Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Music Fests: Peace, Love and Money


A turf war is heating up in the music-festival business, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Lollapalooza, one of the oldest and most popular festivals, is owned by Live Nation Entertainment Inc., the world’s largest live-entertainment company and one of two global concert giants that’s been gobbling up many of the summer’s hottest festivals.

The other contender is AEG Live, the No. 2 concert promoter and owner of the world’s biggest festival by ticket sales, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif.

The competition shows how much the $6 billion North American concert industry—long focused on arenas, amphitheaters, and stadiums—is tilting toward music festivals, which offer dozens of artists, specialty foods and other amenities. Unlike traditional shows, festivals offer a series of simultaneous concerts. The format encourages fans to move around, from one stage to the next, and pick and choose what to listen to—or whether to listen at all.

“Festivals reflect how fans are consuming music in a digital world,” says Jay Marciano, AEG Live’s CEO. “It’s immersive, it’s sampling and it’s being done in a social way.”

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