Music festival culture needs more music, less corporatization

Whenever you hear about music festivals, an image of a beautiful sunset over a mountainous valley, a horizon speckled with lights, a ferris wheel and happy people dancing around to Daft Punk comes to mind.

And to fulfill those visions, popular music festivals like Coachella, Bonnaroo and Firefly come around every year to offer what seems to be a wonderful escape from the confines of everyday life.

The tone during today’s biggest music festivals, though, is anything but an escape. In my experience, thousands of intoxicated people packed into one space in 90-degree heat with not enough access to food and water is more like a three to four day hell-fest than anything from the dreamy Woodstock era of music festivals.

Of course, not all music festivals are made the same, and as someone who loves the feeling of being a part of one, I’ve found myself gravitating away from these larger, more commercialized festivals.

To my dismay, my experiences at several festivals have been a stark contrast to the magical music festival imagery depicted by others. The expectations I had of spending multiple days listening to my favorite bands and enjoying the music in a free-spirited, communal atmosphere was far from the reality of the music festival ideal.

Accompanied by a $300+ price tag, these big name music festivals have transitioned from being a fun getaway to something like a brand utilized to profit off of what was once an enriching experience.

Of course, after breaking the bank on tickets and supplies, you have to worry about your “festival style.” This spring, several popular online clothing stores had their own “festival” line. Stores such as Forever 21 and H&M cashed in on the fad, and people, unsurprisingly, bought into it.

Every April, celebrity-based magazines seem to be plastered with what the celebs are wearing to Coachella, such as Elite Daily’s recent article, “Kendall Jenner And Gigi Hadid Just Changed The Game For Festival Style.” This type of coverage exacerbates the feeling that big name music festivals have become an overblown fashion trend.

In addition to being a sweaty, intoxicated fashion show, music festivals have given way to a certain elitist aura. Celebrities, models and other millionaire socialites — ahem, Vanessa Hudgens — love music festivals. Their flawless poses in their Instagram posts are quite the contrast from the reality that the rest of us “general admission” ticket holders have to face. Because of these celebrities’ media influence, the image of music festivals is becoming a glamorous event to show off the size of your wallet, almost alienating the people going specifically to enjoy the music, art and company.

Even general admission and normal camping is unaffordable for the average attendee. Tickets are almost always over $300, food and drink prices are inflated and there are sponsors almost everywhere. Adding up the costs of a ticket, camping expenses, supplies and food, my friends and I always spend an absurd amount of money.

If I wanted to fork over that much money for an unfulfilled experience not worth half of that amount, I would’ve signed up for Trump University.

Take Burning Man, the exact premise of which was to escape the realities of society, has transformed into a ground for Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to show off. The annual art festival located in Nevada originated as a gathering of thousands of people working together to build a man-made civilization has become more of a Silicon Valley networking event. Although, maybe members of Congress should look towards the festival next year as a venue for congressional fundraising.

Of course, not all music festivals are corporate enterprises out to destroy the music experience. In fact, this past May I attended a festival in Bradley, California. At this festival, which was less well-known and commercialized, I felt more in tune with the music and art compared to Firefly, where it felt more like a means of profit.

What’s ironic about big name festivals is that, despite all of these negativities, they’re becoming increasingly popular. Perhaps it’s the culture — we convince ourselves that because everyone else loves being jam packed into sweaty crowds with minimal water, it must be the best experience imaginable. But the thing is, it really isn’t that great of an experience.

Although I can’t speak for the masses, I find myself particularly disdainful of these larger festivals. As someone who’s been to their fair share of fests, I’m certain that big name fests just aren’t worth the money and safety risk. Whether you choose to invest in a ticket, however, is up to you.

Write to Julia Aldrich at jla85@pitt.edu