Are music festivals living up
to their potential?
Analysis of EDM music festivals impacts and
potential
Rishard Rheyas
Executive Summary
This paper will explore the impact of the EDM music festival industry and assess
whether it is living up to its potential. The paper is focused towards event
organizers and event management companies who play the biggest role in the
operations and policies at these special events. The paper will provide
recommendations on how music festivals can maximize their potential and reduce
their negative impacts on a social, economic and environmental level.
Introduction
The Electronic Dance Music (EDM) Industry has been growing significantly over the
recent years. With its strong growth, it is important to understand the impact these
types of music festivals have on the economy, environment and the people
attending. Through the evaluation of these music festivals within the EDM industry,
one will be able to analyze the potential for maximizing overall positive benefits to
society. Post-analysis, the paper will explore the possibility of incorporating
sustainable practices and the possibility of adapting the living building concept to
EDM music festivals. This specific genre of music has become a multi-billion dollar
industry via its flexibility to facilitate access to the masses through the Internet.
Silvio Pietroluongo, Director of Charts for Billboard Magazine describes EDM, as
“more than a genre, it is a cultural movement incorporating elements of fashion and
more.” EDM has made a prominent presence in global charts, and has caused the
rise of further sub-genres including deep house, trap etc. Artists such as David
Guetta have made vital contributions to the growth of EDM through the
collaboration of successful pop stars such as the Black Eyed Peas and Nicki Minaj.
Large corporations such as Insomniac have drawn more than 400,000 people to
their annual Electric Daisy Carnival music festival in Vegas (CEO/Founder of
Insomniac Events, Pasquale Rotella tells Billboard about EDC Las Vegas 2014). Since
the latter part of the 90s, Insomniac events have been one of the major players in
the establishment and growth of EDM events in the United States. With increased
growth in this industry, Insomniac hosts several festivals in the United States and
internationally such as EDC UK, EDC Mexico etc. SFX Entertainment’s investments
and IPO further evidence the growth of this industry. SFX Entertainment acquired
Beatport for $ 58.6 million and raised $ 260 million in 2013. The capital raised
during its IPO was utilized for the purchase of ID&T at $ 130 million, i-Motion for $
21 million, Totem OneLove Group for $ 69.1 million and Made Event for $ 35 million.
In addition to this, SFX Entertainment also purchased ticketing companies Flavorus
and PayLogic.
The 2014 IMS Business Report stated that the EDM industry grew by 38% from $
4.5 billion to $ 6.2 billion during the period 2013-2014. Putting this into perspective,
the PWC Outlook Report states that the entire live music industry in the United
States was $8.9 billion in 2013. Similarly, the gross revenue for Forbes’ top 10 DJs
grew to $ 268 million in 2014 from $ 241 million in 2013. More noteworthy is the
growth of the gross revenue for the top DJs, which was 93% in the period 20122013.
Economic Impact
Furthermore in line with increasing demand for EDM music globally, there has been
a rise in the companies focused on DJ gear, DJ-related equipment (laptop stands,
headphones etc.) and DJ software. The augmentation of these related products
would mean increased employment and facilitate the rise of new DJs. Aspiring DJs
can utilize free software coupled with their purchase of DJ equipment. Companies
like Numark have understood the financial limitations that individuals may have in
purchasing DJ equipment and software. Therefore, Numark offers value-added and
affordable cutting edge technology and equipment such as the Numark DJ 2 Go DJ
controller and Numark Mixtrack Pro 2, available on Amazon for approx. $40 and
$230 respectively. Aspiring DJs can use this equipment coupled software packages
to begin mixing tracks and performing at local venues, implying increased revenues
and exposure for musically talented individuals.
EDM and related music festivals have several economic impacts for respective local
communities. Music festivals can occur either in rural locations or urban venues
such as EDC NYC that takes place in the MetLife Stadium. Arcodia and Whitford
express the potential for these festivals to boost economies in local regions, in terms
of increasing tourism and local business revenues. On the other hand, these music
festivals have the capability of causing negative economic impacts such as inflation,
and interruption of normal businesses.
South by Southwest (SXSW) has become one of the most respected organizations for
the collective gathering of music, film and interactive professionals. It’s annual
music, film and interactive conference made an impressive impact on the hospitality
industry in Austin, Texas. According to the report by Greyhill Advisors, SXSW
directly booked over 10,500 reservations leading to a total of 47,500 room nights in
2011. Despite it being a difficult year, Austin city was able to enjoy considerable
profits within the two weeks of the event and hotel reservations increased by over
20% in comparison to the previous year. 2013 was a record breaking year for the
SXSW conference. In 2013, SXSW’s operational expenditures had an impact of over $
88.3 million for the Austin economy. With regard to attendance expenditures, SXSW
caused the injection of over $ 129.9 million. Therefore, SXSW was reported to have
injected over $ 218.2 million into the local economy.
Apart from boosting local economies, music festivals offer opportunities for brand
sponsorships. Music festivals in particular have a more homogenous audience
comprising mostly of young adults. This provides an opportunity for corporations to
effectively target a particular segment of the market. Rowley and Williams mention
that brand sponsorship in music festivals is “more to do with embedding the brand
in cultures and identities.” (The Impact of Brand Sponsorships of music festivals)
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) expresses that the difference between music festivals
and sporting events is the amount of time attendees have to roam around the
location of music festivals. The senior vice president of marketing at Garnier US, Ali
Goldstein told WSJ “music festivals are the perfect place to have extended exposure
with a captive audience” (Coachella is Next in Brand Frenzy for Music Festival Fans).
It is clear that music festivals can play a key role in the development of brands as
corporations annually invest in these special events despite sponsorship fees
ranging from $ 10,000+ to $ 1,000,000+. Apart from the sponsorship fees, the
activities orchestrated by associated brands can be double or even triple the
sponsorship cost. According to the Live Nation Report, 8 in 10 attendees purchase
products to prepare for the special event.
In his article on EDC.com, Matt Flaherty states that Insomniac’s EDC music festival in
Las Vegas generated an estimated economic impact of $ 322.3 million to the local
economy. Billboardbiz reported that EDC festival attendees spent approx. $ 158
million for food and beverages, hotel rooms, transportation, gaming, entertainment
and retail spending during the festival. The online magazine also highlights the $
20.2 million in tax revenue and $ 131.9 million in increased labor income.
Environmental Impact
The previous section outlined overall positive economic impact that music festivals
cause for local communities, however there are significant environmental effects
that need to be accounted for. Environmental impacts of music festivals include the
detrimental amount of carbon emissions from waste, transportation, land
degradation and other factors (Glassett, Greening the Festival Industry). Waste
management and transportation are identified as two of the most concerning factors
with respect to the environmental impact of music festivals. To understand this
statement, this section will explore the usual scenario concerning waste
management and transportation and offer possible options to reduce the associated
carbon footprint.
To put things into perspective, we can take the example of the five-day Glastonbury
music festival located near Pilton, Somerset, England. During the five-day period in
2012, the estimated 177,000 attendees for Glastonbury generated up to 1,488 tons
of waste and abandoned 9,500 roll mats, 400 gazebos, 5,500 tents, 6,500 sleeping
bags, 3,500 airbeds and 2,200 chairs. This is not to criticize the Glastonbury music
festival, which partnered up with Greenpeace and Oxfam in the early 1990s to
control their environmental impact. In fact, Glastonbury’s event management
utilized approx. 150,000 people to recycle 193.98 tons of composted organic waste,
400 tons of chipped wood, 9.12 tons of glass, 11.2 tons of clothing, tents and
sleeping bags, 0.264 tons of batteries, 10 tons of dense plastic, 0.25 tons of plastic
sheets and 863.32 tons of waste. Even with these impressive recycling efforts, the
festival’s manager Micheal Eavis stated that it is still not enough to control the
environmental impact associated with the five-day special event.
The operation of concession stands can be pivotal in terms of reducing the waste
and subsequent negative environmental impact caused by attendees. Generally,
event managers source a third-party corporation to handle concession stands via
contracting. This makes it difficult for event organizers to regulate as vendors may
state that their packaging materials are compostable or recyclable but they may not
comply with standards either due to lack of information or green washing by
associated manufacturers of products utilized.
One option would be to switch from disposable products to compostable ones.
This would mean a shift from petroleum-based polypropylene plastic cups to cornbased polylactic acid (PLA) cups. Using corn-based products would mean a
reduction in the number of fossil fuels used in production of cups, though
manufacture and distribution would still cause the same environmental effects.
Plates can be made using reclaimed products (parts discarded after sugarcanes are
extracted), which would mean less filling of landfills and reduction in deforestation.
This may seem attractive in terms of its environmental impact however; the
financial costs of switching can be significantly higher. PLA cups usually cost almost
double the polypropylene cups, which can be too much of a financial burden for a
singular aspect of the event. Transportation to compost sites may also be a
significant cost, as less crowded locations may have few or no compost sites in its
vicinity.
Another option suggested is the replacement of disposable materials by reusable
ones. The reusable cups and plates would require a deposit pre-determined by the
event management company involved. There is no argument that reusable cups and
plates would cost comparatively more than disposable ones. But, the quantity that
needs to be purchased for the event would be significantly lower. In the case that
people do not return the reusable products, the event managers stand to earn
revenues from deposits. Event managers may also reuse these products for future
events, and subsequently reduce costs in the long run. Event managers would also
need to consider the logistics of utilizing reusable products in their events in terms
of dishwashing and maintenance. According to the Institute for Lifecycle Energy, it
would require the reusable plastic cup to be reused 17 times to break even
environmentally and 450 times to utilize the same energy of foam cups. Regardless,
this option would help divert waste, as people are less likely to dispose of these
cups. The reduced likelihood of waste would mean less landfill waste. To
understand the important environmental implications one must note that landfills
were the third largest in terms of human-made sources for methane in the US. This
alternative to disposable products was conducted in the UK’s Latitude Festival, in
which people were charged £ 2 as a deposit. The event organizers mentioned that
half of the cups were returned and the rest were considered souvenirs.
Apart from waste management, transportation can be a concerning factor for the
environment. In this regard, urban festivals have an advantage over rural festivals
due to the availability of present infrastructure. Traveling to rural festivals can be
costly for attendees due to the lack of a public transport infrastructure. It would
seem impractical for event managers to develop public transport infrastructure for
events that occur once annually in that particular location. The table below serves to
provide a better understanding of the relationship between transport and the
environment. The data used in the table was extracted from the Department of
Transportation and assumes people must make a round trip of 60 miles to the event
location.
Table 1: CO2 emissions in pounds for different methods of transport
Method of
Pounds of CO2
25,000 people-
50,000 people-
Transport
emissions every
CO2 emissions in
CO2 emissions in
mile per passenger
pounds
pounds
Car
0.59
885,000.00
1,770,000.00
Bus
0.16
240,000.00
480,000.00
Heavy rail
0.11
165,000.00
330,000.00
Light rail
0.15
225,000.00
450,000.00
Greater accessibility to public transport may increase ticket sales, however, there
are several factors to consider. There is clearly a difference in rental or leasing out
venues for music festivals in urban versus rural settings. EDC NYC is located in the
MetLife Stadium, which offers ample options of transport. In contrast to the Electric
Forest Festival that takes place in a Michigan forest, which offers a unique
experience to its attendees. Switching to an urban setting would imply a large
increase in the prices in addition to a loss in revenue in terms of parking fees or
camping fees. Coachella has its own general store in its campgrounds that sells
toiletries and other necessities. This monopoly condition allows for additional
profits, which would be lost if it moved to a more urban setting. The atmosphere
and environment is also a driver for attendance as seen in the case of Colorado’s
Snowball Music Festival. Ticket sales dropped substantially once the festival
announced its move to a more urban setting with public transport facilities.
Alternatively event managers could source third party companies to conduct a
carbon-offset program. An additional charge can be attached to tickets with an
additional note explaining that a part of the ticket price would be used to promote
the environment. If effectively managed, event organizers can possibly neutralize
the environmental effects caused by attendee’s transportation. The carbon-offset
program can be carried out either through a landfill gas capture program or
collection of farm animal waste or funding renewable energy projects. With limited
regulation, it is difficult to identify green washing practices in this industry or if
these programs ensure that planted trees are kept safe.
Social Impact
Music festivals attract large crowds of people from various geographic locations yet
create a sense of community amongst attendees. Music festivals can act as a space
for attendees to meet their psychological needs in terms of self-identity, escaping
monotonous lives, and create social bonds. With the increase of attendance in music
festivals, event managers have a moral obligation to promote pro-environment
activities and encourage good citizenship behavior.
Marisol Alonso Vasquez discusses the on-site environmental behavior in his thesis,
through the analysis of interviews with managers and festivalgoers. His research
helps to understand the impact that music festivals can have on its attendees’
engagement in pro-environmental behavior. He mentions that a sense of community
and an on-site environmental culture would encourage positive environmental
behavior. Attendees should feel welcomed and be able to actively participate. This
would lead to an increased likelihood for attendees to participate in the proenvironmental culture established. He explains that there is a lack of information
regarding the connection between attendee’s behavior and the resulting negative
environmental effects. The emotional attachment towards the location and the
festival play an important role in actively participating in the organization’s proenvironmental activities. In addition to this, survey results illustrate that the
identification as an environmentally responsible individual and the perception of
the green status of a festival can increase the probability of individuals matching
their behavior to their intentions.
Vasquez elaborates on the vital influence that management strategies have in
engaging attendees to behave more environmentally friendly. Management should
provide adequate information on the benefits of responsible behavior and the
consequences of the opposite. Managers should also ensure the availability and
accessibility of facilities to its attendees. EDM music festivals involve crowds
forming mosh pits near the stages, thus making it increasingly unattractive to travel
long distances to dispose of waste or recycle. Music festivals have the potential to
encourage pro-environmental behavior, however it must understand its attendees
and provide support on-site to encourage such behaviors.
Similarly, Leao and Castro explain that music festivals can boost scientific
advancements. They highlight the role informal environments have on an
individual’s attitude towards science as there is increased awareness, motivation
and comfort in music festivals. The partnership between the international center for
biomedical research and graduate training institute, IGC and the organizer of the
Optimus Alive Oeiras music and art festival, Everything is Now was shocking but
lead to encouraging results. The science related activities and stalls were successful
in encouraging interest in the sciences. Interestingly, one of the highlights was the
chance to speed date with a scientist. These conversations were to break
stereotypes, and encourage careers in the fields of science.
Katherine Chen explores the concept of creative chaos in her book on the Burning
Man event. The success of the event has been based on the creative freedom and
active participation of its attendees. With the increasing number of attendees at the
annual event, it became increasingly important to set up an enabling organization
that supported rather than constrained its attendee’s creative capabilities. The
Burning Man has limited guidelines and rules allowing for maximization of creative
potentials of its members.
In his paper on the deconstructive power of music festivals, Brandon Howard agrees
with the positive impact that transformational festivals such as Burning Man have
on festivalgoers. He expresses that these festivals promote a culture of co-creation
and community standing against the bro-culture and privilege associated with other
large-scale music festivals. Howard explains that music festivals are no longer
limited by time as they can continue to “exist through discourse, recap videos and
reviews.” He highlights the ironic aspect of the signs that say Lollapalooza on the
gates around Grant Park. He states that on any other day you will not find people
consuming alcohol and dancing to electronic music.
Howard claims that there is a hierarchy of bro-culture prevalent in music festivals in
the form of white, straight, middle class men who enjoy partying with people similar
to himself. He articulates that there are clearly issues of exclusion in the works as
white males line up to see people similar to them on stage. In their satirical article
“Where are all the women at Coachella?” Kelly and Sherman highlight that there has
never been more than 25% female lineup in Coachella since its origin. Another
major criticism is that attendees are interested only on hitting on women, drug use
and heavy alcohol consumption.
Devonte Hynes or Blood Orange (stage name) utilized the stage at Lollapalooza as a
platform to remind people to film the police and their rights as citizens. Hynes was
assaulted by security shortly after his set. This ill treatment of Hynes provides
further evidence of white privilege or racism in music festivals. Howard also
explores the latest trends of festivalgoers sporting Native American headdresses
and war bonnets. These new fashion accessories were banned by the Bass Coast
Music Festival due to its level of insensitivity towards the aboriginal peoples. Clearly
there is a lack of cultural appropriation and a sense of ignorance by event managers
on these particular issues.
Possibility of a Sustainable Music Festival
In understanding the ability for music festivals to incorporate sustainable practices
for its operations, we will be looking at the Power Behind Festivals guide. The Green
Festival Alliance produced the Power Behind Festivals guide, providing ways
festivals can reduce their carbon footprint and more effectively manage their energy
output. According to the guide, power represents up to 70% of an event’s core
carbon footprint, which does not include attendee’s transport.
The guide reports that generators are often operating at low loads. Utilizing a bigger
generator than required would cause more fuel used for the same power output. At
low loads, generators run less efficiently implying either less power for every liter of
fuel or more power output than required. In addition to this, generators can be
damaged and their lifetime can be reduced. Reducing the size of generators where
possible can lead to more efficient use of power and substantial reduction of
operating costs.
Biodiesel, a type of biofuel is produced through the processing of vegetable oils, like
soybean oil, palm oil and waste cooking oil. These biodiesel-fuelled generators are
zero-carbon rated, non-toxic and provide cleaner emissions. Initially, there were
issues related to generator problems however, these issues have become
increasingly rare.
Events such as the Glastonbury Festival have implemented permanent renewable
systems on their festival grounds. Large solar arrays produce power that is captured
by the national grid throughout the year on Feed in Tariffs. These large solar arrays
would also supply power during the music festival. This permanent setup would
also mean an annual income, which would be considered profitable once the initial
investment has been returned. This could also serve as a way for event managers to
offset the consumption of diesel during events.
The Living Building challenge is an international sustainable building certification
program that challenges the construction of buildings that have positive effects on
the environment. The growing standards for these certifications have continued to
push organizations to further develop their sustainability initiatives. The advance of
renewable energy generators and products would make it possible for EDM music
festival stages to attain this certification. However, the possibility of this would vary
on the type and size of the stage. It would be very difficult for the living building
challenge certification for the massive Kinetic Cathedral stage at EDC Las Vegas.
Unfortunately, it is also hard to generalize the environmental impact of DJ
performances due to the variance of sub genres that may or may not include
fireworks during their set.
Conclusion & Recommendations
As the EDM industry continues to grow and related music festivals expand
internationally, there is an increased need to understand its impact on local
economies, the environment and society. In consideration of these impacts, EDM
music festivals have the capability to maximize their overall positive. Research and
studies outline that the event manager or festival organizer can play the most
important role in the transition towards more sustainable music festivals.
Therefore, the recommendations will be policy changes that can be made by event
managers for these particular events.
EDM music industry makes an impressive contribution to the local economies. The
expansion and development of music festivals would mean increased tourism and
employment. The boom of this industry resulted in the emergence of several
supporting companies offering products such as DJ controllers and professional
production software. This meant increased opportunities for aspiring DJs and their
boosted exposure to production technology.
Despite its positive economic impact, the industry also has several negative
environmental impacts in terms of waste management and transportation. There is
potential for event managers to substantially reduce the environmental effects by
adopting pro-environment operations. Operations include the transition to reusable
materials such as souvenir cups and plates. The success of these transitions would
depend on the effective management of maintenance. An abrupt or immediate
transition may not be ideal rather, official festival reusable cups can be offered with
a value addition of a discount on beverages at the venue. These cups would still have
a deposit as predetermined by the respective event management company. This
allows attendees to begin accepting this change and consequently enjoy the added
economic incentive. A change in location would be a quite challenging venture and
can compromise ticket sales. I would urge event managers to collaborate with the
local economy in establishing public transport infrastructure at these venues. But,
there will be exceptions to this rule such as the Burning Man music festival that
takes place in the Nevada Black Rock desert.
Similarly, event managers should take on an active approach towards creating a
more inclusive and pro-environment culture during their events. Event managers
should promote diversity through promotion in diverse neighborhoods or
marketing campaigns that include the theme of celebrating difference. Event
managers could place additional staff or volunteers to help attendees recycle at
waste management locations. There should be an augmented level of accessibility
for attendees to dispose of their waste of cigarette butts without having to venture
far away from the stages. In addition to this, there should be proper communication
and information provided on-site regarding the impact that its attendees have on
their environment and the amount that the festival recycled daily. Offering an
incentive for pro-environment behaviors such as a discount in alcohol for returning
plastic cups could make a difference. There should also be additional stalls that
promote environmental sustainability, creative arts or even engineers involved in
the development of the music festival can take part in a speed dating activity similar
to the music festival in Portugal.
The Green Festival Alliance has provided a guideline for ways music festivals can
become more sustainable. The guideline is evidence for the music festivals’
capability to become sustainable. As stated in the guideline, event managers should
utilize biodiesel-fueled generators and ensure that generators are appropriately
sized for its purpose. Rural festivals should look into the implementation of
permanent renewable energy infrastructures. It would be interesting to see the
possibility for music festival stages to incorporate the living building challenge,
however this can be difficult to fully comprehend as DJ sets environmental impact
may vary. One could set the maximum amount of effects that any DJ could have on
any particular time. Headlining acts could be provided with additional effects
comparatively, to maintain attendee’s enthusiasm.
The analysis of the economic, social and environmental impact of music festivals
helps provide an understanding of how large-scale special events can cater their
operations to promote pro-environment initiatives and overall social benefit. To
conclude, this paper provides increased confidence that EDM music festivals can
become a prominent example in terms of encouraging positive change in society.
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Cover Page:
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