1. WHAT MAKES FOR A SUCCESSFUL FESTIVAL
EXPERIENCE:
AN INSIDER’S PERSPECTIVE
Kasey Johnson
Western Illinois University
May 2015
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Prologue
It was finally time for Summer Camp 2013 in Chillicothe, Illinois. Being from the central
Illinois area, my excitement could not be greater for the first festival of summer. I had just
finished up the first semester of my junior year at Western Illinois University with a 4.0 GPA and
was ready to reward myself by starting off the 2013 festival season with a bang.
Summer Camp is known for its bipolar weather conditions; By Memorial Day weekend
Mother Nature has not yet made up her mind about whether it is supposed to be hot, cold, dry, or
wet. Summer Camp 2012 was plagued with hot and dry weather, while 2013 offered the exact
opposite. It was rainy, cold, and wet. Although conditions were unsatisfactory, the devoted self-
proclaimed ‘Scampers’ were not going to let it spoil their fun at the first Midwest festival of the
year.
Fast-forward to Sunday night. The weekend may have included runs home or to Walmart
for new shoes and warmer clothes, but nobody let those hiccups hinder their good time.
Subtracting the weather aspect, Summer Camp had been a successful, pleasant experience.
That all changed as we were walking towards the Moonshine stage for Zed’s Dead, the
last main act of the weekend. I encountered the most devastating freak accident I could have ever
imagined. A 60-foot-tall tree cracked all the way through its trunk and fell on top of me. The
fullydecayed Black Locust collapsed to the ground, sending me a foot down in the mud; that
sludge of rock and dirt is ultimately what saved my life. Even with the mud as a cushion, my body
sustained a multitude of serious injuries: a broken leg (nine breaks in the tibia and two in the
fibula), a shattered ankle, a 22-centimeter-wide laceration on my right knee, a few broken ribs
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which punctured my lung (resulting in a collapsed right lung and a chest tube for breathing), a
broken back, and a very severe concussion. The next month was spent in the hospital; the first five
of those days were spent in the Intensive Care Unit in critical condition. I have no recollection of
the weekend, the accident, or the ten days following. Five major operations took place on my leg,
knee, and back that month. I have had two more since, with potential for more in the future. The
entire summer was spent on bed rest, taking months to relearn how to feed myself, dress myself,
get to the bathroom on my own, and by late Fall, I finally learned how to walk again.
The magnitude of my injuries and the effect it was going to have on my life was clear.
Upon release from the hospital, my grandma became my angel in disguise- she was my nurse 24
hours a day, 7 days a week. Doing anything for myself independently had become a thing of the
past. I had an entire crate of medications and a handful of different specialists. The bodily
problems I was dealing with only caused a chain reaction of more illnesses. We made it through
that summer though, and I was finally starting to gain strength.
The cabin fever I was experiencing resulted in going against all recommendations and
staying enrolled for the fall semester. I was in a wheelchair for the first time ever and it was hard
to get used to; this world is hardly designed for anyone that is not perfectly ablebodied. Doctor
and physical therapy appointments were scheduled for nearly every day of the week and my frail
body got sick regularly, but somehow the semester still went smoothly. Academically, I never
missed a beat.
It’s been almost two years now since the accident and recovery is not over, which is just
fine. The trade-off has been worth it. I can walk well enough to get me where I am going and I am
fairly healthy. As far-fetched as it might sound, I am so incredibly grateful that it happened. There
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was nearly 20,000 people at that festival and that tree fell on only one person. I strongly believe it
was meant to happen. Since then, I have learned more about myself than I could have ever
imagined. I learned that when you don't have your body it only strengthens your mind. I called
myself grateful before, but in reality had no idea what grateful really meant. It transformed me
into the person I am today and I could not be happier. Ultimately, being forced to face this whole
experience has led me here and has helped me find my passion: the organization and experience
of music festivals, and how to make them even better.
The completion of a Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology has taught me the skills that are
of necessity in today’s increasingly diversified world. The continual increase of population
variance can be better understood by anthropologists, who carry the proficiency of interacting
and communicating with people of all kinds whether it be from differing genders, age groups,
cultural backgrounds, values, or belief systems. This field of study strengthens the ability to see
social and cultural systems holistically, rather than as individual, separate sectors. There are
countless types of festivals happening all around the world, but the festival type of interest for this
particular research was modern day music festivals. Music festivals are ritualistic cultural
performances that bring together like-minded people with a unified focus of lessening normal
societal values such as inequality and separation, and strengthening more cohesive ideals such as
friendship, pride, creativity, and togetherness.
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Introduction
A special event, according to special event guru Donald Getz (1997), is an opportunity for an
experience outside the normal range of choices or beyond everyday experience. Music festivals
are unique special events that promise extraordinary adventure for music-lovers and experience-
seekers across the globe. The satisfaction of the festivalgoer is crucial, which was the inspiration
and motivation for this research study. The purpose of this research was to highlight the
importance of the attendee’s experience. The goal was to do so by identifying the variables that
contribute to a positive, memorable, and successful festival going experience through the eyes of
the attendee, which is a key element to a festival’s success. With music festivals rapidly gaining
popularity, it is important for event planners to understand what makes an event successful from
an insider’s perspective. Music festivals are a fast growing market, and the knowledge of these
events and the event experience should expand as well.
A considerable amount of research has been conducted on motivations to attend special events
and how to organize them, but little research has been performed on actually understanding the
music festival experience. A comprehensive synopsis of the numerous studies performed on music
festival motivations indicates that the most consistent motives for attendance are often as follows:
general socialization, time spent with family and friends, event novelty, excitement, and thrills
(Bowen and Daniels 2005). This research helps to prove that the preceding aspects are paramount
to an event’s success, as all three points were mentioned in respondents’ nostalgic reflections of
music festival experiences. These motivations play directly into the participant’s expectations and
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reviews of a music festival, and these expectations must be fulfilled or exceeded in order to
efficiently plan for an event for the following year. Festival organizers should listen to and value
attendees’ opinions of what aspects they find satisfactory and what aspects need work.
This study takes a progressive route of anthropological ethnographic research by using interaction
in online communities to collect qualitative and quantitative data on the many multidimensional
variables that affect the music festival experience. Research goals were effectively reached by
performing factor and text analysis of online survey results.
Literature Review
Importance of Experience
The first step in understanding the concept of event experience is to successfully grasp the
meaning of the word ‘experience’ itself. Author and eventplanning guru Donald Getz describes
three dimensions of experience, all of which can be applied to music festivals: the conative,
cognitive, and affective dimensions (Getz 2007). Actual behavior can be described within the
conative dimension, which can be defined as the most literal definition of experience. This is quite
simply what one is doing and how they conduct themselves. The cognitive dimension refers to the
awareness, perception, and understanding of an experience and what is happening within an
individual’s surroundings. The most prominent dimension involved in festivagoer conversation is
the affective dimension, which involves feelings, emotions, and values; the event itself brings
about feelings of enjoyment and pleasure, while emotions and values are affected by the sense of
community and belonging amongst other festival attendees (Getz 2007). Once event organizers
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understand each sector of experience, they can begin taking the steps to ensure that each
component of their attendees’ experiential wants and needs are satisfied.
Location
Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of cultural production denotes a broad understanding of culture “in line
with the tradition of classical sociology, including science (which in turn includes social science),
law and religion, as well as expressiveaesthetic activities such as art, literature and music”
(Hesmondhalgh 212:2006). While most of Bourdieu’s work focuses heavily on the two subfields
of art and literature, his theory of cultural production provides a substantial amount of material
that can be applied to the implementation of a successful music event. Bourdieu believed that
cultural production is best perceived as a social field. To add to Bourdieu’s theory, Athena Elafros
(2013) added the concept of location and its importance in regards to the execution of strategies
within a musician’s social field. This field can be defined as “a structured space of positions and
their interrelations,” which are controlled by the distribution of resources or ‘capital’, and “the
constant state of struggle over the accumulation and distribution of resources such as prestige,
recognition, high evaluation and various forms of capital”; this social field’s structure is made up
of “objective relations between positions,” which are distributed among social entities or
individuals that occupy this social space (Elafros 2008:466). Within the music festival sphere,
which is an industry with numbers that have grown exponentially over the last decade, festivals
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are fighting over the distribution of limited positions. The festivals with the best reputations,
which are based on attendees’ reviews, will prevail and will succeed in holding said positions.
The next concept of Bourdieu’s theory is the idea of dispositions, which are the driving forces that
cause the characters within the social field to act and react in particular ways. Sets of these
dispositions are known as habitus, which generate specific behavior based on the individual’s
perceptions and attitudes; positions and dispositions have a symbiotic relationship,
complementing one another’s outcomes. Festivals battle over positions, resources, and the
attention of the attendees. To successfully come out on top, these events must “adopt different
strategies in their conquest for cultural legitimacy and power” (Elafros 2012:466). When
Bourdieu’s theory is applied to this particular research, the social field is the event and its
organization, the positions are held by the event organizers, and their dispositions are how they
react to their attendees' wants and needs, which is based on the festival organizers’ habitus.
Adding location to Bourdieu’s theory of cultural production gives more insight into how
festivalgoers’ experiential wants and needs can be achieved. Location can be determined by six
different dimensions, all of which can be present and utilized, and can affect one another at
different times: spatial (the type of event), temporal (time of event), interactional (determined by
the audience and artists), aural (genre of music), individual (the festival itself), and numeric, or the
number of individuals involved in the festival experience (Elafros 2012).
Community/Liminality
When attendees are asked why they attend music festivals, common responses most typically
relate to the idea that these events are an escape from normal everyday living.
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Attending music festivals can become a ritualistic behavior for regular festivalgoers. Getz (2007)
discusses the concept of ‘liminality’ in relation to such behavior. While attendees are at a music
festival, they are in a ‘liminal’ zone, which is one of spatial and temporal meaning where ‘normal’
everyday rules do not apply. They are in a special time and place which is more relaxed, free, and
has its own set of discourses unique to these events. Being in this extraordinary ‘space’ with
others creates a sense of ‘communitas’, which is a “temporary state in which people are together,
removed from ordinary life", resulting in them “having something very specific in common,”
making the experience “always transient and sacred” (Getz 2007:178). This temporary sense of
community amongst the attendees intensifies the meaning and symbolism attached to music
festivals. This space and time often does not end with the event; new friends become ‘festival
friends’ and festival friends can become ‘festival family’ long after an event’s closure. Getz also
points out the process of ‘reversion,’ or the return to normal life. Reversion can be “accompanied
by a sense of change, going from the special to the ordinary” which can induce feelings of
accomplishment, renewal, transformation, relief, or loss (Getz 2008:180). The attendees lose that
transient time and space and the sense of ‘communitas’ that was established at the event; this
emotional state of mind is often called ‘postfestival depression.’
Organization
One of the most obvious and fundamental factors of a successful festival is event organization.
The first priority of festival organizers should lie in the design and structure of an event; the
festival experience can be incredibly hindered when an attendee's basic needs are not met. There
is undoubtedly much more that goes into site planning than what is visible to the average attendee.
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Operation planning, or the phase of planning in which organizers are ready to construct the
production portion of an event, is made up of three subgroups: customer-oriented systems,
producer- and supplier-orientated systems, and communications systems. These three units
“synergistically combine to produce the event experience” (Getz 1997:112). The component that
most readily affects the attendee is the customer-orientated element of this structure, which
includes factors such as: accessibility, parking, queuing, ticketing, food and beverage services,
comfort, and essential services like bathrooms and safety. This research includes a great deal of
quantitative data on the preceding elements of site planning.
Methodology
Ethnographic methods are very flexible in that there are various methods and techniques that can
be redesigned and shaped to what will best suit the goals of all different kinds of research. With
the intensifying prevalence of social media usage, using ‘netnography’ as the main ethnographic
research tool deemed to be most efficient for reaching the goals of this study. Netnography is an
online research technique used to provide consumer insight by applying the combination of
ethnography and the use of online communities (Kozinets 2002). This practice is becoming an
increasingly effective tool in branding and networking for all industries across the board.
Festivalgoers hail from all over country, causing great difficulty in performing in-person surveys
or interviews. Social media provides the opportunity for data collection that is uninhibited by
distance and spatial boundaries.
Data through netnography may be acquired through “virtual communities,” but being virtual
makes them no less real; “these social groups have a ‘real’ existence for their participants, and
thus have consequential effects on many aspects of behavior, including consumer behavior”
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(Kozinets 2002:61). Promoters and festival organizers alike should evolve with the increasingly
technological social world to effectively inform, influence and communicate with their attendees.
A sense of communitas can be found within social media outlets as well. Online communities are
liminal spaces in which active participants are present. Within this liminal space's sense of
communitas, participants are able to freely express themselves. While these social media outlets
lack physicality, self-expression and individuality may come easier to some than it does in the
physical world. Interaction over the internet also provides a more equal platform for
communication, as there is usually no hierarchal structure among its members.
In 2014, about 75% of music festival conversation was from persons ranging from ages
17 to 34; in 2014, festival conversation over social media rose 34% from the previous year
(Eventbrite and Mashwork, Inc: 2014). Presently, music festivals are most popular among
Millennials, as is Facebook use, making Facebook a perfect medium for gathering data on music
festival feedback. 32 million people go to at least one United States music festival every year;
14.7 million of those individuals are Millennials (Lynch 2015). Today’s widespread Facebook use
makes keeping in contact and sharing experiences with 'festival friends' across the country easier
than ever before. Social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and Soundcloud have become
primary modes of publishing music; circulation of tracks over the internet through posts, shares,
and tweets has proved to be an advantageous approach for the promotion of artists and their
music, and for festivals and their lineups. Furthermore, festivals can also use social media to
communicate with attendees and be enlightened about consumer desires.
Eventbrite and Mashwork’s (2014) study focused on festival conversation strictly through social
media. One of the study’s top findings on festival discussion was that people are conversing far
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more about the overall experience of events rather than specific artists or performances; People
are four times more likely to talk about the lineup holistically than about individual acts. 39% of
all social media posts analyzed talked about the lineup without mentioning an artist, 17%
conveyed excitement about the event, also without mentioning an artist. Only 8% of conversation
actually acknowledged a specific artist (Eventbrite and Mashwork, Inc: 2014). These statistics
shows that a festival’s brand, uniqueness, and the experience overall are significantly more
important that the booked acts and artists themselves. Here, is a conversation breakdown of what
fans are talking about:
It is displayed here that conversation about a specific artist or performance is minimal; attendees
are more focused on holistic experience of what an event has to offer. Booking the best artists will
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surely bring festivalgoers to an event, but seeing the excitement to see their favorite artist will be
heavily influenced by the event personality itself.
For this research, Facebook was the primary source used for data collection. Facebook users were
contacted through music festival community pages as well as the researcher's personal Facebook
page. Individuals were invited to participate in research by completing a survey if they had an
interest in providing their feedback and input in regards to music festivals they have attended in
the past twelve months. The survey link, created on the online survey software SurveyMonkey,
was posted to these pages numerous times over the time span of the survey's availability.
The data collected had no specific regional focus and includes responses for festivals all over the
country (and one international festival), but a large portion of the feedback was based on music
festivals held in the Midwest region of the United States. The detailed ten-question survey
regarding music festival experiences included numerous five-point Likert-type scales regarding
festivals aspects such as: music, resources provided, festival policies, quality of staff, venue
cleanliness, and a reflection of the overall festival experience, with response options ranging from
'extremely unsatisfied' (1) to 'extremely satisfied' (5). Following the scales were optional comment
boxes. Open-ended questions were also included, pertaining to substance use, suggested
improvements and event uniqueness. The only qualification required to complete the survey was
to have attended at least one music festival in the past twelve months. The survey did not ask for,
and was not targeted to, any specific group of people; any music festival attendees were
welcomed. All entries were anonymous.
The survey was open for respondent use for a time period of two months (mid-January to
mid-March 2015). The SurveyMonkey website allowed the researcher to monitor, review, and
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analyze all of the participants’ answers at any time. Fifty-one completed surveys were collected
and used for data analysis. Likert scale averages were taken from each main festival (events that
had one to fourteen completed respondent surveys), as well as an average of all the festivals
combined. Quantitative data was examined using pattern level analysis. Text data results from the
open-ended questions were also analyzed for qualitative data results.
To understand the participants’ perceptions of reality, how their surroundings are perceived, and
the social meanings ascribed to various phenomena around them are all key objectives in
successful research (Jaimangal-Jones et al 2009). Attendance to over a dozen festivals preceding
this study gives the researcher the knowledge and experience necessary for understanding
research on such events.
Context: Festivals Analyzed
All of the proceeding descriptions illustrate festivals in which the research results produced
anywhere from four to fourteen personal accounts. The researcher has personally attended all of
these festivals at least once, aiding in the knowledge and understanding of each event. The festival
descriptions are in order by number of respondents that provided input on that specific event. All
of these festivals have their own unique characteristics, providing sound reasoning to the idea that
unique event experiences are a crucial factor in a music festival’s success.
Electric Forest
Electric Forest is a four-day event held annually during the last weekend of June since its premier
in 2011. The event is held on the grounds of Double JJ Resort in Rothbury, Michigan. Ticket sales
close at 35,000, and that number has been reached the past three years. This sold-out event is a
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multi-genre music festival, focusing mainly on jam bands and electronic music. It is headlined
every year by the popular jam band The String Cheese Incident, and co-produced by
Madison House and Insomniac Events. Tickets range from $220 to $350, depending on time of
purchase. Electric Forest is known for their extravagant setup and unique event themes. Fourteen
respondents gave feedback in relation to this festival.
Summer Camp
Summer Camp Music Festival, for which research provided eight surveys, is a four-day event held
every Memorial Day weekend in Chillicothe, Illinois. Jay Goldberg Events hosts this jam
band-inspired festival held at woodsy Three Sisters Park, which continues to grow in numbers;
Summer Camp’s premier in 2001 brought just over 1,000 attendees and grew to over 20,000 in
attendance by 2014. Event organizers have recently started adding electronic dance music to the
bill, aiding in the event’s growing popularity. Summer Camp is an allages, family friendly event
made up of seven stages with over 100 bands. Three-day ticket prices usually range from
$160$250, and an optional Thursday ‘preparty’ pass can also be purchased.
Summer Set
Summer Set Music & Camping Festival is a three-day event held in northern Wisconsin in the
small town of Somerset, just east of Minneapolis. Summer Set 2015 takes place mid-August, and
2015 will be the event's fourth consecutive year. On- and offsite camping are offered; offsite
camping is across the street at Float Rite Park on the Apple River. Summer Set offers a variety of
electronic music, jam bands, and hip-hop. Attending Summer Set can cost anywhere from
$200-$500, depending on ticket tiers, type of tickets, and camping location. This event brought
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around 20,000 in 2014 and continues to grow. Seven respondents contributed feedback for
Summer Set.
Wakarusa
Wakarusa, which had five respondent reviews, is held atop Mulberry Mountain located in the
Ozarks of Northern Arkansas. This event offers 20 hours of music a day on a 650-acre
campground with streams, waterfalls, and hiking trails. The aura at Wakarusa is extremely
relaxed, and the crowd is just as welcoming. Wakarusa offers a wide variety of music ranging
from jam, electronic, reggae, to alternative rock. Six stages and the opportunity to see over 120
artists are offered, with opening ticket prices starting at under $200.
Spring Awakening
Spring Awakening Music Festival is an electronic dance music festival that takes place in Chicago
at Soldier Field. Taking place the second weekend of June, Spring Awakening brings out over
90,000 attendees during the three-day event. There are two main stages, two smaller stages, and a
silent disco. Spring Awakening was an all-ages event until 2015, when age restriction was set to
attendees 18 and older. Held by React Presents, ticket prices start at just under $200. Four
respondents evaluated this festival.
Ethnographic data was provided for ten other festivals, all of which only one to two completed
surveys were collected. These events include: Phases of the Moon Music & Arts
Festival, Shoe Fest, and Infrasound held in Illinois, Country Thunder in Wisconsin, Bonnaroo in
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Tennessee, Buku Music & Arts Project in Louisiana, Camp Euphoria in Texas, and Suwannee
Hulaween and EDC Orlando in Florida, and Tommorrowland in Belgium. The data from these
festivals were not used specifically in this research, but averages were taken and all text data was
analyzed, considered, and included in this study.
Results
ResearchQuestion 1: Demographics of festivalgoers
Table 1: Respondent Demographics
Festival All Electric Summer Summer Wakarusa Spring
Demographics Festivals Forest Camp Set Awakening
Number of 51 14 8 7 5 4
Respondents
Age
Average
Gender (%)
23 22.23 22.25 21.71 22 24
.7
5
Male 49 43 25 57 60 5
0
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Female
Education (%)
51 57 75 43 40 5
0
High School 4 7
Some College 37 79 75 71 100 1
0
0
Bachelor’s 10 7 25 29
Master’s/Ph.D 2 7
Research found that a majority of attendees are to have completed some college (1-3
years), had received their Associates Degree, or were currently enrolled (73%). The average
combined age of all respondents was 23, and only three participants were over the age of 26. 84%
of the respondents were between the ages of 18 and 25. Gender of participants was fairly equal;
26 respondents were female while the other 25 identified as male.
Electric Forest had fourteen respondents with the average age of 22.23. Six participants identified
as male and eight identified as female. 78% of respondents had completed some college, were
currently enrolled in college (1-3 years) or had acquired their Associate's Degree. Eight
respondents provided feedback for Summer Camp. The six female and two male participants had
a combined average age of 22.25. Six of those participants had attended 1-3 years of college and
two had obtained a Bachelor’s Degree. Seven completed surveys were used for analysis for
Summer Set. Four surveys were provided by males and three from females, all of who had an
average combined age of 21.72. Five respondents were currently enrolled in college or had their
Associates Degree and two had obtained their Bachelor’s Degree. Wakarusa had five respondents
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with the combined average age of 22. Three participants were male and two were female, and all
had an Associate’s Degree or were currently enrolled in college. Four respondents provided
feedback for Spring Awakening, two being male and two being female. The average age of these
four participants was 24.75.
ResearchQuestion 2: How was the music?
Figure 1: Festival Music Values
Figure 2 shows the respondent ratings in relation to music at the five main festivals of this
research. Averages were taken of the quantitative results for each Likert item: Quality of
Lineup, Stages and Production, Sound, and the presence of Schedule Conflicts. Schedule
Conflicts were not considered in music averages because higher prevalence of schedule conflicts
is consequential when factored into the event experience. Every single item of this dimension had
a mean score that rated higher than the scale average (which is represented by 3 in this study's
Likert-type scale). Wakarusa scored a perfect rating (m=5) for the festival lineup. Electric
Forest scored very well with the highest score for Stages and Production (m=4.86).
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ResearchQuestion 3: How did festival do in providing the necessary resources for your well-
being?
Figure 2: Festival Resource Values
Resources provided from each festival are depicted in Figure 3. The eight sectors explored were
the Number of and Access to Water Stations, the Amount Space to Sit Down,
Safety Moving through Crowds, Cell Phone Service, Access to Vendors, Vendor Prices, Ticket
Prices, and the Use of Preventative Measures. All eight of Electric Forest and Wakarusa's resource
ratings scored above the survey average of 3 or higher (3.0-3.64), while Summer Camp and
Summer Set had only one aspect each that scored below 3, both being the rating for the use of
preventative measures. On the contrary, Spring Awakening had only two aspects of this
dimension score a 3 or higher out of all eight aspects. The use of preventative measures scored
lowest for every main festival analyzed, excluding Wakarusa, which had a fairly high mean rating
of 4 for that Likert item. The availability of space to sit down rated highest for all five festivals.
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ResearchQuestion 4: Respondents’ thoughts on festival policies
Figure 3: Festival Policies Values
Festival Policies included the following: Age Limitations, Alcohol Policies, Amnesty Boxes and
Policies, Security Searches, and Prohibited Items. Every main festival had a significantly high
rating for age limitation policies (3.63-4.29), except for Spring Awakening (m=1.33). Summer
Set's security searches were rated significantly lower than every other main festival (m=2.0).
Summer Camp and Spring Awakening both scored fairly lower averages for Alcohol Policies,
which are also the only two main festivals that do not allow any outside alcohol through the gate.
Spring Awakening was the only festival that did not have Cell Phone Service as the lowest ranked
Likert Item; Cell Phone Service was actually rated the second highest of all Spring Awakening's
resource Likert items (m=3.25)
ResearchQuestion 5: The staff was: Hurtful, Helpful, Both, or Neither?
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Figure 4: Festival Staff Ratings
The staff dimension explored the quality of the four different types of staff present:
Event/Venue Staff, Volunteers, Event Security, and Police, with the rating options of Helpful,
Hurtful, Both (helpful and hurtful), or Neither. This dimension was analyzed by percentages
rather than averages. Electric Forest and Wakarusa were the only main festivals to get zero hurtful
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ratings. Respondents found the staff overall most helpful for Electric Forest, Summer Camp, and
Wakarusa. Summer Set had significantly higher instances of Hurtful responses for all four types
of staff. The only hurtful ratings outside of Summer Set's ratings was for the police at Summer
Camp (25%), and Spring Awakening’s security (50%).
ResearchQuestion 6: Rate the cleanliness of this festival.
Figure 5: Festival Cleanliness
The cleanliness of the festivals was based on the Number and Upkeep of Trash Cans, Number and
Upkeep of Recycling Bins, and the Presence of Litter on Ground. All but two aspects of the five
festivals scored a below-average Likert item rating, which was for the number of recycling bins at
Spring Awakening (m=2.5) and the upkeep of recycling bins at Summer Camp (m=2.13). The
number of trash cans scored highest at all five events (m=3.6-3.93). The cleanliness portion of the
survey had the highest incidence of responses for the optional Comments/Concerns box located
under the Likert scale where compliments, complaints, and suggestions were found.
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ResearchQuestion 7: Reflectively rate the festival weekend overall.
Figure 6: OverallExperience Values
The dimension of overall experience asked for a reflective rating of twelve event aspects,
including: Getting In, Music, Stages, Venue, Crowd, Stages, Police, Vendors, Weather, Departure,
and Overall Experience. Electric Forest scored nothing lower than a mean of 3.86, and had a
perfect Likert item rating (m=5) for Overall Experience from all fourteen respondents. Wakarusa
also had a perfect Overall Experience rating (m=5) and the lowest ratings were 3.8 averages,
which were for Getting In and Weather. Summer Camp's averages scored nothing lower than the
scale’s average (m=3), which was for Getting In and Departure, and the highest rating (m=4.63),
rating Music and Overall Experience. Summer Set's highest rating (m=4.71) was for camping, and
its lowest rating was for Police (m=1.86). Spring Awakening's two highest ratings (m=4.25) were
in regards to venue and weather, and the lowest ratings (m=1.75) was for the crowd. Getting In
was the lowest ranked Likert item for all five festivals.
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Below are the means taken from each festival’s Likertstyle questions, with the Likert
items from each dimension averaged together. Electric Forest and Wakarusa the only festivals to
score above the overall average (m=4.21 and m=4.12 respectively). Summer Camp scored third
highest (m=3.62), then Summer Set (m=3.39), to Spring Awakening (m=3.01).
Table 2: Festival Averages
All
Festivals
Electric
Forest
Summer
Camp
Summer
Set
Wakarusa Spring
Awakening
Music 4.25 4.67 4.21 4.05 4.67 3.5
Resources
Provided
3.37 4.01 3.56 3.41 4.18 2.66
Festival
Polices
3.8 4 3.33 2.29 4.24 2.5
Festival
Cleanliness
3.69 3.69 3.03 3.6 3.04 3.25
Overall
Experience
4.02 4.67 3.96 3.58 4.45 3.16
Combined
Average
3.83 4.21 3.62 3.39 4.12 3.01
The research questions explained above are each Likert-type scale question provided on
the respondent survey. Also included was three open-ended questions: one asking for respondents’
thoughts on substance use they saw or experienced (if any), if there was any room for festival
improvements, and how the festival of their choice made for a unique and memorable experience.
The responses to those questions are utilized and discussed thoroughly throughout the next
section.
26. 26
Discussion
Demographics
The findings of these research confirmed that music festivals of are most interest among
Millennials; a large majority of respondents were under the age of 26 and are currently enrolled in
college. These findings could be explained through the proceeding factors of the methods of
research and analysis.
All research was performed and collected via the internet, specifically through Facebook
and SurveyMonkey. The demographics of Facebook users may play in part to who participated.
All respondents that participated in this study were active Facebook users. A point to be made
about the large number of respondents attending music festivals being enrolled in college could
pertain to the act of networking. College introduces individuals to various kinds of people with
diverse lifestyles and interests. Music festivals are quite possibly an interest picked up through
interaction and conversation with peers. Also, many adults with careers are unable to attend
events such as music festivals because of the length of the event and/or the time it takes to travel.
College students, unless they are enrolled in summer classes, have much more free time for leisure
activities.
Reflections of Cognitive and Affective Experience
Social Interaction/Communitas
27. 27
The single most prevalent comments made in relation to attendees’ experience was
surprisingly not in relation to the performances, music, or organization, but rather the time spent
and bonds made with the people around them. When respondents were asked about what made the
festival of their choice a unique and memorable experience, the feedback was very telling:
“What makes it a success is the people. I had a great time because I was with great
people.” –Summer Set
“This festival is magical. My favorite thing about the forest is the people you meet
there. Everyone has an awesome story to share and are all very positive and happy
people. It was truly amazing being around that kind of energy.” –Electric
Forest
Respondents typically reflect on the time spent and bonds made with friends, and those
experiences became a direct indicator for how they felt about the festival overall. These
reflections show how important of a role the idea of ‘communitas’ plays on the event experience:
“It was memorable for the fantastic friends I made there.” –Phases of the Moon
“I met people I consider family and still talk to every day.” –Wakarusa
“The bond and memories I made with my friends made it memorable” –EDC
Orlando
Social interaction has a compelling impact on the atmosphere at an event. Responses such as these
make it apparent that positive post-festival feedback relies heavily on the reminiscence of quality
time spent with friends, old and new. A fundamental factor playing into an event’s success lies in
the creation of a space where opportunities for sociability and communal involvement are
plentiful. This collective vibe amongst attendees creates a cohesiveness that could not be achieved
outside of the event experience. A strong sense of communitas plays an impactful role on the
28. 28
attendee’s feeling of a festival; festival nostalgia is most frequently provoked by those memorable
moments and celebratory behaviors with friends.
Communitas plays a very significant role in the festivalgoer’s experience; this sense of
community is often the driving force for regular attendance to such events. Attendees often feel a
very strong connection with the like-minded individuals that accompany them on their music
festival endeavors. Some argue that a sense communitas ends at the event closure, but with music
festival attendees, the memories and emotions invoked during their time together can affect them
so profusely, that bonds made are hard to forget. This sense of community exists among festivals
and between them, explaining why festival attendees feel such a closeness with the friends they
share their experience with.
Liminality
A ‘space’ is often understood as no more than a physical site, but it is much more than that. A
space is not only one in which we physically inhabit, but also one that places all of us in relation
to one another “differentially empowered and socially positioned,” actively constructing
relationships and meaning; music festivals are spaces that exist outside of existing social
structures, where everyday norms and values are suspended and our identities can become largely
invisible (JaimangalJones et al 2009). Upon an attendee’s arrival, the entire event experience
takes place within the liminal zone or ‘space’ of that particular festival. This extraordinary ‘place’
outside of life’s normal time and space creates Getz's concept of conative, cognitive, and affective
dimensions of experience, which can be modified by numerous factors. While the theme and the
arrangement of the festival does externally affect festivalgoer emotion, this space/time exists in
the minds of the attendees. It is in this exceptional state of mind where attendees are able to
29. 29
partake in unique discourses and acts of escapism, live through fantasies, and participate in other
higher-than-usual levels of involvement (Getz 2007).
“The best part of festivals is escaping the dull lifestyle we’ve been forced into.
Meeting amazing new people and forgetting about everything at home is what
makes festivals so lifechanging.” –Wakarusa
Design Personality/Ambiance of Event
A prevalent factor to positively affect how attendees felt about the event itself was the atmosphere
and feel of the event. This aura is created symbiotically by everyone involved: festival organizers,
promoters, artists, staff, and attendees. Interactive art is of importance; many respondents
reflected on the how art installations enhanced their experience.
“Its use of lighting up a forest with art displays and lighting make it a wonderland
of avatar.” –Electric Forest
“The forest itself was so magical! So many people dress up and make it even more
special. At night it was like it came alive.” –Electric Forest
“Forest is so unique because it has so much more production than any other
festival I’ve been to. The props and actors really set it aside from any other
festival. The most memorable part is your first time walking into the bright forest
on Thursday night.” –Electric Forest
Unique themes and an array of participation opportunities gives attendees a sense of
freedom leading to moments of amazement, discovery, and transformation (Morgan 2008).
Having a unique and memorable experience is not always entirely designed and staged by festival
organizers. The comments of these respondents suggests that the importance of nonmusical
30. 30
performances and experiences are equally important, if not more important, than the musical acts
themselves. There are many behaviors and discourses that are completely out of the festival
organizers’ control; festivalgoers are going to create their own realities within the events that were
created for them.
Substance Use and Preventative Measures
There are boundless numbers of extraordinary happenings going on around festivalgoers, but not
all discourses created are going to be satisfactory, rewarding, or even safe. Event safety does not
fall solely under the responsibilities of the festival organizers. At events with often tens of
thousands of people in attendance, there are risk factors involved that are sometimes
uncontrollable by festival organizers. Attendees are held accountable for themselves and their
actions, as they should be. Many respondents commented on drug use on the portion of the
questionnaire pertaining to resources; more specifically, respondents most frequently commented
on the use of preventative measures which include things such as ear plugs, test kits, and free
water.
One aspect of music festivals that should be discussed is the accepted drug culture. Substance use
is very prevalent and should be addressed. Discussion of these consumption practices can result in
attendees’ practices being as safe as possible. When asked about drug use later in the survey, a
large majority of respondents had mutual feelings on the matter. Most individuals answered that
they were aware of the prevalence of substance use and some admitted to partaking in substance
use themselves. There was a general consensus among respondents that other peoples’ habits were
31. 31
not their business and that that it rarely affected uninvolved attendees. Only a small number of
respondents actually seemed alarmed about the subject matter, which often had other variables
playing into their opinion, which will also be discussed.
“Test it before you ingest it.” –Electric Forest
There is a collective understanding among festivalgoers that drugs and alcohol are present and
accessible, but also dangerous. Respondents were adamant about their feelings on the use of
preventative measures and the presence of harm reduction education and practices. Drugs can be
very detrimental to the body and mind, but fake drugs can be even worse. Test kits are beginning
to gain popularity, but not nearly as fast as the popularity of the ‘drugs’ that need tested. Research
chemicals are experimental chemicals that are designed to mimic the effects of amphetamines and
psychoactive drugs such as MDMA and LSD. These substances are termed ‘research chemicals’
because of the very little research that has been performed on them; because these substances are
so new, toxicity is often unknown. In recent years, these cheaply-made chemicals that are being
produced at an alarming rate, and are quickly gaining popularity at music events in particular.
Many young attendees looking to enhance their experience unknowingly buy these chemicals
from strangers, ingest them, and are causing unknown harm to their bodies. One way to help fight
this epidemic is the use of test kits. These kits are made up one to four different chemical reagents
that only need a small sample of a substance to test for the presence of harmful adulterants. There
are education-based harm reduction organizations such as DanceSafe and Bunk Police, which sell
test kits on their websites. These organizations promote drug awareness, knowledge, and safety;
they can sometimes be found at music festivals, where test kits can be purchased and/or the
opportunity to test a substance free of charge with no questions asked.
“I believe DanceSafe was at the festival. I saw lots of test kits around.” –Electric
32. 32
Forest
Fear-based and abstinence-only education will only negatively affect substance use in music
festival culture. Addressing the realities of drug use and teaching people what these substances are
and how they can be used (if they should be at all), would be most effective.
Attendees are very open to the idea.
“Making test kits available or people with test kits to have an area to check
festivalgoers’ ‘party favors’ would be a good idea. It would decrease the risk of
people taking something dangerous.” –Wakarusa
“Could be much safer with test kit accessibility.” –Summer Set
“Take freewill donations at the test stations. I can justify donating to save lives.”
–Electric Forest
The only time respondents had complaints about substance use was in relation to the age of
attendees participating in such activities. This may be an explanation to why some festivals are
adopting new age restriction policies, and the increasing number of other festivals doing so.
Through participation and research, a trend has become apparent: problems that come with the
irresponsibility of younger attendees seem to be correlated with the genre of music the event
offers. This is not saying anything negative about the festival, but rather the attendees the offered
genres of music attract, and their collective behaviors. Electronic dance music often is targeted to,
and appeals to, a younger crowd. Spring Awakening, a mainly electronic music and all-ages event
until 2015, had data responses such as these:
"It was all ages so there was a lot of 12-year-olds on drugs" –Spring Awakening
"Too many young kids on drugs. Bad drugs. Alcohol use just as rampant and a lot
of people did not know how to handle their substances" –Spring Awakening
33. 33
"Just too many young kids who don't know their limits and not drinking enough
water" –Spring Awakening
When asked what made Summer Camp unique, which is also an all-ages event but has a much
higher percentage of jam bands rather than electronic dance music, one attendee said:
"Seeing little children walk around. I think that is something you don't see at every
festival." –Summer Camp
The type of visitor attracted by marketing and products offered will affect the experience (Morgan
2008). Social cohesiveness is a prevalent quality of festivals, but it is not always present amongst
all attendees. Comments such as those above came from respondents older in age, who did not
agree with their younger counterparts’ consumption behaviors at the event. Events that offer acts
of predominately electronic dance music typically draw a younger populace, while festivals with
lineups that consist heavily of jam bands and other EDM alternatives often draw out an older
crowd. The younger masses were first driven to electronic dance music in the United States as it
was a fast-growing trend whose attractiveness could be explained by the unconventionality,
engaging energy, and the dance-all-night mentality of the genre. One theory, attendees contest, is
that the genre of music affects the appropriateness of certain age groups at large music events;
Summer Camp’s older population is thought by attendees to be mature enough for the presence of
young children with parental advisory, while some teenagers on their own, under the age of 18,
may have not yet reached the maturity to responsibly conduct themselves at such a large event
with so many temptations. This is not to say that all behaviors and consumption of younger music-
lover is dangerous; most attendees are able to have a responsible, successful experience. Again,
increased harm reduction at events could help teach safe and responsible festival attendance
practices.
34. 34
Another suggestion made by attendees was increased ear safety. These events get very loud, and
ringing ears after a performance is never fun. Ears are not like muscles, where the more they hear
the stronger they get; every bit of damage is cumulative. One in five US teenagers has at least
some noise-induced hearing loss by the age of 19 (Rivero 2013). The risk is interdependent on the
amplitude of the volume and the length of time of exposure. A normal conversation is about 65
decibels, and ears are unaffected by anything under 75 decibels. Concerts usually generate
anywhere between 95 to 115 decibels; any sound over 85 decibels for two minutes or longer can
cause permanent auditory damage (Dillner 2012). Providing earplugs to attendees would be a
cheap and easy offering by festival organizers. Most music festivals do a great job of covering all
they can in regards to harm reduction, especially with the volumes of people they attract.
Understandably so, festival organizers may not want to openly address dangerous issues such as
drug use and safety at their events, but unsafe ill-informed drug use is undoubtedly more
dangerous and harmful to a festival’s reputation than the latter.
Event Design and Organization
Supplying Resources
Research shows that festivals are doing a satisfactory job at supplying resources that meet the
festivalgoer's needs. Unreliable or fluctuating cell phone service was of mention, but often the
location and volumes of people in such a place are to blame for detrimental effects on cell phone
service. Spring Awakening, the only main festival in the heart of a city, was the only festival to
get a high rating for cell phone service; it was one of the event’s highest Resource ratings.
Attendees also expressed in their comments they would like to see an increased number of water
stations. The cognizance of how easy the risk factor of dehydration can and will effect an
35. 35
experience is important knowledge for the attendees and festival organizers alike. Lines can
sometimes be very long for such an important necessity.
Accessibility can sometimes be an issue at large events. Getting In rated lowest of all 12 Likert
Items for Overall Experience for all five main festivals. It can undoubtedly be difficult to manage
such high volumes of people that arrive at a festival on the opening day; It is not uncommon for
attendees to arrive even prior to the opening of the festival gates, in hopes to obtain the best
camping spots and be the first to get settled in. While long waits are not always at the faults of
festival organizers, attendees' favorability of a festival can quickly decline if queuing upon entry
takes longer than their expectations. A few responses in the suggestions section touched on these
issues:
"Work on getting people's cars searched faster. I waited in line to get in from 3-6
am." –Wakarusa
"Try to keep lines for entering and exiting the festival as organized as possible."
–Summer Set
"Line to get in was extremely long. It took us four hours to get to our campsite."
–Summer Set
An issue such as queuing is an aspect that is surely recognizable by festival organizers,
and understandably, there is only so much that can be done at peak entry hours. No festival wants
their attendees to have a bad start to their event. Being able to effectively handle surplus demand
is essential to an attendee's review of a music festival. Overly intrusive security searches upon
entry can also put a damper on the entire mood of a festival. Upon arrival to an event, a majority
of the attendees have probably already put in quite a few hours of driving, but will still show up
with exuberant smiles and excitement, welcoming the experience of the weekend that is finally
36. 36
about to begin. Long shifts and monotonous searches can have a negative effect on everyone's
mood, but a welcoming, quality staff will greet their customers with the same level of excitement
as they are receiving from the individuals in their line. The staff- and their attitudes- are a direct
representation of the festival and the personality of the event.
Quality of Staff
Low quality of staff showed an obvious negative effect on festivalgoers’ reviews. A correlation
emerged between Overall Experience ratings and ratings of staff: the festivals with the worst staff
ratings also had the worst numbers for the Overall Experience. The most prominent response
when asked about improvements, after festival cleanliness, was improvement in the quality of
festival staff. The festival staffs that attendees were in favor of, and the ones that they were not,
quickly became apparent. Uninformed staff was a common complaint.
“The festival can improve by educating the volunteers properly.” –Wakarusa
“Security was rude and untrained.” –Spring Awakening
“Many people were unable to help and answer questions in the venue. I feel like
there was a lack of communication preventing them to have the knowledge they
needed to provide assistance.” –Summer Set
“Staff was rude. Volunteers were clueless. Security was rude and aggressive.
Police were over-present and threatening.” –Summer Set
Festivalgoers, as with any event attendee, want to feel welcomed and that festival staff is as happy
that they are in attendance as the attendees are themselves. Another common complaint was
overzealous security.
“The security was very aggressive and made guests feel uncomfortable.” –Spring
37. 37
Awakening
“It was hard to not to feel like a prisoner with security standing in guard towers
with binoculars and the constant police presence circling in on people was a little
stressful.” –Summer Set
“Quality of staff was Summer Set’s only downfall.” –Summer Set
Staff should give empathic and individualized attention to attendees whenever and however they
are able. Harmony amongst staff and attendees is very important. Making guests feel threatened or
uncomfortable was a surefire way to bring down a festival’s ratings.
Cleanliness
“People really need to learn to throw their garbage in a garbage can. No, the
ground is not a garbage can.” –Summer Camp
No matter what opinions individuals have on the music, staff, or organization, there is one issue of
music festivals that is undeniable; the environmental impact can be devastating. This impact is not
a direct reflection of the event organizers but instead the people in attendance. The amount of
trash left behind is so immense that it often takes weeks to clean up. Even if a large majority of
festivalgoers were to clean up after themselves, there is still the small percentage of attendees that
are leaving litter on the ground, which is not getting picked up. Attendees may think that if it is
not their trash, it is not their problem. Litter on the ground at a festival if the entire festival
community’s problem.
“This [cleanliness] doesn’t show how the festival is but how the people are.”
38. 38
–Electric Forest
Tucker Gumber, more popularly known as 'The Festival Guy', believes that the idea of 'Leave No
Trace' is not enough. Here, is Tucker’s hypothetical situation:
“When you have 10,000 people in one place, you could have 95 percent of them
practice Leave No Trace, but that still means that 500 people will be leaving their
trash everywhere. If each of them drops five pieces of trash throughout the day, it
leaves 2,500 pieces of trash littering the venue that everyone else has to deal with.
That’s a lot of trash for a 10,000-person festival. Imagine how fast it adds up for a
100,000-person festival!” [Gumber 2015]
Those 10,000 pieces of trash will not only negatively affect the environment, but also the finances
of the festival organizers; the more trash there is, the more workers to be hired and paid for their
labor. The Festival Guy proposes a new the implementation of a new strategy: Leave No Trace
+1. If only 50% of the crowd practiced this new plan of action, the venue would be spotless. The
benefits would apply to everyone involved in the festival community.
Sanitation
“Porta potties are never a clean or fun thing at a festival.” –Summer Set
“The porta potties were a bit bad at some points but I think that is hard to keep up
with at any festival.” –Electric Forest
Any festival attendee can admit that festival porta potties can be difficult to deal with.
Porta potties in high traffic areas, such as near main stages or entrances, are often the worst units.
Hearing a review similar to the one below is rare; porta potties and bathrooms have proved to be
an issue at festivals that can get out of hand more often than not.
“Bathrooms were kept clean and stocked at all times.” –Spring Awakening
Attendees were quick to complain about festival cleanliness, but were also quick to give
39. 39
suggestions. Large quantities of people in one place can be to blame for litter and messy porta
potties, but it is the festival organizer’s responsibility to enforce cleaning policies that coincide
with these large numbers of attendees. A very common suggestion was an increase in the number
of porta potties, as well as cleaning these units out more often. Another suggestion was for better
sanitizing stations. Some festivals (but not all) will have stations with hand sanitizer outside of
porta potties in high traffic areas. Unfortunately these stations seem to run out quick.
“More porta potties and more cleaning of the porta potties” –Electric Forest
“Better cleaning policies, keeping toilet paper/hand sanitizer stocked” –Electric
Forest
“Better hand washing stations” –Camp Euphoria
“Provide more trash cans!” –Electric Forest
“More incentive not to litter” –Wakarusa
Surely, many attendees are to blame for some of this environmental mess, but there are just as
many attendees that are willing to help the cause. Festivalgoers seem very open-minded in regards
to helping the environment, and surely many of them will welcome efforts to help the cause.
Some festivals offer incentives not to litter, such as turning in ten one-use empty plastic water
bottles for a free reusable one, or turning in cigarette butts for entry into a raffle. Incentives such
as these gaining popularity and presence at events could help minimize the music festival
environmental impact.
40. 40
Future Directions
The intention of this research was to expand the knowledge of music festival experience
for everyone involved in the music festival sphere of event organization and experience. No two
music festivals are the same and neither are the attendees, but having an all-encompassing
knowledge of these event experiences and what is needed for their success is going to become
increasingly important as music festivals continue their growth in popularity. As these events
grow, so do the networks that surrounds them. There are numerous organizations that have
already been working to promote a better festival experience. The proceeding descriptions are of
institutions that are already working towards the collective goal to make festivals better.
It has already been discussed that recent advancements in technology have demonstrated the
increasing ease of communicating with attendees and receiving feedback. Last year, numerous
major music festivals began publishing mobile apps for their attendees to download. Here, an
attendee can find performance schedules, artist biographies, festival playlists, nonprofit
information and more. This ensures an attendee’s connectivity to the event and event happenings.
Festivalgoers can listen to new artists, discover interesting performers, create a schedule, or even
find out about the food and product vendors that will be present. As an avid attendee, I
recommend that all festivals follow suite and create mobile apps for their event. These apps
validated their efficacy during festival season 2014, as I downloaded the app for every festival I
attended where one was offered and used it before, during, and after the event. The mobile apps
aided in the discovery of new artists and the pop-up notifications were reminders of the
performances that should not be missed. More music festivals should expand their attendees’
41. 41
event familiarity. This gives festivalgoers more festival knowledge at their fingertips whenever it
is desired.
As music festivals evolve, so should our knowledge on them. A new company to the festival
playing field is FestEvo. Short for “Festival Evolution,” the Festival Guy’s business aims to help
festival organizers, attendees, and artists improve their festival experience. FestEvo now has a
website, Facebook page, and mobile app that is free to the public; FestEvo’s core values are very
similar to the goals of this particular research study. An organization such as this is just what the
flourishing industry of music festival needs to improve in all sectors across the board. There will
be a festival experience survey similar to the one used for this research, on the FestEvo mobile
app for the 2015 festival season. Festival surveying is beneficial for every single festival in the
country. Whether it be through FestEvo, festival websites or mobile apps, or in person, any and all
feedback is helpful.
Organizations such as previously mentioned DanceSafe and The Bunk Police are an incredible
addition to the festival community, and should continue their work with substance use and abuse.
Increased knowledge and support for these organizations and those similar is invaluable to the
lives of all individuals involved in the music festival realm. These institutions sometimes make
appearances at music events, and an increased number of appearances can and will help everyone
involved.
Every attendee, of course, always deserves to have an optimal event experience. As an attendee
with a mild disability, I see the struggles disabled patrons face, which often go unnoticed by other
attendees. A personal suggestion to event organizers is increased accessibility and accessibility
knowledge, which is a goal of another new, innovative organization: Accessible Festivals is a
nonprofit organization that works towards that ideal festival experience for all attendees,
42. 42
regardless of a disability, by the use of modern technologies, customer service, personal
experience, and the promotion of disability knowledge and awareness to festival organizers and
attendees.
All of the events included in this research are annual events that often are very successful, but
there is always room for improvement with any event. High calibers of success should only push
events to want to do it all bigger and better than the previous year, as their devoted attendees flock
to their decorated and themed parks once again. Festivals should and will continue to evolve and
change, as will the attendees, and that is the marvelous beauty of it all.
Implications
The conclusions of this research should be viewed with caution, as there were some
methodical implications. One implication with this research was the means in which data was
obtained. Facebook use demonstrated great ease in regards to contacting attendees, but not all
festival attendees are active Facebook users. Also, all research was performed outside of ‘festival
season’ so no in-person ethnographic data while participants were present at events could be
utilized.
The greatest implication relates to the weight of the data for each music festival. There
was an uneven number of completed participant surveys for each festival, ranging from one to
fourteen concluded surveys. The unequal sample sizes do not give proportional scope of
attendee’s view on each festival’s experience. The numbers of completed surveys for the main
festivals in this research ranged from four to fourteen. This was the reasoning behind not
including festivals with only one or two respondents within the main festivals being analyzed, but
their involvement was utilized in judging attendees’ likes and dislikes within festival experiences
43. 43
overall. Research with focus specific to certain events could effectively analyze particular event
experiences, but the methods used for this study were sufficient for the goals of this research,
which was to collectively analyze festival experiences overall.
Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to identify what individual elements of music festivals
affect the attendee’s experience and how they can be improved, but the solution to improving
these events is much more complicated than that. Satisfaction is not derived from the cognitive
evaluation of attributes as much as it is from the overall, reflective narrative of a music festival
(Morgan 2008). The event experience is a result of the symbiotic relationships between all aspects
and every person involved in music festival organization and occurrence. The organizers provide
the artists, stages, performances, resources, and setting, but the extent to which the experience
meets the criteria for a successful and memorable event lies in the internal personal satisfactions,
interactions, and meanings derived by the festival attendees. Understanding these multi-
dimensional events is imperative to an event’s success. Music festivals will continue to grow, as
will the attendees, artists, and festival organizers. The growth of knowledge and understanding of
the festival experience will evolve, resulting in everyone’s ‘escape from reality’ not only meeting
their expectations, but exceeding them.
“Music succeeds where religion and politics fail. No matter the genre, if one
opens themselves to the sounds of the music and the pulse of the crowd, you will
endure the greatest natural high of all. Best feeling in the world is to see crowds of
44. 44
thousands to tens of thousands moving to the same beat with excitement.” –Electric
Forest
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46. 46
Appendix A- Music Festival Experience Survey
My Music Festival Experience
Q1: Tell me a little bit about yourself. Then take yourself back to ONE festival you have
attended in the past 12 months. Please answer the following questions of this survey in
relation to ONLY this festival. Which music festival did you choose?
Age:
Gender:
Zip Code:
Education Level:
Income Level:
Music Festival:
Q2: First of all, how was the MUSIC?
48. 48
Vendor Prices
Ticket Prices
Use of Preventative
Measures
Q4: What did you think of this festival's policies?
(1)
Extremely
Unsatisfied
(2)
Extremely
Satisfied
(3)
Indifferent
(4)
Satisfied
(5)
Extremely
Satisfied
Age
Limitations
Alcohol
Policies
50. 50
Q6: Rate the cleanliness of this festival.
(1)
Extremely
Unsatisfied
(2)
Unsatisfied
(3)
Indifferent
(4)
Satisfied
(5)
Extremely
Satisfied
Number of Trash
Cans
Number of
Recycling Bins
Upkeep of Trash
Cans
Upkeep of Porta
Potties
Presence of Litter
on Ground
Q7: Tell me what your thoughts are about the presence of drug and/or alcohol use (if any)
you saw/experienced at this festival.
51. 51
Q8: How could this festival improve next year?
Q9: What about this festival makes it unique? What about this festival makes for a
successful and memorable experience?
Q10: Take yourself back to that weekend. Rate your experience in relation to each of the
following aspects.
(1)
Extremely
Unsatisfied
(2)
Extremely
Satisfied
(3)
Indiffere
nt
(4)
Satisfie
d
(5)
Extremely
Satisfied
Getting In
Camping
Music
