost. Economic factors seem to also play a role as NPR states in an article “Due to cost-of-living increases and higher interest rates, many of the usual festival-goers are tightening their belts and refusing to fork over as much money for expensive festival tickets and all the accompanying costs of attending festivals.”
This combined with a whole generation living in their house for two years and becoming more reclusive has made a recipe for disaster for music festivals.
Gen Z is the most anxious and depressed generation. Most Gen Zers don’t seek social interaction like generations before. The thought of huge crowds and thousands of strangers is not ideal for a generation that identifies as the loneliest. On top of that, many people of the Gen Z generation do not use drugs or alcohol, so two main reasons for going to a festival are the complete opposite of what the target demographic of music festivals want. This piled on with how badly people are strapped for cash now a days, it is no wonder that the music festival industry is failing
The Future of Music Festivals and Music Industry
Many Music Festivals target demographic is young people from the ages of 18-25, but as we established earlier, the target demographic seems to anti-social and financially struggling to spend around anywhere from 200-5k dollars on a festival. So many festivals look to the millennial generation, but these people have families, work, and might feel to old to go to a Music Festival. The people who should be going to festivals do not want or feel the need, and the industry can’t be sustained by older generations.
2024 and 2025 might see the death of music festivals as we know it. The sad reality of the situation is that they are expensive to put on, and if there is not a huge audience for them like there once was, we will have to say goodbye to some beloved festivals.
This instance is just another example of how the music industry is evolving into something new and completely changing. Yet, most people in and outside the industry do not know what it is actually evolving into. These next couple years will be interesting for the music industry due to streaming and more people not wanting to see live performances. But only time will tell what changes are in for the future of music.
