let them do the work

A music festival is a two, three or four day-long event with multiple stages, and multiple artists performing. There could be 1000 people at a smaller festival, but some of the larger festivals have over 100,000 in attendance. A ticket, for a larger festival, costs anywhere from $99 to $400. I have been to around fourteen large festivals since I started college in Fall of 2012. So if you do the math, I've spent thousands of dollars. Yes, I know, it's a lot of money. You probably think I'm crazy. But am I?

I wouldn't think so. I'm definitely not alone. I like to spend my money on experiences, not materialistic things. When you buy something tangible, a materialistic item, you want to be unique and the only one that has it. With a music festival or concert, you want to enjoy it with others so you can talk about your experience together. That experience is something that only you, and whoever attended the event, could truly understand. We love music, and we love all different genres and artists, so why not see them all at once?

A concert costs anywhere from $10 for a smaller artist, but for one of the headlining huge artists you could be paying upwards of $300 for nose-bleed seats. At a $300 music festival you could see 10, 20 or even 30 artists play. So spending $300 on one ticket for a festival doesn't really amount to so much.

Producers of large festivals spend millions of dollars for a reason. They're is a huge market and people will pay generously to attend. They're are so many channels for marketing that they should at least break even, but have the chance to really earn some profits.

How did a festival like Woodstock, who planned on 100,000 attendees, get over 500,000 to show up? That free price-tag was probably a big factor, but word-of-mouth was HUGE for Woodstock. People talked and marketed the event for the organizers. They told all of their friends, who told their friends, and so on; it spread like wildfire. This is why, today, the use of social media is so crucial for music festivals, and the music industry in general.

Producers are using word-of-mouth in a clever way. They do less of the work, and get others to do the work for them. They create a community of music lovers. These people want to share their love for music with the world,  and hope others will share in the experience of live shows. I know I share posts by music festivals and artists all the time on Facebook and Twitter. I want others to see and understand the experience i've had, and a lot of the photos and videos can help do that justice. I share the amazing lineups announced, so that my "festival friends" can stay in the loop.

We all listen in to each-other on social media, and music festivals producers have really started to strategize and listen in to their fans on social media. Hopefully my blog can continue to really listen in and gain insight on ways music festivals, concerts and artists promote themselves on social media.