2- What's Changed Over the Years?

In an age ruled by digital media, the idea of something as old as a music festival standing the test of time relies on its ability to adapt to the changing landscape. Today more than ever fans need to be offered something they can't get by listening to the album on their I pods. So how much has actually changed over the years and how much has stayed the same? In my " Abridged Look at Music Festivals" I mentioned the [historical] shift from competition to consumerism in music festivals which is something still evident today.

These days sponsors are slapping their names on anywhere people might see, the stage, event name, websites, etc... It's become something to expect a lot of because of the driving cost and without sponsors the festivals would probably go on hiatus, like Lollapalooza did1. However money isn't the only thing sponsors can contribute, as was the case with the Fuse/Warped Tour sponsorship.

In the summer of 2007 Fuse aired a series entitled "Warped Wednesday2," every Wednesday the titled show would air among other rock themed shows, alongside "Warped Hall of Fame2." These shows provided near full coverage of the 2007 Vans Warped Tour and included artist interviews and performances; the series got moderate acclaim but wasn't renewed for another run. For fans everywhere the series became the corner stone of Fuse's afternoon block and introduced avid TV watchers to a world they may have not known about.

While the Warped Tour success stories are somewhat unique, they aren't the only festival that branched out to other platforms in order to reach a wider audience. Earlier I mentioned how the digital media may be antiquating the concept of going to concerts, however, digital marketing is also helping to keep them going. The events have everything from websites, twitters, myspaces, youtube channels,etc ; in hopes of offering visitors anything they may want. The sites are active year round, but most active around the time of the event, allowing discussion and excitement to build year round. The bamboozle site has even taken the idea of fandom to another level by creating a leader board with points fans can earn [on the basis of spending money]; in the past other sites have also featured contests during the off period of the tour.

One of the most interesting advent, however, has been the use of twitter by tours such as bamboozle. The website for bamboozle features a twitter widget that displays most #bamboozle2012 tweets. Twitter has also been frequently used to announce additions to the tour, among other changes. So despite all the money being pumped into tours we see a very viral marketing plan that, so far, seems to be working well. Despite these types of changes to some of the operations, the day to day and overall thematics of the festivals remain in tact. They still seek to appeal to their niche audience by delivering the best array of the music their fans love.

1^ http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2004-06-22-festival-canceled_x.htm

2^ http://www.imdb.com/company/co0132950/