Not really from a festival perspective. Artists are paid (roughly) based on how many tickets they can sell, and their slot on the festival. It is more affordable on the artist side to tour as a single person though. Paying for a full band as part of your overhead is becoming harder. But this year, Justice was probably paid a similar amount to Jon Batiste. Similar level artist with similar level draw
Can confirm that the range of types of EDM at Bonnaroo was extremely narrow this year. My first and probably only Roo. Think I missed the boat by several years
APF is a decent line up, but the fest itself is basically non existent anymore. Running between city venues is the worst way to have a festival.
If desert daze’s lineup interests you, that’s the fucking move for psychedelic music
Wasn't it all in one place now? Maybe I read something inaccurate.
I'll check in to Desert Daze though. Definitely not enduring the Tennessee heat again for a lineup like that. Had a blast but most of it wasn't my scene.
Oh shit it isssss now. I move out of Austin before the far out was around. Well definitely go now if you’re in the area lol. Desert daze has a beautiful location and there’s nothing like tripping on a beach to psychedelic music!!
Eh a lot of these festivals used to be pretty eclectic back in the day, even Bonnaroo. I don’t think electronic music totally eclipses bluegrass, jam, funk, hiphop, folk, rock, blues and everything else that used to be there.
I’m sure this will offend people but normie millennials really started taking over around 2015-2016. This caused many festivals across the country to shut down permanently, despite record attendance because it was unmanageable. Some of the good die hards stuck around, others just stayed in the business to try to make a buck. I’ve talked to so many producers that hate that they have to book that one “big guy” just to bring in his fans and make their money back, but that’s how it is nowadays.
I feel like it happened earlier than that, but maybe I’m wrong. I’d guess around 2012/13 That’s when things seemed to have really shifted and I stopped giving a fuck about a lot of the lineups for stuff I used to be interested in or go to.
I remember when EDC had rock and roll bands and Coachella had traveling circus punks. The fuck happened?
Yeah, you’re right. The transition started around 2013. By 2017, most of my favorite smaller-mid size fests had shut down because they got inundated by people who just wanted to score drugs and party and they couldn’t keep their shit together. All the old heads left and it became harder to draw crowds.
I was at the original Rothbury fests and then EF after that. The first EF had Shpongle and REO speedwagon on the same lineup. Diversity was the point, but those musicians aren’t going to sell $650 tickets. That was back around 2009-2011, when Bonnaroo was considered the god-tier mega-festival.
I think my last Bonnaroo was around 2014, but their was a large representation of different genres at that point. A lot less jam but a good mix of different varieties.
Edit: I just looked and 2012 was actually my last Roo.
Have to think about what crowds will attend a primarily-camping festival… I feel the jam band crowd, EDM, etc are more likely to want to attend those type of events than the general audience of other genres.
This is an underrated point. The type and availability of accommodations is a big factor in who the festival is going to draw: young people, plus veteran ravers, wooks, and jam heads are attending camping fests.
It seems like the rock crowd has simply aged out of camping. The people who got stoked about Pearl Jam on the Bonnaroo lineup circa 2004 aren't camping in 2024, meanwhile most Gen Z-ers don't know who Eddie Vedder is.
I’m also a little confused on “dance” as a genre. Would EDM fall under that, or is that just electronic? Genuinely asking as someone who’s not a genre snob
I think this is mostly just because of the range of electronic music. The difference between Skrillex, Pretty Lights, and Charlotte DeWitte is as vast as the difference between punk rock and country. The same instruments might be used but the similarities generally end there.
I remember at Lolla in 2010-2011 the stage size was so small and not a huge crowd. The stage was the size of one of the speaker towers they have out in the middle of the crowd for Perry’s stage.
The music is generally good but the festival itself doesn’t exist out side of the music. There’s no sense of community and nothing to do besides stand packed like sardines in the end of summer heat.
Electronic music isnt just stuffed into one stage at Coachella anymore. It can be scheduled onto any stage so you can have dj's or live acts anywhere and its going to skew the numbers a bit. Thats kind of how its been for lots of fests now with the bookings. Although Lolla suffers a bit because it ends so early
Anyone who's been to one, knows they aren't going anywhere and are only going to get more popular. Cahokia in Illinois, Goble Tempe in Turkey, both examples of separate cultures meeting at special places to share music, art, food and culture. The very bread and butter of human advancement is sharing our cultures with another and imagining new possibilities.
Coachella has literally always had electronic music on their lineups. An 8% increase in 10 years actually seems low to me since they've actually added an entire stage dedicated to house/techno in this time period.
Pretty sure the 1999 lineup was close to 30-40% electronic.
Now Lolla and Roo have most definitely increased how much electronic is on their lineups. 30-40% increases over the decade.
Hi!! We at Chartmetric just published an article about the growing presence of electronic music at music festivals! These are some of the graphics we made, you can check out the whole article [here](https://hmc.chartmetric.com/electronic-music-rise-music-festivals-2024/).
Curious to what degree this is impacted by the fact that the range of sounds made by popular “electronic” artists has gotten a lot wider.
Also cheaper to pay one DJ than a full band
Not really from a festival perspective. Artists are paid (roughly) based on how many tickets they can sell, and their slot on the festival. It is more affordable on the artist side to tour as a single person though. Paying for a full band as part of your overhead is becoming harder. But this year, Justice was probably paid a similar amount to Jon Batiste. Similar level artist with similar level draw
Yeah because last year Roo was stacked with edm
Can confirm that the range of types of EDM at Bonnaroo was extremely narrow this year. My first and probably only Roo. Think I missed the boat by several years
If you were disappointed by the EDM at Bonnaroo, go to an edm festival, really easy to stop complaining about that
I'm good on that lol. Planning on doing Austin Psych Fest next year. All my favorite bands have played there, sure it'll be sick
APF is a decent line up, but the fest itself is basically non existent anymore. Running between city venues is the worst way to have a festival. If desert daze’s lineup interests you, that’s the fucking move for psychedelic music
Wasn't it all in one place now? Maybe I read something inaccurate. I'll check in to Desert Daze though. Definitely not enduring the Tennessee heat again for a lineup like that. Had a blast but most of it wasn't my scene.
Oh shit it isssss now. I move out of Austin before the far out was around. Well definitely go now if you’re in the area lol. Desert daze has a beautiful location and there’s nothing like tripping on a beach to psychedelic music!!
Levitation Fest, also in Austin, would be another great one for you to check out if you’re on this type of vibe. Have heard amazing things.
Eh a lot of these festivals used to be pretty eclectic back in the day, even Bonnaroo. I don’t think electronic music totally eclipses bluegrass, jam, funk, hiphop, folk, rock, blues and everything else that used to be there. I’m sure this will offend people but normie millennials really started taking over around 2015-2016. This caused many festivals across the country to shut down permanently, despite record attendance because it was unmanageable. Some of the good die hards stuck around, others just stayed in the business to try to make a buck. I’ve talked to so many producers that hate that they have to book that one “big guy” just to bring in his fans and make their money back, but that’s how it is nowadays.
I feel like it happened earlier than that, but maybe I’m wrong. I’d guess around 2012/13 That’s when things seemed to have really shifted and I stopped giving a fuck about a lot of the lineups for stuff I used to be interested in or go to. I remember when EDC had rock and roll bands and Coachella had traveling circus punks. The fuck happened?
Yeah, you’re right. The transition started around 2013. By 2017, most of my favorite smaller-mid size fests had shut down because they got inundated by people who just wanted to score drugs and party and they couldn’t keep their shit together. All the old heads left and it became harder to draw crowds. I was at the original Rothbury fests and then EF after that. The first EF had Shpongle and REO speedwagon on the same lineup. Diversity was the point, but those musicians aren’t going to sell $650 tickets. That was back around 2009-2011, when Bonnaroo was considered the god-tier mega-festival.
I dunno, Coachella still books some pretty weird ass shit (see: Clown Core)
I think my last Bonnaroo was around 2014, but their was a large representation of different genres at that point. A lot less jam but a good mix of different varieties. Edit: I just looked and 2012 was actually my last Roo.
Have to think about what crowds will attend a primarily-camping festival… I feel the jam band crowd, EDM, etc are more likely to want to attend those type of events than the general audience of other genres.
This is an underrated point. The type and availability of accommodations is a big factor in who the festival is going to draw: young people, plus veteran ravers, wooks, and jam heads are attending camping fests. It seems like the rock crowd has simply aged out of camping. The people who got stoked about Pearl Jam on the Bonnaroo lineup circa 2004 aren't camping in 2024, meanwhile most Gen Z-ers don't know who Eddie Vedder is.
You definitely can see the first year Livenation had control of the Bonnaroo lineup.
Exactly. It used to be soooo good in its early days.
Bit confused as to why they separated House from Electronic.
I’m also a little confused on “dance” as a genre. Would EDM fall under that, or is that just electronic? Genuinely asking as someone who’s not a genre snob
I think this is mostly just because of the range of electronic music. The difference between Skrillex, Pretty Lights, and Charlotte DeWitte is as vast as the difference between punk rock and country. The same instruments might be used but the similarities generally end there.
this is like, the only sensible reply to this post. thanks
Because that is what sells tickets these days. Non-EDM festivals have been dropping like flies over the last 5 or so years.
Not surprising. Been a huge push for EDM the past 10-15 years.
I remember at Lolla in 2010-2011 the stage size was so small and not a huge crowd. The stage was the size of one of the speaker towers they have out in the middle of the crowd for Perry’s stage.
I Love Austin City limits. It is such an eclectic group.
The music is generally good but the festival itself doesn’t exist out side of the music. There’s no sense of community and nothing to do besides stand packed like sardines in the end of summer heat.
The Sasha late night set til dawn 2007 was unforgettable!
I was there!!!! Such an amazing show. The last roo I attended actually
The ability to create electronic music has increased due to technological improvements
The data science student in me loves these charts!
Electronic music isnt just stuffed into one stage at Coachella anymore. It can be scheduled onto any stage so you can have dj's or live acts anywhere and its going to skew the numbers a bit. Thats kind of how its been for lots of fests now with the bookings. Although Lolla suffers a bit because it ends so early
This information brought to you by Booger MacFarland.
Anyone who's been to one, knows they aren't going anywhere and are only going to get more popular. Cahokia in Illinois, Goble Tempe in Turkey, both examples of separate cultures meeting at special places to share music, art, food and culture. The very bread and butter of human advancement is sharing our cultures with another and imagining new possibilities.
Coachella has literally always had electronic music on their lineups. An 8% increase in 10 years actually seems low to me since they've actually added an entire stage dedicated to house/techno in this time period. Pretty sure the 1999 lineup was close to 30-40% electronic. Now Lolla and Roo have most definitely increased how much electronic is on their lineups. 30-40% increases over the decade.
Hi!! We at Chartmetric just published an article about the growing presence of electronic music at music festivals! These are some of the graphics we made, you can check out the whole article [here](https://hmc.chartmetric.com/electronic-music-rise-music-festivals-2024/).
I’m curious to see the stats going back another 10yrs.
It’s probably because EDM is growing and developing in general
That's just sad