Bigger Doesn’t Sound Better: Music Festivals Scale Back

Yes, evidently there can be too much of a good thing. After years of exploding growth, the music festival business is starting to scale down, says the Los Angeles Times:

The American live music scene has become a culture of super festivals. Beyond the massively successful Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo, the last two decades have seen a tremendous expansion of events that draw thousands of fans and boast multiple stages with city-sized artworks.

Now some believe that bigger is no longer better. After years of expansive growth, some promoters are starting to think smaller, tailoring their offerings to specific audiences … That refined focus is no accident. After high-profile blunders this year, including the collapse of the Fyre Festival in the Bahamas and the Pemberton Music Festival in Vancouver, Canada, some promoters are reassessing the demand for — and their ability to execute — new mega-events on the scale of Coachella ... Los Angeles Times