The Price of Music Festivals

Recently, I was looking at several music festivals to consider attending.  My general view of whether attending a festival is worthwhile is by comparing how much I would pay to see each act versus several festival expenses (I won’t go into exactly how I calculate it, because that is too much and will give an extra clue into how insane I am, but you get the idea).  I always felt like this was the most practical way to compare several festivals to determine which was the best for me, I came across an issue I never considered prior.  When calculating for one festival, I realized that I would say that I would spend more than $1200 on the acts performing at the festival.  While the festival did contain several acts that I loved, I realized that my manner of determining the prices was incorrect.

There are typically two adages I have heard about festivals with very few in between:  festivals are overly expensive in price because of how much they cost or that festivals are so cheap because they book so many acts at them.  I believe that the truth is a combination of the two:  festivals are often expensive and unfortunately not accessible to the large majority of society, yet are often affordable given the quantity of acts that are there.  The latter point typically lends itself to one mindset, that was expressed when the lineup for Sound on Sound was announced on 99.1 WPLR (a CT classic rock station):  the organizers said something along the lines of (not going to directly quote it because I don’t know the exact line) the festival being affordable because there are 22 acts that are performing for $299 (the General Admission price), meaning it will be ~$13.59 an act.  This was the moment where it clicked for me what I was doing wrong with my calculations:  not all acts should be treated the same in how much to pay for acts.

I realized something I was doing naturally was saying that the price I would pay for bigger acts was more than for smaller acts that I liked the same amount.  My logic behind that was that it would be a longer set, potentially better sound quality, and would be more expensive to see them otherwise.  That said, I realized there were some smaller acts on the festival that I was likely listing as a higher price than I would have otherwise.  For example, Bob Vylan, a band that I love, is performing at several hard rock/metal festivals this year; I realized the price I listed that I would see them for was too much.  The price I listed was if they were doing a full headliner set, though they likely would be playing a set that is around 30 minutes.  That is the equivalent of them being an opening act.  Majority of the acts that are performing at these kind of festivals are not playing sets of 1 hour or more, so I think it makes more sense to treat the pricing as if some of the major acts are headlining and have a few openers.  As such, if we say, for instance, that Sound on Sound has 8 headliners (I believe there were around that many were scheduled to perform 1 hour sets last year, though it might have been closer to 6; even there, it might make sense to consider some as coheadliners for a concert, making the value be more, but I don’t want to complicate this), then it would be more equivalent to paying ~$37.38 a show.

Even with that, there are certain aspects that are going to be accounted for differently that are difficult to necessarily quantify.  One major one is the atmosphere of the festival.  I’m not someone who particularly cares about the general atmosphere of the festival a lot; while I notice several aspects related to it, I typically won’t feel like I have to pay extra money because a festival has incorporated something like a Ferris wheel while another festival didn’t.  An example of this is that my sister probably values certain atmosphere aspects of Sound on Sound more than I would have.  In general, a festival could charge extra for the atmosphere.  That said, it is different when considering if a festival has a mission or ethos that they stand by, as I might view a festival differently in the situation where it is supporting a cause that I agree with.  Another aspect is if something is either in style, trendy, or ahead of the curve.  In the same way that there is a divide among society whether the new iPhone is needed or not, there is also that same kind of mindset about a festival like Coachella, for instance, which is a popular one among a certain demographic.  I personally am not someone who cares about this, but there are many that do.  A festival could also get away with charging more for being a name brand.  There are many other aspects that should be considered but are difficult to determine how to financially, including food & beverage (while you have to pay for them, festivals typically have an extensive collection of vendors that are brought together, making it more convenient to reach them), travel (especially if you have to use a mode of travel that you are uncomfortable with or is not as accessible), comfort around crowds, ability to travel to an area, traditions of going to a festival, and opportunity cost of attending a festival rather than doing something else.  While many of these are not considered in how much a festival charges, it should be considered when buying tickets.

Ultimately, whether a festival is worthwhile for someone depends on the individual person.  I largely focus on the acts instead of atmosphere (I don’t care about that in pricing), trends (as you probably gathered by now, I’m not the most trendy person), food (I consider the convenience of having them there and the elevated prices to be a net neutral), and other factors.  Even when considering expenses, I don’t consider certain aspects, such as parking or gas, if I drive (I figure those would be in play if I am traveling anyways, so I consider that a built in cost).  That said, this should not be the model for everybody.  In terms of how festivals charge, they can often charge more depending on the atmosphere, legacy, magnitude of acts, and how many “headliners” they have (several festivals have been able to charge more by claiming they have multiple headliners even though one is bigger than the other, such as 2023 Boston Calling).  That said, the idea of considering each act in the same financial echelon when justifying prices is something that we should not continue, as it is only beneficial for festival organizers realizing they can increase the price a little more due to this mindset.