The Environment of Live Music
By Christopher Jordan Latiff
As we inch closer to completing a full year under COVID restrictions, the world has witnessed a total shakeup of the global live music industry. Ultra, SXSW, Coachella, EDC, Lollapalooza, Burning Man, you name it, they are closed for all 2020 events.
In the end, the event organizers could not ignore the dangers of the virus and the reality that they were going to have to cancel dates and refund tickets. That's generally a good thing. When money, reputation, a brand are all at stake, and millions of fans asking for their money back, there is a clashing of ethics and contradictions in the festival culture itself.
Some festivals like Ultra, SXSW, Lighting In A Bottle have been served with lawsuits concerning ticket refunds. Since we can't attend live shows, streaming continues to dominate today's live music space, and new live show concepts have started to emerge as competition. Drive-In style concerts are popping up now with many finding success, yet many of them are total disasters. Let's remember the Safe & Sound benefit concert on July 25, 2020, in the Hamptons, which sparked massive controversy for video content showing breaches in social distancing protocol.
Some festival organizers are not excited to come back strong for us next summer. Some festival organizers think that making their customers choose free passes in an uncertain time and rebuying their credentials is a better deal than a simple refund. The decisions that some festival management companies are making today say a lot about their ambitions versus the package experience they promote.
The particular festivals that I am describing are Ultra (Miami, FL), SXSW (Austin, TX), and Lightning in a Bottle (Bakersfield, CA). All of these weekend-long experience festivals have denied refunds to their fans. While those festivals may be digging into their patron's wallet, it is essential to remember that not every festival is out there to take your money. It's just that now we are seeing that some big box brand festivals and boutique festivals like Ultra, SXSW, Fyre Festival in 2017, and Lightning in a Bottle Festival - those festivals were just after their patrons' money.
The decisions that some festival management companies are making today say a lot about their ambitions versus the package experience they promote.
(SXSW | Facebook)
In Ultra's case, emails made public state their plans to offer massive discounts of "50% off for up to $250 in merchandise". Ultra also offered a raffle program where you might win one of 10 (in the world) "Ultra Golden Tickets where each admits you plus one guest Free entrance to any Ultra Worldwide events (including Miami) for life." Ultra is also offering exclusive access to a one hundred dollar upgrade to a premium general admission pass after already paying between as much as $299 to $350 in refunded tickets?! Ultra will do anything to keep your money as long as you come back next year to spend hundreds of dollars at their event. Most likely, hoards of people will still attend the show in 2021/22 as long as the world can find a way to recover from the pandemic. Ultra was named in a class-action lawsuit that addressed their denial to offer a refund program to their customers. Reading into the suit, it states that "The aggregated claims of the individual class members exceed the sum or value of $5,000,000". As the successfully launched class-action suit against Ultra unfolds in the untold future, I and many others have no idea what's going to happen.
SXSW has found itself in a similar hellscape of apologizing for not paying back and offering big perks. A recent announcement made on their website explained that they are "working to provide a virtual SXSW online experience as soon as possible for 2020 participants, starting with SXSW EDU." As policy on their site, "SXSW does not offer refunds under any circumstances," and that is, "including, without limitation, failure to use Credentials due to illness, acts of God, travel-related problems, acts of terrorism, loss of employment, and/or duplicate purchases." SXSW is keeping your money no matter what happens to you or anyone else in any situation, pandemic included. Like Ulra, SXSW was met with a class-action lawsuit earlier this year. We wait to see what will happen to this festival in the future; however, the outlook seems bleak.
In the case of Lightning in a bottle, they have policies in place that state in all caps, "NO REFUNDS WILL BE GRANTED FOR ANY REASON." Lightning in a bottle was served with a class-action lawsuit as well earlier this year. The cause of the suit stems from the claim that "defendant Do Lab, Inc. has refused to issue refunds for more than 27,000 tickets sold for the electronic dance music (EDM) festival that was to take place from May 20 to 25, 2020." The ticket prices for this festival ranged between $389 to $3,000. Patrons of Lighting in a Bottle are campaigning to recuperate that money.
Some large production companies in the boutique festival world shamelessly manipulate music and festival culture to make a lot of money. When everyone is experiencing their own hardships and altered reality, it seems that there will always be corporations still willing to do anything for profit. For the most part, many festivals, large and small, operate in their vision and serve to satisfy their customers. The sad reality now is that there is so much volume in music fests that quality is sacrificed. Make sure you read the fine print before purchasing a ticket to a future event. I'm hoping that next year we can all make it back to our festival paradises, but until then, it looks like we are going to have to be patient.
Christopher is a culture writer for La Tonique.