Escola Universitària d’Enginyeria Tècnica de Telecomunicació La Salle
Final Thesis
Graduate in Management of Business and Technology
Student Elizaveta Chupakha P romoter C hris Kennett
ACTA DE L'EXAMEN DEL TREBALL FI DE GRAU
Meeting of the evaluating panel on this day, the student:
D. ELIZAVETA CHUPAKHA
Presented their final thesis on the following subject:
ENHANCING FAN ENGAGEMENT AT ELECTRONIC MUSIC FESTIVALS BASED ON THE PRACTICES FROM LIVE SPORTS EVENTS
At the end of the presentation and upon answering the questions of the members of the panel, this thesis was awarded the following grade:
Barcelona,
MEMBER OF THE PANEL MEMBER OF THE PANEL
PRESIDENT OF THE PANEL
1 Abstract
The present research assesses similarities between sports fans and electronic music festival goers in terms of their motivational factors, emotional territories and identity with their favourite teams or musicians. The results from focus groups and interviews carried out with the electronic music festival goers showed a correlation between them and sports fans, and it also helped to identify two groups of music festival goers: the ones whose primary motivational factor is music, and other ones whose motivational factor is entertainment. After carrying out primary and secondary research, suggestions on how to measure fan engagement for music festivals based on experience from sports events were made as well as recommendations for both archetypes of festival-goers and for future generation of electronic music festival attendees.
2 Executive Summary
The main idea of the research was to understand the motivations of electronic music festival-goers better to be able to build value propositions and to find possible similarities between them and sport fans. There is a lack of studies that compare sports fans with music fans, as well as not enough qualitative data on fan engagement in music festival. Therefore, there is a gap in understanding how can music festivals measure and increase fan engagement, which could be improved by comparing it with one of the forms of the live events that provides fans with the same concept - entertainment. Therefore, this research’s ultimate goal is to compare and contrast fans’ motivational factors, emotional territories and any other possible intersections to be able to apply some of the techniques used by live sports events, such as measuring fan engagement or improving the level of fan engagement, to electronic music festivals. For gathering primary data, qualitative research techniques had been used, such as two focus groups and three in-depth personal interviews. All participants from both focus groups and interviews were millennials, to be able to understand the needs and motivational factors of this generation, which by the date forms the most of the electronic music festival-goers audience. Moreover, secondary data research involved studying existing research paper, literature and scientific articles about fan engagement in live sports events, sports fans’ motivations, needs and typology, fan engagement areas and measurement techniques, as well as articles and research papers about history of electronic music and millennials. The paper showed that there are correlations between music and sports fans, as they have the same motivational factor and emotional territories needs. Moreover, the findings from focus groups and interviews showed that the participants are all medium to heavy users in terms of festivals attendance, and there are two main archetypes of music festival-goers: the ones that attend festivals because of music, and the ones that attend them because of the overall festival experience. There is a number of techniques which can be used to engage with them, so two value propositions have been created, as well as some of the existing studies from live sport events have been applied.
3 Table of Content
Abstract 2
Executive Summary 3
Table of Content 4
Introduction 6
Literature Review 7 1.1 Fans typology: Live Sports events vs Music festivals 15 1.1.1 Sports fans 15 1.1.2 Temporary fan 16 1.1.3 Devoted fan 16 1.1.4 Fanatical fan 16 1.2 Fans of music festivals 16 1.3 Sports fan motivation scale 17 1.3.1 The social motive 17 1.3.2 The entertainment motive 17 1.3.3 The escape motive 18 1.4 Main key areas of importance for festival fans 18 1.5 Main areas for fan engagement 18 1.5.1 Host fans (non-match, on-site) 19 1.5.2 Connect fans (non-match, off-site) 19 1.5.3 Enhance the live experience (match, on-site) 19 1.5.4 Bring fans closer to the live action (match, off-site) 20 1.6 Emotional territories for sports fans 20 1.7 How do we measure fan engagement 22 1.7.1 Vf - Cs = Nf 22 1.7.2 SERVQUAL 24 1.7.3 NPS 24 1.7.4 Comparison of fan engagement measurement techniques 25 1.8 Electronic music history 25 1.9 Millennials 27
Methodology 28
Results 31 3.1 Overview 31 3.1.1 Information about participants 31 3.1.2 Contribution to being a music fan 32
4 3.1.3 Two archetypes of electronic music festival goers 33 3.2 Main reasons to attend music festivals explained 34 3.3 Important elements of a festival for participants: similarities 35 3.3.1 Crowd 36 3.3.2 Feeling of connection 36 3.3.3 Line up 37 3.3.4 Fan-artist relationships 37 3.3.5 Venue 38 3.3.6 Interaction with the crowd 39 3.3.7 Organization 40 3.3.8 Discovery 41 3.3.9 Prices 41 3.4 Important elements of a festival for participants: differences 41 3.5 Pain points: similarities 42 3.6 Pain points: differences 43 3.7 Main differences between archetypes 43
Discussion 45 4.1 Live sports events VS Electronic Music Festivals 45 4.1.1 Motivational Factors 45 4.1.2 Emotional and experience territories 46 4.2 Areas for fan engagement 47 4.3 Value and Cost Forces 50 4.4 Engagement measurement techniques 52
Conclusion 54
Appendix 55 Appendix 1: Questions for focus groups 55 Appendix 2: Value Propositions 56 Appendix 3: Transcription of Focus Group 1 57 Appendix 4: Transcription of Interview 2 70
Bibliography 78
5 Introduction
The purpose of the research is the attempt to solve the current problem concerning the topic of my choice: there is not enough qualitative data on music festivals fan engagement, and very few studies comparing fan engagement in sports to fan engagement in music festivals. However, there are a lot of opportunities in comparing these two industries and music festivals organizers can learn and adapt a lot of useful techniques from the experience of fan engagement in live sports organizations. This study will contrast and compare live sports events with electronic music festival to find possible intersections that can be used to benefit electronic music festivals in terms of fan engagement techniques. It would result in a better understanding of music festivals’ fan base and develop value propositions based on the research findings. Moreover, this study will look into key event lifecycle of electronic music festivals based on the experiences of live sports events: what is the best moment to make an investment and to understand where should you invest. The literature review will help to clearly understand what engagement is and what variables can be used to measure it. It will also look at such topics as typology of fans, their motivational factors and emotional needs. Two focus groups and 3 personal interviews are going to help to gather secondary data to understand the motivations and build archetypes of music festival-goers, which will then help to compare them to sports fans. Finally, a discussion chapter will show how can electronic music festivals enhance their fan engagement based on the practices from live sports events.
Questions to be answered in this research: 1. What are the motivational factors of the sports fans and what are the techniques that can be used to engage them? 2. Are there any similarities between motivational factors of live sports events-goers and music festival-goers? 3. What are the archetypes of music festival-goers? 4. How can you engage with these archetypes? 5. What are the engagement techniques and expertise that can be applied to electronic music events from the live sports events experience?
6 1. Literature Review
Before starting to understand both sports and music festivals industries and how does the fan engagement work in them, it is important to understand what fan or customer engagement itself is about.
Sashi (2012) believes that customer engagement creates value to customers through the satisfaction of customers and creation of long-term relationships filled with trust and commitment. Sashi (2012) has also developed the customer engagement cycle to show the process of fans engagement process. The process is adapted to be illustrated in the diagram below.
Figure 1: Customer engagement cycle (Sashi, 2012)
The cycle starts with the organizations connection w ith their customers to establish relationships with emotional bonds. There are different ways to establish the connections – traditional offline methods as face-to-face sales, and online methods like online social networking. It is more convenient to establish connections with large number of various customers through social media. (Sashi, 2012)
7 The next step is interaction during which customers can interact with organizations and other customers. Today there are myriad possibilities for interaction, but before it was limited to word-of-mouth, letters and telephone calls. The most common online ways of interaction are texting, instant messaging, email, blogging/vlogging, social media platforms, and they help to enable more frequent and faster interactions in larger groups of individuals and organizations. Organizations can be the main actors in the formation of the communities with the help of social media platforms. The better the interactions between organizations and customers, the better the chances of understanding customer needs and changes in their needs over time, and it also facilitates modifying existing products/services to satisfy the needs of the customers. (Sashi, 2012)
Interaction between organization and customer is becoming the most important point for value creation and value extraction. (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004) The internet facilitates establishment of dialogues with customers, to get to know about their shared interests, and to increase the scope of customer interactions to reach new potential customers.
If the interactions between an organization and a customer result if satisfaction, they will stay in contact and continue to interact towards engagement. Satisfaction is not an end result but an intermediate step in achieving goals of an organization. (Mittal and Kamakura, 2001) It is necessary for achieving customer engagement but it is not sufficient.
Customer retention occurs with overall satisfaction over a long time or with the help of highly positive emotions. Repurchases result in overall satisfaction over term and develops a long-term relationship between organization and customer but it does not necessarily imply highly positive emotions. And vice versa, highly positive emotions of a customer do not imply a long-term relationship between them. Therefore, retention usually implies one of the following: either long-term relationships or emotional bond.
A study about the effects of customer satisfaction showed that customer satisfaction positively impacts customer retention. (Gustafsson, et al., 2005)
There are two main dimensions in commitment: affective and calculative. (Gustafsson, et al., 2005) Affective commitment is about emotions and occurs because of the trust in a relationship. For example, a person that often goes to the gym may become friends with some of the trainers who would help him/her with training techniques and provide with important tips, overall enhancing this customer’s experience. It leads to higher level of emotional bonds between organization and customer.
8 Calculative commitment is about rationality and happens when there is a lack of choice or switching costs, and it results in increased customer loyalty and long-term relationships with organization. For example, if there is only one supermarket in the neighborhood and the other ones are too far away, you will most likely develop calculative commitment with that supermarket.
Commitment results in delighted and loyal customers. If these loyal and delighted customers also developed emotional bonds with organization, they will be known as advocates. Customers can become advocates for organizations with which they have the most connections and interactions. They can also spread their positive experience with an organization through word-of-mouth. On the other hand, organizations can serve as advocates for their customers by shifting the emphasis to acting in their customers’ best interests. (Sashi, 2012)
Both customer loyalty and delight are vital for customer engagement. Customer engagement needs both affective and calculative commitment or trust, and also commitment between organizations and customers. It expands the role of customers by adding them as a part of value creating process and which at the end increases the satisfaction. Customer engagement helps to transform customers into loyal fans who will stay committed and be engaged in the relationships with an organization. (Sashi, 2012)
Another important concept that Sashi (2012) developed was the customer engagement matrix.
9 Figure 2: Customer engagement matrix (Sashi, 2012 (adapted) )
The customer engagement matrix shows emotional bonds on the horizontal axis, and relational exchange on the vertical one. Customer satisfaction depends on relational exchange and emotional bonds between organization and customer.
Low emotional bonds and low relational exchange means that we are looking at transactional customers. These are the customers that are price sensitive and will buy the product/service from whoever has the lowest price for it. (ibid)
When emotional bonds are high but relational exchange is low, it signifies delighted customers. Here, customers experience a high level of satisfaction and experience emotional commitment to an organization. However, the level of interaction with the organization is low. Therefore, this kind of customers do not have long-term relationship with the organization. However, they can become advocates for a product, service, brand or company because they develop affective commitment to an organization. (ibid)
Loyal customers are the ones who have high relational exchange and low emotional bonds. Loyal customers develop calculative commitment where lack of alternatives or switching costs make them stay with a specific organization. There are barriers to exit in this case so this kind of relationship can last for long. Loyal customer do not usually work as advocates for a firm but it can be achieved if an organization will develop affective commitment with them. (ibid)
Fans are the ones who have both high relational exchange and emotional bonds. This is the case of the achieved customer engagement. Fans develop enduring affective commitment as well as calculative commitment, and they are both loyal and delighted. Fans are considered to have trust and passion for the organization, they connect with other fans and create a community. Fans of a professional sports’ team is a perfect example of this relationships model. (ibid)
Even though ideally an organization would want to have customers who are fans, it is not completely necessarily. Other types of customer can also be turned into fans as well. For instance, delighted customers can be turned into fans by developing an affective commitment. Transactional customers can be turned into loyal customers by developing calculative commitment. Loyal customers can become fans by developing affective
10 commitment and therefore delighting them, delighted customers – by calculative commitment and development of loyalty. (ibid)
Both offline and online strategies should be implemented for interacting the customers of different stages and trying to turn them into fans through different stages of the cycle (see figure 1).
There has been a rapid growth in the music festivals industry over the past years. Even though the industry is flourishing, one of the main issue is market saturation. For example, during the 71 per cent growth period between 2003-2007, almost one-quarter failed and had to exit the industry. (Anderton, 2008) Therefore, these organizations have to find the ways to create customer loyalty and to find innovative ways to develop long-term relationships. Music festivals themselves are annual and usually around 3-days events which means that they need effective marketing to keep their customers loyal. (Collin-Lachaud and Duyck, 2002; Leenders et al, 2005; Mehmetoglu and Ellingsen, 2005; Unwim et al, 2007) Geoff Elliott also says that now music festival-goers have a lot of choice, so it is absolutely necessary to ensure that your festival has a competitive advantage and that it is able to build long-lasting relationships with its fans by interacting with them and growing with them annually. (in Atkinson, 2008b)
According to Nielsen (Lovett and Townsend, 2017 in Nielsen), the sports industry was forecasted to reach over $62 billion in sponsorship spend and $45 billion in global media rights in 2017. Therefore, sports industry is growing rapidly and have big spending to ensure its strong positioning and its ability to answer to the new commercial trends.
11 Figure 3: Conceptualization of artist-fan engagement model (Stewart, 2017)
This graph shows the relationship and artist-fan engagement model and its outcome. In the case of this thesis, the extra point can be added – the “offline” engagement outcomes. Both recorded music access and recorded music ownerships are online engagement outcomes.
Figure 4: Addition to the artist-fan engagement model (adapted from Stewart, 2017).
It is important to consider the “offline” engagement model as well as the online one. For this work, the offline outcomes will be considered and looked at.
A fans engagement with the sport organizations positively impacts both sides and helps to develop psychological commitment to a specific sports event. Before creating a sports event, the organization must consider the following: the component of psychological commitment, position involvement and informational complexity. Behavioral loyalty can be increased by developing strong emotional commitment. (Bee & Havitz, 2010)
For instance, with the example of a professional sports team, it is possible to ensure fans are more involved, emotionally attached and loyal by creating sustainable relationships between a sports brand image and its fans. (Tsiotsou, 2012) Developing strong emotional bonds with fans is vital to ensure long-term relationships with them. (ibid)
12 Moving to music festivals, Nathan (2014) said: “festivals, by definition, reflect festivity and a shared sense of joyfulness.” Therefore, festivals themselves are about creating a community, which can be related to this “shared sense of joyfulness”. Creation of a community is one of the characteristics of “fans” from the customer engagement matrix (see figure 2), which are identified by high emotional bonds and high relational exchange.
Music is considered to be “the language of emotions”: (Farnsworth, 1969:78), and it is able to arouse strong emotions within individuals (Sloboda, 1991). Furthermore, music is considered, more than any other form of culture or art, to have linkages to “the emotional dimensions of ourselves”. (Hesmondhalgh, 2011:107) Emotional response is recognized as one of the most important factors is music appreciation, and also as a factor in the purchasing process. (Lacher and Mizerski, 1994; Ouellet, 2007)
Therefore, to build long-term relationships with fans in both music and sports industries it is necessarily to develop strong emotional bonds with them. Strong emotional commitment and attachment facilitates the process of enhancing image and word-out-mouth effect. (Tsiotsou, 2012)
One of the ways to achieve fan engagement in both industries is to look at the relationship marketing.
“Relationship marketing is attracting, maintaining and – in multi-service organizations – enhancing customer relationships. (Berry, 1983:25) A few years later, Berry and Parasuraman (1991, p. 133) mention that “relationship marketing concerns attracting, developing and retaining customer relationships.” However, there is no one universally accepted definition of relationship marketing in marketing literature – all of them are different in their formulations.
Relationships marketing has modified the understanding of marketing from transaction-oriented to process-oriented. This shift is driven by cultural and clients’ demand changes, and by new media technologies. (Christopher et al., 1996, in Little and Marandi, 2003:26)
Relationship marketing plays an important role for sports organizations. They create value by strengthening fan engagement and fan-team relationship. This at the end increases the fan retention and fan engagement helps professional sports teams to increase fan loyalty. (Gray & Gray, 2012)
13 When it comes to music festivals industry, there are many issues in this market that can affect the success of an event, and one of the biggest issues is market saturation. (Anderton, 2008; Mintel, 2008b); therefore, it is vital for the festival organizers to consider their competitive advantages and develop customer loyalty to maintain in the industry and keep a strong positioning.
Considering that festivals have a very short consumption period, a “customer-oriented” approach is vital to achieve success, especially in meeting the needs of the fans. (Yeoman et al, 2004; Kotler et al, 2008) This customer-orientation can be achieved with relationship marketing.
Fans of both sports and music festivals industries develop close relationship with their favorite teams/artists/specific music festivals which is referred to as team identification or feeling of belonging.
Team identification is referred to a person’s psychological attachment to a sports team. Team identification has a positive impact on fans attendance to the games and also on purchases of team merchandise. It also improves media-based attendance and word-of-mouth effect. Fans that feel more identified with their team tend to spread positive messages about their team more than the ones with lower team identification. (Gray & Gray, 2012)
According to Zhu and Doyeon (2010) team identification is “the degree of unity to which fans perceive with the team they identify”. Their study also explains that the higher the level of unity the fans feel, the stronger the desire is to express their support for their team.
Similarly, in case of music festivals, people want to belong to them, to be a part of their favorite festival. According to Baumeister and Leary (1995), human-beings “need to form and maintain strong stable interpersonal relationships”. Music festivals fulfill this sense of belonging when people attend them annually. Belonging to the festival means that you are accepted as a natural part of the specific festival. (Ben-Zeev)
14 1.1 Fans typology: Live Sports events vs Music festivals
1.1.1 Sports fans
The fan can be described as “someone who perceives him- or herself as a fan of a certain team or sport in general” (Bauer, Stokburger-Sauer, & Exler, 2008, p. 206).
Figure 5: Consumer in Sports, fan typology analysis (Balwan Samra, Anna Wos, 2014)
1.1.2 Temporary fan
For temporary fans it is important to be a part of some specific phenomenon, which is time constrained. Once the phenomenon of interested is over temporary fans lose their motivation and interest and return to regular behaviour (Samra, Wos, 2014).
1.1.3 Devoted fan
The devoted fans are more attached to their team/player and are motivated even after the short-term phenomenon is over as in the example above (Samra, Wos, 2014).
15 They perceive their favorite teams as a part of their identity and use being a “fan” as a factor of their self-identity. (Samra, Wos, 2014)
1.1.4 Fanatical fan
Fanatical fans are characterised by the highest level of loyalty, commitment, emotional attachment and involvement to their team (Bristow and Sebastion 2001; Cova and Cova 2002). Their passion and admiration for the brand usually tend to attract new customers and followers (Belk 2004; Pimental and Reyonalds 2004; Rifkin 1999). They volunteer to engage in protecting the brand and its legacy (Doss 1999, Fournier 1998, Fournier and Yao 1997; Pimental and Reynolds 2004; Rozananski et al 1999). Fanatical fans are important for a brand for several reasons. Firstly, some of them have high purchasing will and power which would result in heavy usage and valuable (?) purchase patterns (Huffman 2000). They are considered to be opinion leaders and thus attract new customers for a brand (Rifkin 1999). Their involvement with the brand is continuous and consistent and resistant to any threats of reducing this attachment, also meaning that they are not likely to be deceived by marketing strategies of competitor brands (James 1997).
1.2 Fans of music festivals
When it comes to music festivals, according to the UK study conducted by MusicWatch, an independent research company, and Eventbrite, one of the leading event management and ticketing platform, there are three main music festival-goers types: Casual Festival Goers (attend one festival a year), Moderate Festival Goers (attend two festivals a year) and Festival Super Fans (usually attend around 4 festivals a year) (MusicWatch and Eventbrite, 2016). According to this survey, festival super fans are the most valuable group as in the UK they normally spend at least €50 more on an entrance ticket compared to casual or moderate festival goers. This increased spending can be explained by the willingness of purchasing upgraded tickets with either camping or access to VIP areas. They also tend to be more loyal to a specific festival, normally attending it at least two or three (2.6) times (MusicWatch and Eventbritte, 2016).
16 Festival super fans are the main source of growth for any music festival, so it is beneficial for a festival to know who their super fans are to be able to target them and improve their engagement rate (MusicWatch, Eventbrite 2016).
1.3 Sports fan motivation scale
1.3.1 The social motive
The extent to which sports fans participate in live events as spectators to spend time with their families and/or friends (Gantz, 1981; Wann, 1995). Moreover, some of them find group affiliation an important factor of being a sports fan. Visiting live sport event gives fans opportunities to spend time with other like-minded people. (Gantz, 1981; Wann, 1995)
A fan may want to keep in contact with a group of fans and seek refuge from a feeling of alienation (Branscombe & Wann, 1991; Smith, 1988; Wann, 1995).
1.3.2 The entertainment motive
Includes items that represent the desire of some individuals to have a good time and enjoy the excitement associated with sporting events. Some fans might enjoy a sport because of its entertainment value. Sport spectating provides fans with leisure pastime activities similar to watching movies or television. One advantage of sport spectating is that few special skills, if any, are required (Zillmann, Bryant & Sapolsky, 1989; Wann, 1995).
1.3.3 The escape motive
Sport fans assesses the desire of sport fans to escape or diverge from their everyday lives. Attending a sporting event gives many people an opportunity to temporarily forget about their troubling, dissatisfying, or boring lives (Smith, 1988; Lever & Wheeler, 1984; Wann, Schrader & Wilson, 1999).
17 1.4 Main key areas of importance for festival fans
According to the results of the surveys conducted by Sorcha McGrath, the five main key areas of importance for young music festival goers are: The areas were the music experience, the festival experience, the sense of escape, the social aspects and the link between music and emotion. We can examine a clear correlation of key importance factors between live sport events fans and music festival goers.
Besides the music itself, such variables as the thrill of physical proximity to the performer and social interaction with other attendees have been found to be important to participants (Oakes, 2003; Paleo & Wijnberg, 2006; Pitts, 2005) Musical activity as a shared experience between performers and listeners (Thompson, Graham & Russo, 2005). Movements and gestures seen during performance serve to highlight, articulate, interpret and clarify the music and facial expressions and gestures reflect the elements of the music that cannot be predicted just from the lyrics (ibid).
1.5 Main areas for fan engagement
Fowler and Wilson, sports marketers and consultants, developed a matrix which is illustrated on the diagram 1.2. It depicts four key angles for fan engagement at a sporting event. According to it, fan engagement should be managed both live whilst an event is on, and off-site on non-match days:
18
Figure 6: Main areas for Fan Engagement (Fowler, Wilson, 2016)
1.5.1 Host fans (non-match, on-site)
This matrix does not get enough attention since the main focus of each manager is on enhancing the experience for the on-site match days instead of non-match ones. Therefore, stadiums are used for different kinds of events that are not specifically related to the team or even the sport at all. The potential here is to engage fans through arranging stadium tours, promotions for the coming games. (ibid)
1.5.2 Connect fans (non-match, off-site)
In case of sport event, this area does not get enough attention as well as the one before. However, with the digitization it became an important area to invest in for live sport events managers. The activities that can be undertaken are as follows: information about ticket availability, offers; team news and press conferences; behind the scenes; tours with the help of VR; renewals of seasonal tickets. (ibid)
1.5.3 Enhance the live experience (match, on-site)
This is the area where most efforts are put for any live sport events. However, with the changing content consumption it is also important to enhance the live experience to compete
19 with TV and broadcasting services that are widely used nowadays. A venue that connect with fans give people additional value and therefore results in better engagement. The points that live sport events managers consider are: mobile ticketing, “how to get there” guides and travel tips, food and beverage service and quality, retail offers and tickets, post-game analysis. (ibid)
1.5.4 Bring fans closer to the live action (match, off-site)
This is an area of opportunity to engage with the fans that are not at the venue. This should be complementary and it is also vital to make sure the fans that are not visiting the match day are not feeling “left out” - they would not be able to have a clear picture of what is happening on the event and most importantly they could lose the brand identity. Such things as live broadcasts, gameday live updates, after-game analysis, tickets for coming games can be taken into consideration for the off-site matchday experience. (ibid)
According to the survey conducted by MusicWatch and Eventbrite (2016), “festival super fans” are more likely to join their favorite festivals virtually if they are off-site than any other festival-goers groups. This statistic means that the investment in live broadcasting would be very valuable for any music festival as it would increase superfans' engagement and loyalty (MusicWatch, Eventbrite 2016).
1.6 Emotional territories for sports fans
According to the GMR Marketing report on Future-Proofing the sports fan experience (2018), there are four different emotional states of live sports fans:
- Belonging (Being accepted as a member of a certain group with same interests or values like a shared passion. Belonging is also a driving factor for tribalism) - Identity (The beliefs and values that form and differentiate one group from another) - Release (The possibility to escape the daily routine, experiences help to cope with stress, having fun experience) - Enrichment (The personal growth that comes from discovering or learning new things, as well as creativity and experementiations)
20 Based on the results from the report, 89% of the survey participants claimed that the main driving factor for attending live sports events for them is release. Belonging, which was mentioned 47% of participants, is important as well, but it has been mentioned almost twice times less than release. Therefore, most of the participants come to live sports events to forget about their daily routine, to have fun, to get lost in the moment, and to feel the excitement of the whole match day experience. Moreover, sports fans also mentioned that the most exciting parts of attending live events for them is the atmosphere and feeling of excitement, these factors being mentioned way more than, for example, being a fan of the team or spending time with their family or friends. (ibid)
Moreover, the report indicated that there are eight experience territories that correspond to these emotions, which you can examine on the graph below:
Figure 7: GMR Marketing, Future-Proofing the sports fan experience (2018)
Understanding what kind of experience attendees are looking for, as well as the factors that are driving them to attend music festivals and their emotional needs is crucial for being able to connect with them on a more deeper level.
According to it, companies have to take into account three elements: - Brand (attributes & business needs) - Environnement (Event logistics & attendee journey) - Audience (Emotional needs & passion points)
21 1.7 How do we measure fan engagement
1.7.1 Vf - Cs = Nf
In an article written by Ken Bowen, the relationship between Value and Cost for the sports fans could be examined. According to Bowen, value and cost is a competing set of forces that helps potential attendees to make their decisions. Bowen presented a so-called “exchange heuristic” formula:
Vf(ac) - Cf(ac) = Nf, where: Vf - Value Force AC - Acceptance Cf - Cost Force Nf - Net Force
Value Force consists of appeal and exclusivity, where Appeal is about the attraction available to attendees, something that would make attendees want to be at your sporting event, such as seeing their favorite team playing live, and experience a day having fun at the stadium. The second element, exclusivity, refers to how exclusive is a specific event for attendees and if there is anything else that they can substitute this experience with. For instance, in case of live sports events a substitution that harms exclusivity of live sports events is home theatre experience. Technology such as high definition TVs, surround-sound sound system, channels with subscriptions to all major sports leagues allowed sports fans to create environment that can compete with live stadium experience (C lark, 2012; Leahy, 2010). It is also noted by NFL executive vice president to become “much better and cheaper” (ibid).
Therefore, as Bowen (2015) suggested in his article, the live event should be able to deliver both appeal and exclusivity to be able to attract the attendees, especially with the technological progress and its ability to give prospects the substitution to the live sporting events experience on the stadiums.
Cost Force in this formula consists of material and mental costs. Material costs refer to the prices for the entrance ticket, the whole stadium experience, such as transportation and drinks / food costs, whereas mental costs refer to the actions that would have to be done by
22 the prospects to attend a live sports events, also including all possible risks; for instance, waiting a line for too long, thinking about hot to get to and from the venue, possible thought of if it is going to rain on a match day. These costs are significant as they are sometimes perceived as the ones that attendees would base their decision on more than on material costs.
Net Force is the difference between Value Force and Cost Force, which would demonstrate whether the Net Force would be positive or negative for the prospects. If Nf is positive, the prospect is most likely to attend an event, and if Nf is negative, the prospect will most likely be lost, favoring some other alternative.
Moreover, the case study about the Jackvilson Jaguars has been presented to illustrate this formula by the author. In 2013, the team started a renovation of their stadium to increase their Value Force and to decrease their Cost Force to be able to enhance fan engagement and customer experience for the attendees. To compete with the worrying increasing percent of sports fans that prefered the home theater experience over the live stadium experience, the Jaguars bought a two $26.5m huge scoreboards to create their own “home theatre” experience on the stadium, each board would cover the entire length of the stadium game field. Moreover, they acquired a new state-of-art soundsystem that would give the attendees a “theatre surround” effect. They then started a marketing campaign to introduce their new stadium installations to attract the visitors. Moreover, they converted unused part of the seating deck on the stadium into an entertainment area with swimming pools, DJ booth, party cabanas and party deck, and bars. The tickets for the entire area were sold out before the start of the season, when before the tickets for this section were barely seeling. Other than this, they added new seats according to customer's’ preferences, and after all their improvements have been done, they also held an exclusive season-tickets holders only event before the start of the season, providing extra value to their devoted fans. To increase the appeal part of the Value Force, they provided attendees with free high-speed Wi-Fi, upgrade of their food and drinks menu, as well as increasing budget for in-game and half-time entertainment.
23 To reduce Cost Force, the Jaguars allowed their fans to bring it their own food and drinks with them, in partnership with the supermarket chain Publix, which provided them with the transparent concession bags to comply with stadium’s security standards. The job that has been done by the Jaguars resulted in: - Average attendance increased by 3,022 compared to the year before; - Increase in total local revenue; - The Jaguars being ranked N. 1 in the league for home game stadium experience in NFL’s survey “Voice of the Fan”;
- Jacksonville becoming a top travel destination for opposing fans
1.7.2 SERVQUAL
SERVQUAL is a technique used to measure quality of service to clients (Parasuman, Zeithml, & Berry, 1988). SERVQUAL is the most successful assessment tool of service quality (ibid). According to this model, customers are able to rate the quality of service provided by comparing their customer experience to their expectations. The following areas are covered in this instrument: - Reliability: how likely is a customer to rely on promised services? - Assurance: customers need to be sure that they will receive the services they expect - Tangibles: physical environment such as the interior, facilities, equipment, communication materials. - Empathy: the extent of care and individual attention for customer - Responsiveness: the willingness of the organization to provide their customers with help and good service.
1.7.3 NPS
Another technique that can be used to measure fan engagement of a live event is called the Net Promoter Score, developed by Fred Reichheld. According to him, there is one single question that needs to be asked:
“How likely is it that you would recommend our company/product/service to a friend or colleague?” (Reichheld, 2015)
24 The scale of NPS is from 1 to 10 (where 10 is extremely likely): Score 9 - 10 - Promoters: the most valuable customers for the organization, who are most likely to recommend the service/product to their friends; Score 7 - 8 - Passives: can be engaged into being promoters with proper influence from outside; Score 0 - 6 - Detractors: customers that had bad experience and that could possibly switch to the competitors.
1.7.4 Comparison of fan engagement measurement techniques
The fan engagement measurement techniques are not limited to the three mentioned above, but a more deep research would need to be carried out to identify more of them. However, as can be studied based on the three fan engagement measurement techniques listed above, they are all based on understanding your fans’ needs and on their overall satisfaction with an event. Therefore, it can be said that measuring fan engagement is based around the fans themselves: understanding their needs, the level of satisfaction and their thought about the event carried out.
1.8 Electronic music history
IFPI survey conducted that “Dance/Electronic” music is the World’s 3rd most popular genre with an estimation of 1.5b people listening to it in 2018 (Watson, 2019) , but it has not always been this way. The music festivals in Europe before in 19th century were mainly for bourgeoisie, mainly dedicated to classical music composers such as Bach or Mozart, and in 20th century it was mainly about jazz where early edition were also more of an elite kind of entertainment, also said to be a “postwar fascination”, as Europe had to suffer two World Wars in 20th century. Only later on these jazz festivals became more affordable for the regular crowd. In the US
25 jazz festivals were about anti-war, pro-civil rights and about saving the environment, leaving very strong messages. The 60s were a turning point for music festivals as they started to be more popular and commercial. Firstly, they became less elite and more accessible to middle class people. Secondly, they started targeting younger crowd with different values, who were developing their identity around cultural activities such as art, fashion, food, music and literature. From 1967 and onwards, the music festivals scene exploded, after legendary Woodstock and Monterey festivals. Many of the massive festivals back then were free of charge since the organizers were not able to maintain it as ticketed events. With time, music festivals were adapting to changing preferences of their audience but one of the genres was clearly missing - disco. It has been so strongly associated with “club” scene for minorities back then, that transition into “pop” and commercialized music festivals was hard to imagine. Same goes to all other electronic genres such as techno, house, garage and electro, which were also missing from the outdoor large festivals. However, by 1988 there had been an explosion of acid house in the UK after the second Summer of Love took place. The local police did not allow to electronic music events to take place in local clubs, so British promoters had to arrange outdoor events in the countryside. Those events said to attract people of different races, sexual preferences and religions, compared to mainstream pop large music festivals which were mainly attended by more or less the same crowd that was white middle class representatives. However, in 1992 the British government introduced a law that prohibited organization of such events outdoor, so all these promoters had to step back. In Berlin around the same time the Wall had come down with a feeling of radical social change, electronic music played a huge role in it. People were organizing demonstration with help of electronic music with mottos like "peace, love and pancakes," and "the future is ours". In 1997, the iconic Love Parade took place in Berlin, attracting 1 million people to dance for freedom and future, considered as a political demonstration but was also a huge mobile electronic music festival. Other cities also started organizing electronic music festivals in the late 90s, such as Sonar in Barcelona (1994), I Love Techno in Ghent (1995), Awakenings in Amsterdam (1997). However, in the early 2000s, the idea of music and art festivals started to be seen by big cities as a great source for income, which is so-called “urban arts festivals” model. Later, the electronic music festivals would be mainly transmitted into so called “EDM festivals”, when promoters decided to monetize it as much as they can with increasing prices
26 for entrance tickets, drinks, food, booking “superstar” acts, the same what happened to the rock festivals in the 70s when they got commercialized. Nowadays there is ongoing discussion whether big corporations like Live Nation, already owning some of the biggest music festivals such as Lollapalooza or Creamfields, would create oligopoly in electronic music festivals industry, as it happened to the record labels - the biggest ones control the majority of the industry. (Garcia, 2014)
1.9 Millennials
Millennials is the group of people that were born between 1988 and 1995 (Deloitte, 2019). A 2019 report from Deloitte examined the trends amongst millennials, the most important ones were as follows: - Millennials value experience, they want to spend their money on travelling and helping their communities rather than investing in material goods or starting families; - Generation Y is, in general, very supportive towards the companies that share their values; many of them also say that they could easily end relationships with companies if they disagree with their business practices or values; - They are overall quite pessimistic, especially about social progress, and they also quite often do not trust traditional institutions, such as mass media; - Climate change/environmental situation/natural disasters were on the top of the list of their concerns.
Overall, it has been noted that millennials want businesses to act as leaders promoting positive change, they also expect them to enhance their lives but they do not think that many businesses strive to do so nowadays. (ibid) Therefore, by listening to the needs and meeting the values of this generation, and also by speaking to them on more personal level, organizations can win their loyalty. (ibid)
27 2. Methodology
It is important to understand what research approach to use before starting a thesis because, as Easterby-Smith et al. (2002) mentions, it helps you to take better decisions about the research design, it helps to understand what research strategies and methods will work for you and which ones will not, and it shows whether you will be able to conduct a specific approach or not, because sometimes there is not sufficient information for one of the research approaches which will not allow you to use it properly.
There are two main research approaches: deductive and inductive. Deductive approach is used for development of theories and hypotheses and for the design of a research strategy to test your hypotheses. Inductive approach is about the collection of data and development of a theory after the data analysis. (Saunders, 2007)
Inductive approach is most likely to take into account to social environment of the people that are chosen as a sample for developing a theory, and it also allows for alternative explanations as it does not stick to specific variables before the final theory is conducted. (ibid)
For this approach, it is important to consider the context of the specific event, and the samples of smaller sizes will most likely be more accurate and representative. Furthermore, the inductive approach is more about working with qualitative data rather than quantitative and use many methods to collect this qualitative data to show different views and alternatives of phenomena. (Easterby-Smith et al., 2002)
Based on the nature of this research, the inductive approach will be more useful.
Some ways of collecting primary data include semi-structured, in-depth and group interviews.
An interview is a discussion between two or more people that has a specific purpose. (Kahn and Cannell, 1957) Interviews can help to collect important and reliable data that is relevant to research objectives and can help answer the research question. (Saunders, 2007) Different types of interviews serve different needs and its type should depend on the research question.
Semi-structured and unstructured interviews are non-standardized and most often used for the qualitative researches (King, 2004). In semi-structured interviews, you should have a
28 script with questions but the structure can be changed from interview to interview. It means that depending on a context you can either slightly change some questions and skip some of them at all (Saunders, 2007).
In the case of this report, semi-structured interviews will be used to collect qualitative data and to able to be more flexible with the questions when interviewing people.
Finally, the secondary data collection will also be a part of this work, especially for the literature review and for the overview of the industries. As Boslaugh (2007) states, “Secondary data is the analysis of data collected by someone else”. It is important to use this data for building the overview about the industries of both music festivals and sports, and also for the fan engagement theories. It can be both quantitative and qualitative, and can include such things as book materials and scholarly articles. The advantage of secondary data is the fact that it has already been done by someone else before so it saves you a lot of time since you do not have to do your own research. However, sometimes it might lack certain things that you need to answer to your research question; therefore, the information might be limited.
The goal of this research is to have a better understanding about fan engagement in music festival industry and compare it to the one of sports organizations’ fan engagement. Qualitative method is useful for understanding both sports organizations and music festivals industries, their typical customer profiles, what their drivers for success are, what is the current state of their fan engagement management and what are the methods they have been using so far to reach out to their fans. One of the ways that it can be collected is through interviews and focus groups. To be able to extract information from these methods, it has to be transcripted. The best way to do so is to record it and do the transcription using the recording. Before that, it is also important to ensure that the questions that are being asked are clearly connected to the main topic of the research and answer specific questions that were designed before the interview. This way the information will be accurate and full, and it will be possible to derive conclusions from it. (Saunders, 2007)
Exploratory studies is a useful tool for this work because it can help to find out what is happening in both industries, to ask questions and to see the research topic in “a new light” (Robson, 2002:59). The main ways of conducting exploratory research are literature search, interviews with the industries’ experts and interviewing focus groups. (Saunders, 2007) It will be used the most for this work because I do not have deep insights about the industries and
29 need to find causal variables, factors affecting fan engagement and opinions of the experts of these fields.
Descriptive studies are used for portraying a reliable picture of people, events or situations (Robson, 2002:59). This can be an addition to exploratory studies and for conducting descriptive studies you need to have a clear understanding of the phenomena you are looking at (Saunders, 2007). The descriptive studies will be conducted, for example, for the overview of the industries where I will need a lot of facts and where I have to picture the overall situation.
The purpose of this work is to obtain a better understating about fan engagement in music festivals and sport organizations industries. Therefore, a mix of descriptive and exploratory studies will be the most relevant for this work.
This work is neither a cross-sectional or longitudinal study. It will study fan engagement in both music festivals and sports organizations with no specific time requirements.
30 3. Results
3.1 Overview
3.1.1 Information about participants
All participants, except Participant P from Focus Group 1, are moderate to hardcore festival goers, attending from at least 2 up to 6 different large multi days electronic music festivals a year.
Focus Group 1 - 5 participants - Participant T - 28 years old, male, Belgian, heavy users (used to attend up to 6 festivals/year, now around 4), media buyer, - Participant D - 27 years old, female, Latvian, medium users (2-3 festivals a year), quality assurance, hobbies include travelling and surfing - Participant L - 25 years old, female, Spanish, medium user (2-3 multi-day electronic music festivals/year), marketing assistant, hobbies include music, learning foreign languages - Participant P - 26 years old, male, French, light user (max. 1 multi-day electronic music festivals/year), banking, hobbies include cooking and golf - Participant G - 27 years old, female, Chinese, medium user (up to 3 multi-day electronic music festivals/year), compliance officer, hobbies include surfing, travelling, dancing and volleyball
Focus Group 2 - 4 participants - Participant N - 27 years old, female, Russian, medium user (2 multi-day electronic music festivals/year), currently unemployed, hobbies include music, art (painting), designing clothes and history - Participant L - 26 years old, female, Russian, heavy user (3-4 multi-day electronic music festivals/year), manager in digital marketing, hobbies include travelling, snowboarding - Participant A - 23 years old, male, German, medium user (2-3 multi-day electronic music festivals/year), unemployed, doing a pHD, hobbies include DJing, music, photography
31 - Participant D - 29 years old, male, Belgian, heavy user (4 and more multi-day electronic music festivals/year), banking manager, hobbies include skiing and travelling
Interview 1 was conducted with the Participant T from Focus Group 1. Interview 2 was conducted with the Participant N from Focus Group 2. Interview 3 was conducted with the Participant L from Focus Group 2.
Moreover, there has been ongoing communication with Participant T (Focus Group 1), Participant D (Focus Group 1), Participant N (Focus Group 2) through messaging platform Telegram/Whatsapp to arrange calls or to be able to ask for extra information from their side to make this report more accurate.
The findings from the focus groups and interviews will be shown in quotations to illustrate the responses that communicated the important points.
3.1.2 Contribution to being a music fan
Even though all participants gave a positive answer to the first question asked in both focus groups “Do you consider yourself a music fan?”, it had been identified that not all participants defined “music” as their primary motivational factor to attend music festivals.
Interviewee 3 mentioned that she follows Black Coffee (the DJ), knows all artists from his own label and always check tour dates. Interviewee 2: “So for me I guess being a music fan is to come to live events and support dedicated DJs, if you see they are trying to give you their love and energy and to connect with you, then you want to give it back. It is also why I go to the festivals to see them live, otherwise I do not feel it, there is, like, no soul sometimes”.
Moreover, Participant G from Focus Group 1 mentioned that “I would not pay that money for reggaeton festival because I wanna pay lots of money because I want to listen to the live concert or want to see the DJ personally but reggaeton what I need is not really the DJ but it’s more like the rhythm or atmosphere or you’re with friends or whatever, I do not care who is playing reggaeton”. Later the same participant also added the following about attending electronic music festivals: “yes, I said that about reggaeton festivals because I do not listen
32 to any specific DJ playing reggaeton. But with electronic music I have some favorite artists that I follow and want to see specifically so it is in this case more important for me to see my favorite artist playing live”.
Therefore, it can be assumed that these participants find it important to support their favorite artists as a contribution to being their fan. Also, seeing them live is a significant element of an artist-fan relationship for them as they need to feel the connection between the artist and the crowd.
Participants that did not identify “music” as a primary motivational factor to attend music festivals but answered positively to the question “Do you consider yourself a music fan?”, explained that:
“being a fan to me means to enjoy and listen to music on more than occasional”, “live experience is not that important since I can still enjoy just listening to it at home or at work but it’s cool if i can (visit a live music event)” (Interviewee 1)
“i do go to music festivals because of the music, like I would not go to festivals with rock or hip hop music because I know it is not my thing. So at the end I go for music but there are so many big electronic festivals these days that I have to be more selective, that is why I would say I would now decide which one to go to based on more factors rather than just music”. (Participant D from Focus Group 2)
Therefore, based on the responses of the participant, a significant factor that affects their decision whether to attend a specific music festival or not is the abundance of electronic music festivals nowadays, so it makes them become more selective. According to Electronic-festivals.com (2016), a website that possesses the largest database of electronic music festivals across the globe, at the moment there are around 328 multi-day electronic music festivals taking place in Europe each year, excluding around 500 single-day electronic music festivals. This essentially leaves festival-goers with an abundant choice.
3.1.3 Two archetypes of electronic music festival goers
As was indicated earlier in the literature review (section 1.3), four main motivational factors of music festival-goers are Music, Festival experience, Sense of escape and Social motives.
33 However, during the focus group discussions, it has been identified that motivational factors of the participants could be generalized into two main groups:
- Music - Festival experience (which includes the rest of the motivational factors, such as sense of escape, social as well as music, but not as one of the primary factors).
The groups were established by observing what participants thought to be their main motivational factor to attend electronic music festivals and the differences between the participants with these two main motivational factors were the most significant: the participant that identified “festival experience” as their primary motivational factor would find many different aspects important, including music, but for them it would contribute to the overall festival experience, as majority of them said that they need a “combination” of everything, from music to decorations on the venue, to contribute to a good music festival experience. On the other hand, the participants that identified “music” as their primary motivational factor have a clear idea of going there specifically for music and they are overall more committed to music as fans.
3.2 Main reasons to attend music festivals explained
In this section and further on the findings would be divided into two groups - music and festival experience, to be able to compare these two archetypes.
Music “I am definitely going to the festivals for music. I do not want to go just for fun, if I want to just have fun with friends then I can go to some clubs and not spend that much money just to have fun.” (Interviewee 3)
“To me the most important is music of course, why would I go there if I don’t care about the music playing? Also the overall vibe or atmosphere, it has be the right crowd with like-minded people.” (Participant A from Focus Group 2)
34
Festival experience “if its gonna look pretty (the venue) I would go even if I don’t know the DJs, if it's by the beach or in the park with sun shining...”, “the people you go with is very important, if I go with people I don't like, then I don’t go, have to be people who you have fun with”. (Participant D from Focus Group 1)
“location and venue more important than the DJs playing”, “still good big names attract me and makes it easier to go but its not the main thing why I would go to a festival anymore except maybe for certain DJs" (Participant T from Focus Group 1)
“DJs and some new festival I’ve never been to and reputation. One friend of mine went to a festival in Albania and said it was amazing so if I hear something like this I might consider going as well” (Participant G from Focus Group 1)
Based on these quotations from the focus groups and findings, it has been identified that the Festival Experience group takes more factors into consideration when they make their decision on whether to attend a certain electronic music festival, whereas the participants that mentioned “music” as their primary motivational factor did not mention that many of other factors.
3.3 Important elements of a festival for participants: similarities
Despite the fact that the groups’ primary motivational factors are different, there are still similarities in factors that contribute to their music festival experience; however, they sometimes put different meaning behind them. These factors are as follows:
- Crowd on a festival - Feeling of connection - Line up - Fan-artist relationships - Venue - Atmosphere - Interaction with the crowd
35 - Organization - Discovery
3.3.1 Crowd
Music For them it is important to have like-minded people around on a festival in terms of same music preferences, they also like being surrounded by “open-minded people that know why they are there” (Participant N from Focus Group 2);
Moreover, Interviewee 3 mentioned that it is important that there are no “random people” at the festival, which means that they do not want to see “people that are just there for the party, not even knowing who is playing and why did they come there” (Interviewee 3).
Festival Experience They like being surrounded by “party crowd”, which has been defined by the Interviewee 1 as “people moving to the sound all together, having good time, having smile on their face, not just standing there”. In addition, it had been mentioned by the Participant D in the Focus Group 1 that “my crowd is my people that I go with, so it has to be my good friends that I really want to spend time with and can have fun with”.
3.3.2 Feeling of connection
Music More important to feel connected with a DJ playing and also with the crowd. Feeling of connection through “immersive performance where DJ knows his crowd and plays right music which connects him with the whole crowd” (Interviewee 3) Moreover, Interviewee 2 added: “I listen to something that speaks to me on the personal level, something that is matching my internal harmony”.
Festival Experience Connection with friends is more important, as Participant D in Focus Group 1 mentioned: “you have to be people who you have fun with”, also participant T from Focus Group 1 said that music festivals are “a good place to meet with old friends as well and you are living in all
36 different places. so festivals is good place to meet up with the people if you have good memories about that specific festival all together.”
When attending electronic music festivals, it is more important for the archetype 1 to feel connected to the music or specific favorite artists, whereas participants from the archetype 2 mentioned that an electronic music festivals venue is a good place for them to connect with friends or reunite with the ones they did not see in a while.
3.3.3 Line up
Music Festival-goers whose primary motivational factor is music usually decide which festival to visit by checking its line up first, they go to festivals by following the dates of the tours of their favorite artists, they also check the line-up beforehand and listen to the sets of the DJs they do not know to understand which ones they would like to see: “Why would I even go to a festival if I do not know or like who is playing there” (Participant A from Focus Group 2). Moreover, they tend to explore festivals by discovering new DJs and it is often one of their motivational factors to attend music festivals: “I often go to stages I do not know who is playing there to see new DJs actually, I found a lot of ones I like now this way” (Participant E from Focus Group 1).
Festival Experience They often get attracted by the name of the headliners of the music festivals; however, some of the representatives of this group also mentioned that “the festivals are becoming too commercial, I prefer to visit smaller, more local festivals” and that “big names often attract wrong crowd” (Participant T from Focus Group 1).
Overall, this concept has been mentioned by most of the participants of both archetypes; moreover, many participants agreed that the electronic music festivals became too commercial over the past years with the big DJ names attracting.
3.3.4 Fan-artist relationships
Music
37 For this archetype it is important to feel connected to their favorite artists, they follow their tours and also follow them on social media, as Interviewee 3 said: “I follow Black Coffee (a DJ) on Instagram and check all his stories. I also get information about his tours from Instagram mainly”.
Festival Experience Sometimes follow the artists/DJs they like but do not put that much importance into it: “I sometimes follow them but then I unfollow them after a while, I get bored of it because I do not really need to know what they are up to outside of festivals” (Participant D from Focus Group 1), “If Spotify counts, then yes I do follow them. But on Instagram not really, like I followed Peggy Gou (a DJ) for some time but then I unfollowed her because I do not really care what she is doing and she is posting too much” (Participant G in Focus Group 1). However, Interviewee 1 explained: “I sometimes text Jeremy Underground (a DJ) on Instagram to ask him about the hours of his sets and he replies, which I find pretty cool in fact, because you feel appreciated”.
3.3.5 Venue
Music Venue has not been identified as one of the most important elements on a music festivals for the first archetype but it has been referred to a few times by the Interviewee 2: “I do not care about venue that much but it should be clean, I mean kept clean during the event, and also music should be matching with venue’s atmosphere or the other way around, it should just match.” As well as mentioning that it is important for a venue to have areas where they can relax, so called chillout areas: “they did a great job with their chill area. They had like sofas all around the bay, right next to the river, and there was also some DJ playing but something like house or disco, so you could actually go there and relax. And then go back to the stages. This is something else that I find very important.” (Interviewee 2) The Interviewee 3’s comment about importance of the venue was: “No, it’s not that important for me (venue decoration and light shows) but sometimes if it’s done right then I enjoy it. For example, on Off Week (a festival) this year the light show and screens on stages were just amazing, it really felt like you are fully immersed”. Also, Participant G from Focus Group 1
38 mentioned that “having different stages (on a venue) I had problems with, I think they have to have more visible signs to know the names of the stages to know where you are , sometimes if I look for specific DJ and specific stage I cannot find it”.
Festival Experience This group generally mentioned venue as one of the important factors for their decision making process, as had been identified by the comments from Participant D from Focus Group 1: “if its gonna look pretty I would go even if I don’t know the DJs”, “the venue is important, it’s very important where you are”, also by Participant T from Focus Group 1 “location and venue more important than the DJs playing”, and Participant D from Focus Group 2: “unique location and venues is most important for me by far”.
The availability of camping on-site of festivals’ venue has been considered as an value-adding addition by both groups.
3.3.6 Interaction with the crowd
Music This group finds it important for the artists to be themselves and do not force it: “Black Coffee (a DJ) is not really interacting much but he is putting you on a journey with his music and you feel really connected to him at these moments. I guess it is kind of interaction as well.” - Interviewee 3 As well as was mentioned by Interviewee 2 that it is important for your interaction with the DJ to not have the DJ booth too far away or too high: “It should be at the same level to see how DJs work”, as well as answering to the question whether the interaction between DJ and the crowd is important: “if it comes out naturally then yes. But too much of it is not that good either. I mean if a DJ is just naturally not looking up at crowd and too focused on his music, I find it fine. They do not need to do it if this is not the way they are”.
Festival Experience This archetype finds it usually more important that the DJ interacts with the crowd, like Participant G in Focus Group 1 mentioned: “it’s very important as I would prefer seeing a DJ caring about the crowd who is listening for example when I went to a DJ and she was good always having eye contact with us. DJ interaction is important for me.”
39
“Music” archetype generally finds it more important to feel connected to the DJ as well as that the DJ creates the right atmosphere, it is important for them that the DJ knows their psychology and looks up at their reaction and adjusts to the crowd to connect. Whereas “festival experience” attendees generally think it is more important that the DJ establishes eye contact and try to interact with them. Also, Interviewee 1 mentioned that interaction is generally better in smaller stages: “you feel more appreciated by the DJ at smaller stages”.
3.3.7 Organization
Music Interviewee 2 mentioned that for her what is important is “the organization level, I think there should not be situations like huge lines on entrance with no one knowing what to do and where to go.” Moreover, the same participant also mentioned that it is crucial for her that the organizers of the event are prepared to foresee the possible risks and are able to react to them on time. Interviewee 3 mentioned that “transportation is important if the festival is quite far from the city center for example, that’s why I do not like going to Forum festivals or parties since it’s so far and no transportation provided”. Moreover, Interviewee 2 also mentioned that DJ schedules so that important DJs do not clash: “it is important to schedule the DJs properly.”, “Maybe do voting for this before? To see which are the DJs that everyone is waiting for the most? And then based on this create schedules, maybe put them apart.”.
Festival Experience What has been mentioned the most by the members of this group was the importance of not having long queues for drinks / food / venue entrance: Participant T from Focus Group said that “the time in the lines” was one of the most important elements when being on a festival; moreover, the Participant D from Focus Group 2 also mentioned that he does not like “to spend too much time buying drinks because it is very annoying and you lose too much time in these lines”.
40 3.3.8 Discovery
Music Participants of these groups discover new festivals by looking up the name of some specific artists/DJ they want to see. They like discovering new DJ by attending their live performances to be able to evaluate if it matches the atmosphere they enjoy.
Festival Experience This group finds out about new festivals by checking for them by location, by social media or listening to the recommendations of their friends. They like discovering new venues and locations they have not been to before.
3.3.9 Prices
There was no specific trend established when comparing the two groups. The importance of prices for the tickets was mainly contributed to demographics of the participants - the majority of participants that have stable job and over the average income (for standards Spain - as all participant reside in Spain) mentioned that price of the entrance tickets is not that significant for them, as Participant T mentioned in Focus Group 1 answering the question about the importance of entrance ticket prices: “I make enough money not to care that much” and Participant G in Focus Group 1: “well in general big festivals are expensive, so what do you expect. if you want to go you will pay”. However, the prices on drinks on-site had been established as an important factor for the majority of the participants and had been mentioned as one of the main factors that could possibly worsen a music festival experience for the 2nd group of music festival-goers.
3.4 Important elements of a festival for participants: differences
Not all factors contributing to successful music festival experience had been mentioned by both groups.
41 The first “music” group mentioned that they want the organizers of the music festivals to understand the psychology of their crowd to know what they like, want to see and how to build up the line up schedules in a way that would satisfy the crowd. Also, immersion with music had been mentioned as an important factor for the first group of festival-goers, they admitted that connection with their favorite DJs is a part of their contribution to being a music fan; therefore, a live music events experience plays a significant role for their artist-fan relationships. Furthermore, Participant N in Interview 2 stated that “sponsorships can help the engagement actually” with specific examples of what was considered to be a successful use of sponsorship deals.1
The second archetype generally finds music festivals to be a great place to connect with your friends and close ones, also mentioning that it can be a good place to meet with your old friends: “the older I get, festivals are good place for me to meet with old friends again” (Participant T from Focus Group 1), and this could potentially be one of the primary motivational factors to attend a music festival for this group.
3.5 Pain points: similarities
Many of the pain points are similar for both groups of festival-goers. The most mentioned ones were as follows:
- Bad sanitary - Bad organization - The “wrong” crowd around - No transportation provided - DJ booth location (being too far and too high) - Overcrowded venue - Bad soundsystem - Expensive drinks/food on-site
1 Check Appendix 4 for specific example of sponsorship deals mentioned by the participant N
42 3.6 Pain points: differences
There were also some of the pain points that have not been mentioned by participants from both groups.
Music - Bad scheduling of important artists (that they clash) - Atmosphere doesn't match (music vs surroundings)
Festival Experience - Long queues for drinks - something that has been mentioned a lot by the “festival experience” group but have not been mentioned by the “music” group.
3.7 Main differences between archetypes
Based on the findings, primary factor contributing to attending a music festival and also the feeling of connection are different for two groups:
Music Festival Experience
Decision to go Mainly based on DJs (line Based on location/venue, up), and the rest of the people that are coming things would contribute to (friends) - as Participant T their overall music festival from Focus Group 1 experience but would not be explained, “it happens their primary reasons to because there are too many attend them. festivals nowadays so line up would not be as important, it is more other extra value that they can offer that would make them attend a specific festival”.
43 Feeling of connection Important to connect with Social connection with artist (DJ booth low, creating friends, some DJ interaction a “journey”) as a part of the (to show that DJ care about contribution to being a them, so in case of this music fan archetype it is more about feeling appreciated, not about feeling the connection, as Participant G from FC 1 talked about the importance of interaction, as well as Interviewee 1 said that he feels “more appreciated when the DJ is closer”).
Figure 8: Main differences between archetypes of electronic music festival-goers
44 4. Discussion
4.1 Live sports events VS Electronic Music Festivals
Both live sports events and music festivals are forms of entertainment, where some fans are more dedicated to it than the others, that what makes them being “fans” (Nielsen, 2013). Moreover, both sports and music events are “full of life, competition, celebration, and ultimately entertainment.” (ibid). Moreover, based on the same report from Nielsen, since music and sports have so much in common, when music gets involved with sports, they are able to reach out to a huge numbers of potential fans as well, as a lot of live sport events fans are also music fans (ibid). Additionally, FC Barcelona made a strategic collaboration with Sony Music this year, where both of them would work on improving entertainment experience for the fans. This kind of collaborations also show how close music and sports are, both “with a common ability to unite people and touch their senses and emotions” (Fcbarcelona.com, 2019).
4.1.1 Motivational Factors
As was discussed in the literature review (1.3), the primary motivational factors of live sport events attendees are as follows: - Social motive - Sense of escape - Entertainment - Team identification
And according to EventBrite's report the motivational factors of the music festival goers are as follows: - Music - Festival experience - Sense of escape - Social
The findings showed that the participants of Focus Groups and Interviewee also had the same motivational factors as mentioned above as part of the EventBrite’s findings. There is
45 also a clear correlation between motivational factors of both live sports event and music festival-goers groups. Participants that identified “music” as their primary factor to attending electronic music festivals find it important to feel the connection with their favorite DJs; therefore, they need to be identified with them which is similar to the motivational factor of live sport events attendees, which is similar to the motivational factor of sports fans - “team identification”. Whereas the second archetype that identified the whole festival experience, including location, venue, reconnecting with their friends, as their primary motivational factor to attend a music festival, which can be associated with the rest of the motivational factors for live sport attendees: entertainment, social, sense of escape.
4.1.2 Emotional and experience territories
Moreover, applying the findings from GMR Marketing report (2018), we can examine the correlations between experience territories between live sports and electronic music attendees: - Community (social aspect of attending music festivals connecting with friends, meeting new like-minded people) - Fun (attending music festivals to escape the reality, relieve stress, have fun with your friends) - Discovery (music festivals as a place to discover new DJs, new locations and venues) - Self-expression (people attending electronic music events to identify themselves with their favorite artists, listen to the music they identify themselves with)
It is vital to understand what kind experience attendees are looking for, as well as what are the motivational factors that are driving them to attend a certain festival and their emotional needs, as the ultimate goal for all music festivals organizers should be to acquire “fans” as their customers, which according to Sashi (2012), are the customers that have high relational exchange and emotional bonds with your festival, and this is the case of achieved customer engagement. Therefore, the organizations should think about what kind of fan engagement techniques would evoke these emotions in their attendees to be able to target them accordingly.
46 The secondary data collected showed that there are similarities between sports and music fans in terms of motivational factor, emotional territories, and their typologies (see part 1.1). However, to examine more similarities and differences, more primary research with the sports fans has to be done.
4.2 Areas for fan engagement
There could be different areas to engage with the attendees according to Fowler and Wilson (2016), which can be reviewed in Literature Review 1.5 Main areas for fan engagement.
1. Host fans (non-festival day, on-site): since festivals do not normally own their venues but rent them for their events, it would not be applicable in the case of electronic music festivals.
2. Connect fans (non-festival day, off-site):
● Curated Playlists In 2016 Spotify and clothing brand Mitchell & Ness created curated Spotify playlists from top MLS players - similarly, Sonar (Barcelona, Spain) has their own S potify page with curated playlists by performing acts and by the organizers of the festivals themselves
● Introduction events before the Festivals like FORT Festival (Tossa De actual festival Mar, Spain) and Present Perfect Festival (Saint Petersburg, Russia) arrange one day events before their festivals take place, it has been mentioned by one of the participants of the focus group found it as “a good way to promote your festival before, so you have a possibility to show people the
47 atmosphere of your festival, the organization” (Interviewee 2);
● Marketing campaigns with fans’ For instance, a marketing campaign involvement “England World Cup Squad Announcement” from 2018, when the England team asked their fans to make announcements of team members by publishing videos with their names on social media and make it shareable;
● Creating your own radio Tomorrowland (Boom, Belgium) has its own radio online called One World Radio, which offers both live and on-demand content, making Tomorrowland a festival that offers a unique content to their fans 24/7.
● Highlights after games Similarly to curated playlists, music festivals can create after party playlist with the top tracks from the festival for after festival engagement. Moreover, aftermovies are important to be able to show the festival-goers the overall atmosphere of the festival, it has been mentioned by some of the participants of the Focus Groups as an important element for their decision whether to attend a certain music festival or not;
● Voting for the best player of the It is a widely-used fan engagement match techniques for sporting teams, for example, Fifa allows their registered fans to vote for the best player for both men and female leagues. Opening this option for registered users only also increases engagement and allow them to create a fan database online;
48 ● Voting for managerial tasks Nowadays managers of sports teams are reaching out to their fans more and more to involve them with their decision-making. For example, P hiladelphia Phillies from Major League Baseball included a new hot dog style to their menu on the stadium based on online fan voting (Hyatt, G., et al, 2013). Fans would appreciate seeing that their decision-making had some impact, as was discussed before, fan engagement is about listening to your fans and enhancing joy of being the fan (Sashi, 2012).
● Sending an entrance and top up Tomorrowlands stands out for engaging bracelet before the festival fans with their “Treasure Boxes” that they send out before the festival together with the bracelet that has be activated in order to be able to attend the festival. They are changing their treasure boxes each year, in 2019 the treasure box included a book inside of which people had to find a hidden clue that would help them to read the story written by Tomorrowland. Attendees share videos of their treasure boxes and speak about it online, which creates fan engagement and also shareable content for the festival.
Figure 9: Examples of fan engagement on non-festival day, off-site
3. Enhance the live experience (festival day, on-site):
49 The organizers should take into account specific what their archetypes want to see on the event. Based on the results of the focus groups and interview, two Value Propositions have been made, which can be examined in the Appendix 2 part of the paper.
4. Bring fans closer to the live action (festival day, off-site): - Live streaming is an essential part of any live sporting event or music festival, it is a way to engage with fans even though they are not physically present on your event. For instance, Intel (2017) reported that they are planning to introduce personalized live 3D broadcasting solution to sports events, which will be available for VR headsets, PCs and TVs. The viewers will be able to select any angle they want, also choosing the view from player’s perspective. Moreover, traditional live streaming, that users are able to access today, solves the “community” needs, as platforms that offer live streaming also offer fans to communicate with each other through online chats; - Live sports events use their social media channels to keep their fans updated on how a game goes, similarly, music festivals make announcements on what DJ is starting to play on what stage, also creating online content for the fans that could not be present on the venue;
As has also been mentioned in the literature review, according to MusicWatch and Eventbrite (2016), “festival super fans” are more likely to join their favorite festivals virtually if they are off-site than any other festival-goers groups. Therefore, it is important that festivals do not solely focus on fan engagement on a festival day on-site, but also give attention to other areas to create a loyal fan base.
4.3 Value and Cost Forces
As has been discussed in the literature review 1.1, it is vital for the organizations to understand how can they create value for their prospects. The same article included a case study about the transformation of the home stadium of the Jacksonville Jaguars, the NFL members, in 2013. Not being able to decrease the prices of entrance tickets and facing the competition in the face of home theatre experience (section 1.7.1), the management of the stadium took actions to enhance the fan engagement on their home stadium, increase both appeal and exclusivity of their live stadium experience, as well as trying to decrease material and mental costs.
50
Appeal: electronic music festivals can create more appeal based on what is important for the specific group of people that attend their festivals. It is even more important if the organization is to target Millenials, who finds it extremely important that the company, that they have relationship with, supports their values and understands their needs (Deloitte, 2019). In case of this research it could be a group, which primary motivational factor is music, and group of participants that attend music festivals because of the overall festival experience. Moreover, millennials’ top concern is environmental situation in the world (Deloitte, 2019), which makes it important for the organizations to target them accordingly, meaning that one of the values should be minimizing the ecological footprint. People with disabilities:
Exclusivity: according to the results from the focus groups, all participants said that the electronic music festival experience is unique and they could not think of any specific substitution for this experience. However, with the amount of electronic festivals today, the organizers have to compete between each other, that is why having USPs is still important.
Material Costs: with the example of the Jaguars (see section 1.7.7), it was impossible for them to decrease the price of the entrance tickets and price for food and drinks, so they enriched their food and drinks menu list instead, as well as giving preference to local producers. Music festivals have practices of introducing the use of reusable and returnable plastic cups, also some of the music festivals started installing water fountains to provide free access to water for the attendees and also to reduce the plastic consumption, for instance, install water fountains. For instance, music festivals like Primavera Sound (Barcelona, Spain) has water fountains where attendees can refill their cups for free, and some festivals, such as Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza, allow bringing in a certain number of factory-sealed bottles of water on-site (Channel Signal, 2019).
Mental Costs: it could be more feasible for the music festivals to decrease the mental costs for the attendees by understanding what are their pain points. The ones that have been mentioned by the participants of the focus groups for the research:
51 - Long queues for entrance As discussed before, Tomorrowland sends the entrance bracelets to the attendees beforehand to their home address to avoid creating extra lines for activation of the bracelet on-site
- Long queues for bar or food stands As discussed before, installing water fountains or allowing bringing in sealer bottles of water can help to prevent huge lines for drinks
- Possibility of rain Some of the participants of focus groups mentioned that for them it is important that the organizers would think upfront about suck risks as possibility of rain to be ready for it
- Bad sanitary Apart from the personal hygiene problems that attendees face at music festivals, most of the present sanitary solutions are also harmful for the environment, so some of festivals are moving towards more eco-friendly solutions, for instance, a UK festival Shambala is now using only compostable toilets on-site (The Guardian, 2019)
- No transportation provided Belgian festival Pukkelpop provides free transportation together with the festival tickets, and also reserves parking sports for the attendees that come with their own cars
- Environmental concerns As has been discussed before, Millennials are generally concerned about their environmental footprint, so any actions that are aiming to help the environment should generally be appreciated.
52 Figure 10: Reduction of mental costs for music festival-goers
4.4 Engagement measurement techniques
As mentioned in the literature review (section 1.7), there are several techniques that can be useful for measuring the fan engagement. - SERVQUAL can be used to measure the quality of current services that are provided to the attendees, the organizers can base their surveys on the elements from SERVQUAL to give them more detailed picture on how satisfied and engaged their fans are; - NPS can be used to identify possible promoters, and to also pay more attention to targeting them, as well as targeting Passives to convert them into promoters.
Furthermore, such app developers as, for instance, Appmiral provide useful functions that can help to measure engagement and to check for the points of improvement. Their technology of heat maps allows to see where most of the crowd was located, which would be useful for collecting and analysing such data as: - Checking which acts were the most engaging; - Checking for the least engaging acts, where people did not go or started leaving right after the start; - Monitoring bars/bathroom queues to see which areas had the biggest lines, which should be a signal to add extra bar stands / bathroom areas as it had been identified as one of the main issues that participants face when attending music festivals.
53 5. Conclusion
This research showed some of the similarities between live sports event attendees and music festival-goers. Both activities are a form of entertainment, which some of the fans might take very serious and therefore build their identity around it. Moreover, according to both secondary and primary research, there are correlations between motivational factors, emotional territories and typologies for both sports and music fans, which can be examined in the discussion and literature review parts of this paper. However, more in-depth research would have to be carried out to examine more similarities and differences between sports and music fans, as there is a lack of existing secondary data about this topic and therefore more primary data research would need to be done to be able to compare these two groups of fans more in-depth.
Based on the findings from focus groups and interviews two groups were identified: music festival attendees whose primary motivational factor is music, and those whose motivation is the overall festival experience. There are a lot of similarities between these two groups, so it would be easier for the festivals to target both, but there are also some differences that should be taken into account. It is crucial for the organizers to know their audience to be able to target them accordingly and to be able to connect with them on a deeper personal level, especially with generation Y, which finds it necessary to only connect with the companies that have the same values as they do. To do so, the organizers of electronic music festivals should pay more attention to conducting surveys to understand their fans better and to connect with them. Analyzing similar events that are presented in a form of entertainment is important to be able to extract some possible ideas and expertise from them. Value propositions for two different archetypes based on the findings in this research can be found in Appendix 2.
The results of the focus groups and interviews, however, did not cover Generation Z as only representatives of Millennial generation have been interviewed. It is vital for the music festival organizers to take into account Generation Z and be ready for the future changes, which would be built around emerging technologies. For instance, such trends in live sport events as gamification, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and interactive live streaming are amongst the ones to be used by the Generation Z a lot in the future.
54 6. Appendix
Appendix 1: Questions for focus groups
1) Do you consider yourself a music fan? (How often do you listen to the music, do you have specific favourite artists / DJs, how do you listen to the music (platforms / devices)?
2) Festival experience questions: How many times a year are you attending music festivals? Do you usually attend same festivals or try new ones? How much time in advance do you buy a ticket? How many people are you normally going with? Would you accept travelling abroad to visit your favourite festival? How do you decide which artists you want to see? Would you go to your favourite festival on your own?
3) What elements of a music festival do you find vital for a festival to have? What are the factors that drive you to go to a specific festival? What would make you not to go to a festival?
4) How would you describe emotions you have when attending a music festival? What drives these emotions? What kind of feelings do you have? Why exactly do you go to the electronic music festivals?
5) What do you find disappointing in music festivals? What was the latest bad experience you had when attending one of the music festivals, that impacted your overall experience?
6) Do you watch the live streaming of music festivals? If not, why not? If yes, why do you watch them? Do you watch other live streaming like sports? What for you is the difference between watching sports live event and music festival?
7) Do you associate yourself with any of your favourite artists / DJs? Do you follow your favourite artists throughout the whole year or only want to see him/her live on the
55 festivals - do you follow them on social medias, do you listen to their music, do you check their tours, do you hold any physical possessions (CD/Vinyl/posters etc)?
8) What could be a substitution for a music festival for you and why?
Appendix 2: Value Propositions
56
Appendix 3: Transcription of Focus Group 1
So, do you consider yourself music fans? T - Yes D - Yes P - Yes G - Is it restricted in any kind of music or just in general? Just in general. G - then yes
How often do you normally listen to the music? T - Always, depends D - You know when I don't listen to the music, when I am super hangover, I hate it, most likely I will hate it G - yeah, every day I would say
57
During what activities normally? G - during work and shower but not all the time but depends Do you have favorite artists? Do you have someone you listen to the most? D - Zemfira. Well, also depends on the mood sometimes you can listen to Russian music, sometimes techno, sometimes even commercial. G - yeah, for example I really like reggae and Protege, it is a group that is my favorite reggae. Sometimes I also like reggaeton, and house and I kind of like the psychedelic kind of music, I like Oliver Koletzki.
So you don’t have one favorite? G - no, not really. I am a person like this, I am not really obsessed with one thing, it’s more like a bit of everything. T - favorite artist not really, depends on my mood as well. favorite music house, like house I can listen to always but then sometimes I am in another mood to listen to more relaxing music, then sometimes rap, hip hop. D - I think I like hip hop. G - yea I like hip hop too. P - so T just sets a playlist and listen to it? D - no it’s not true, it’s some specific music P - no but it’s true, he kind of chooses the playlist and just plays all together, not some specific artists, no? T - sometimes when I am working and there is a song I really like I can put it on repeat sometimes. D - yeah, I can put it on repeat for 2 days sometimes. P - no, for me no. I want to listen to some music and I have my favorite artist, so I listen to him. I put the name of the guy to YouTube and listen to his music. T - true, with electronic music I do not have it that much but with other type of music I do have favorite artists. G - so who is your favorite artist? T - like Michael Jackson I like, Arctic Monkeys,
How do you listen to music? On what platforms? D - on my phone, Spotify and at work YouTube T - YouTube, Spotify, Soundcloud
58 P - YouTube and iTunes D - Do you pay for the iTunes? P - no. T - so you don't support artists? P - not really (laughing)
And do you use radio to listen to music? T - well if I am in the car, yes in the car I listen to the radio but nowadays I put on my own playlist as well
How many times a year do you normally go to the multi-day festival and to small one-day ones? D - maybe 2-3 times a year, even two. Smaller one like 8-10 times. P - with you guys, I don't know. I do not go without friends. T - depends on the year I guess, I would say range up to 6. G - six?! T - yeah, when I was still in Belgium L - Depends on the year and how much time and money I have, if I could I would go every 3 months. But normally only going for 2 festivals a year. G - I would say like big big one, for example this year twice. I would not pay that money for reggaeton festival because I wanna pay lots of Money because I want to listen to the live concert or want to see the DJ personally but reggaeton what I need is not really the DJ but it’s more like the rhythm or atmosphere or you’re with friends or whatever, I do not care who is playing reggaeton. D - yeah that’s true. T - indoor or outdoor? D - yeah, I do not like indoor anymore, only outdoor. So dark indoor. G - for me it does not matter, I do not care at all D - can I say that the day parties are the best? with the sun L - I do not care that much, it depends on the overall vibe of the party. For some of them outdoor is better, for others it is better to have it indoor T - when it stops too early I do not like it either G - and small ones more than 6, I guess around 12 a year for sure, the ones like soundeat.
Do you attend the same festivals normally?
59 D - what, like identical? (laughing)
No no, I meant if you really like one festival, would you repeat it? D - ah, yes. Off Week I am going to repeat. L - If I like one then I would go again, but there are so many new festivals all around that I would also like to travel and see them T - yes, Oasis I am repeating this September. D - I will go to Dynamic next year
Why? D - well, it was amazing because of the sound. the first time ever I heard such good sound system. G - which one? D - Dyinamic. So my friend told me about these speakers and that he wanted to rent them for one of his parties, and then he said these speakers were on Dyinamic. It like makes difference. When we went to soundeat, the sound was sh**. T - the sound quality is important for me as well. G - yeah, for me it is important as well the sound. and about same festival, depends. i do not care much, depends on my friends if they are going or not, i do not mind to join my friends to new ones. But the soundsystem yes. L - yeah, sound system is very important as music is the main reason I am going there. So to really enjoy it and hear music and not people talking around, a good sound system is super important P - if I go, I just go to have fun with friends. and if the sound is shit, if my ears are painful afterwards, I do not go for 6 months.
If you take some specific festival, how much in advance would you buy your ticket? D - one day before, maybe same day (laughing). T - you mean early birds? for price?
I mean, let’s take your favorite festival, if you have one, how much in advance would you buy your ticket? T - advance sometimes, if I wanna go really and if I am sure and as well like early birds makes difference sometimes. G - one or two months in advance.
60 T - if it’s travel involved, then you buy G - yeah, then you buy in advance D - yeah me to be honest same day or few days before, because tickets are sold, you never know and then the tickets again are so expensive but then when the day comes and you are shaking to go there and you just pay any money for it. L - normally for big multidays festival I would get it in advance, otherwise it’s too expensive on ticketswap
How many people are you going with usually? D - three, I go with two and G sometimes so three T - depends P - I go with more T - if it’s over night then more than 2 people, like if you stay on a festival if it’s a weekend or 5 days festival, a lot of times you do that with bigger groups P - yes me too G - big ones, 1 or 2, no, 1 2 3 maybe. From 1 to 3. Like I am going for 5 days with one friend only next weekend.
And when you are there you stay with the people you went with or you split? G - but it’s hard, it’s difficult to stay D - I think I alway split, this is a problem. I am always finding new friends G - I mean if I go with one then no, but if for example last time at Sonar three more people joined and then eventually we divided as well L - yes, same. If I go with one then we stay usually, but sometimes not even. I like to go where I want to be, not to follow a group of people all the time D - last time I met my friends there P - if I go with my friends then I stay with them
Would you travel abroad for a festival? D - oh yes, for sure, If I would have money I would L - for sure I would as well, money is the problem (laughing) P - No G - yes T - yes sure I would
61 Would you go alone to the festival? G - oh yes, I do not mind. D - no way, no. Because I would get lost and what T - depends, if single day I could but then multi days I don’t think I would to be honest. G - but then if it’s a DJ you really want to listen to and none of your friends can go? T - I heard all DJs I wanted to hear in my life so nothing life changing L - if the line up is right and I know the festivals will be like minded people that also go there for music then I would. I would not go alone to some festival where people go only to have fun and get drunk, like where they do not care about the music playing. But if it’s a festival where people know why they are there, I would not mind G - yes true, depends on the festival itself as well
What do you think for you is the most important to have on a festival? D - soundsystem, for me soundsystem. G - the sound of course is important, no but food is important as well but the sound is more important D - the venue, it’s very important where you are. Forum I hate but luckily the soundsystem was good so it’s combined, but for example I prefer something like fort festival is about the view and your surroundings, if it would be like the dirty club then it’s not good. L - DJs playing, they do not have to be big names. but I always check who is playing and if I do not know someone I would normally check their sets before as well to have an idea of what they might be playing. I build my schedule for festivals to see where and when I want to go. Sound System is also very important as I mentioned before. The crowd, that people have to be there not just because they think it’s cool and they want to post pictures on their Instagram but because they appreciate the music, so I would say it could also go as the right atmosphere. G - the time you need to buy drinks because sometimes it is very annoying that you need time to do the deposit.. you have to put the money and then you have to refund. it take another time to get the money back, so I do not see, why can't you just pay cash? T - for me the light shows is important D - yes same G - yes yes T - it does not have to be tomorrowland kind of stuff, but just something nice P - for me it’s the soundsystem, and no queue if I want to drink T - drink prices as well
62 G - and a toilet paper (laughing), last time there was an emergency and I did not have any paper! so toilet hygiene is important D - yes you cannot even sit there so it’s terrible D - maybe we should make a business with the toilets (laughing) G - yes, let’s do that
Is there one thing that would make you go to a festival? D - DJs and the venue, like the area. if its gonna look pretty I would go even if I don’t know the DJs, if it's by the beach or something, like amazing venue. G - for me of course DJ, and then some new festivals I have never been, and then the reputation, for example, one friend of mine went to a festival in Albania and said it was amazing so if I hear something like this I might consider going as well because I heard something nice, I need reviews from friends.
And if you would just read about it somewhere? G - ah no, if I would just read about it somewhere then I would consider as well T - aftermovie? G - ah when they make a video after the festival?
Yes, do you find it important? G - ah, actually yes. Aftermovies are nice as you can see the theme vibe atmosphere of the festival T - yeah, same. and about important stuff, location is important.
So location is more important than the DJs playing? T - at the moment yes, before it was not but what I realised now that in fact most of the times I go to a festival with few stages then a lot of times im not on the main stage with headliners, I go more to smaller stages like now I am at the point when I am like ok whatever, still good big names attract me and makes it easier to go but its not the main thing why I would go to a festival anymore except maybe for certain DJs P - for me the venue, and my friends if they are going or not. I do not go alone.
So you go more just to have fun? P - yeah, to see my friends and to be in a nice place I guess. If it’s not too far and all friends I am going then I go.
63 D - so for me it’s the venue, the DJs and the people I go with, the people you go with is very important, if I go with shit people I don’t go, have to be people who you have fun with. T - previous experience as well, what kind of experience I had on the festivals before.
So then what would be the most important - DJs, venue or the people? D - I think the people, because if I do not like the people why would I go there T - combination G - DJ, people, location if I would have to rank. L - it is more or less the same as I said before, it is the right line up combined with the right crowd that is there for the music
What did you find disappointing on the festivals you went to? D - Last festival I went to, when I felt like I want to be home but I had to wait 3 hours more to take the train G - having different stages I had problems with, I think they should have to have more visible signs to know the names of the stages to know where you are , sometimes if I look for specific DJ and specific stage I cannot find it
And when you went to Sonar, did you get their app? G - ah okay, I did not they have the app so if I knew then I would download this. T - on big festivals it’s good for the timetable I use it a lot, for location it’s nice to have an app to plan the day with your friends.
Would you use this kind of app to share it with your friends, to see their timetables and where are they located? T - yes, would be cool. I guess if you are with 2 people then doesn’t make much sense, but then if you are with more then it does. G - yeah because then friends send you the pics of where they are, and you do not get it. T - but for the location it’s more about finding people in the crowd. G - yes so should be very precise live location like whatsapp, up to 5 meters or 2 (laughing) T - something else that makes me dislike festivals is when it is too crowded. G - yes true P - yes T - or no party crowd
64 L - I really hate when people are just standing in front of you and speaking so loud that I cannot hear the music. I can handle big queues and do not care that much about it as I would spend 99 % on the dancefloor anyways, but the wrong crowd just kills everything for me. Bathrooms can be pretty annoying as well if they are super dirty, with no papers T - No party crowd is that’s why I do not go to festivals with big names anymore, because it’s just people that get attracted by the big names, so nothing is happening on the festivals. I rather go to smaller stages on a festivals with DJs I do not know which is also cool because then I find new DJs that I end up liking a lot of times. I would not go specifically to a festival to discover new DJs but on big ones I normally end up doing this D - you know a lot of festivals became commercial, like from the nice ones and you start seeing a lot of fu*** up people G - Oh, and the trash. In Barcelona is not that bad, but in Albania the festival they do not really protect the environment, there are not enough trash bins so the plastic cups are everywhere on the beach and in the sea. It is important to put bins so people can throw the trash T - i do not find it that important D - i do L - i do as well G - yes so people do not put trash on the floor
Is it important for you that the festival has some reputation / where do you find out about festivals. D - No, some festivals without advertisement like huge ones they’re still cool with their own unique things. T - yeah but then advertisement is important, because then how can you know that it’s cool? D - from the people? well maybe yes, instagram stories, social media because otherwise you do not know. you are right T - Resident Advisor
Yeah, how do you find out about the festivals you want to go to? D - Instagram. from people and instagram G - from social media or friends, but mostly friends because I feel like it’s more trusted, I think from them it’s more trusted T - combination. Resident Advisor a lot, they have a festival tab as well. Resident Advisor I check the most, so sometimes I check the location that I want to do and check out the
65 festivals, sometimes social media or DJ that you follow that post about it and you get reminded. Social media as well sometimes, aftermovies are sometimes quite important so you can at least check the vibe, the people, location as well. L - I do not think the reputation is that important for me, I mean of course if I heard from someone that some specific festival is super bad then it would probably have some impact on my decision but also depends from whom I hear about. Lately I would not choose huge festivals to go to as T mentioned before, the crowd is not right and then they just go there for the name. I find out about it from social media I would say mostly, also if I am checking on RA some specific DJs I want to see and check their schedules then I can find out about festivals like this as well. Also from my friends a lot, always good to hear someone’s experience
Why do you go to a festival, how do you feel there? D - depends on the festival G - good time with friends, memories D - yeah same T - relax G - get away T - it relaxes me to be on a festival P - to have fun, have good time with my friends, i go there to stay with my friends L - escape the reality? that’s my kind of meditation I get very relaxed G - yes, also to get disconnected
Do you think there is a substitution of a music festival for you that you can get same emotions from? D - yeah, travel. I do not care about the festivals as long as I can travel. G - If I do not have time or money to go now then I would not really care, I can go some other time. I do not need to substitute it with anything else. If it is money or time, I do not have to look for substitution T - sometimes I would feel sad yes if I do not go. I do not think there is substitution So you find it unique experience? T - yeah I do D - Well, I find it unique actually. T - a lot of memories as well
66 D - I mean I am getting old, I had so many festivals in my life, I do not know what else you can remember from these festivals L - I do find it unique, I would only go to the one I think would be unique for me. G - I would not substitute it with anything T - maybe private day party with friends only D - I can’t eat for two days before I know I am going to the festival, I get too nervous and excited H - “when you are going to a festival then your mindset is different, like you’re going there and kind of expecting something. You start speaking about it with your friends and your expectations are really high.
Do you watch live streaming of festivals? D - i would die of jealousy, if i know that right now right there the festival that I like is happening then I would die of sadness if I also watch it live. No way I am going to watch it. T - used to, but now i do not have time. So if I do not go then it’s not like I am gonna live stream it all day. I won't be able to sit all time to just watch a live streaming. I would not stay in all day, I would then probably do something else like to substitute for the reason I am not going to that festival. And if I would have time then I would go (to the festival). I would watch after sets, but not live. Recorded ones but with people around as well, not only with the DJs. I would even watch the festivals I did not plan on going it, yeah, it’s a nice thing to check out DJ you know, to check the live sets, also DJs you do not know. G - If it’s some festival that I really like then I guess I would just go, and if i would not go then i guess the time does not fit so I do not think I would be available to watch it all day. I would probably get back after to see what’s happening. But I do not get the point why would I have to watch it right now, synchronized. If it is something that I really like and I missed the festival then I would watch it after but not live, if it’s nothing special I wouldn’t watch it. P - I would not L - Yes I am watching live streaming and I enjoy it actually. If I cannot make it to some festival because it’s too far, too expensive or I do not have time then I am always trying to watch some sets live. I think it makes me feel that I am a part of the experience even though I am not there (at the festival). I think festivals should really focus on and invest in live streaming because for some people like me it is super important. T - so you would stay home watchin it all day?
67 L - Well, I would not say I would stay in the whole day just to watch it, I would watch maybe one (DJ set) actively like without interruptions, especially if there is a live chat going on as well. I find the people in live chat super funny normally, it is like the whole community together to watch something they like. It’s nice. So yes and the rest of the day if I have opportunity I would put other DJ sets on a background, like when I am working or studying or walking somewhere. For this by the way I would also say they should have not only video but audio version as well, sometime it’s not very convenient to have a YouTube video open to listen to it and you cannot lock your phone while I am on the way somewhere, happened to me just now few weeks ago when I was checking Dekmantel live stream.
Do you watch sports live? G - sports, you mean football for example?
Yes G - because it is more exciting for the game, after you just know oh it’s 1-2, the results. T - I can rewatch games as well G - no, me too, not limited to only live but if i can i will watch live T - live as well, if i can i would watch it but i would watch certain game afterwards P - i would do both. if i can watch it live i do it, if i cant i would watch highlights or even the whole game if it is interested to me. if it is a big game and i really need to know what happened i would watch the entire recording after T - no but like for example NFL if it’s bad hours to watch i would not check results and would check the whole thing P - the day after yes G - depends on also what kind of game, for example when i was in China I would wake up at 3 to watch the world cup. or for example i would not wake up to watch tennis live, i would just rewatch it later
If you have some specific artist/DJ you like, do you follow them on social media G - yes. ugh social media D - I get bored of them, I follow and unfollow. G - but if I follow them on spotify does it count? me - yes
68 G - then ok I follow but on Instagram not really, for example I followed Peggy Gou for some time but I unfollowed. Does not mean I don't like here it’s just … ?
Do you check the specific tours of your artists? G - yes, I do. for example Oliver Koletzki because I saw him in Berlin and then I was checking Barcelona and saw he was in BCN and that's why I decided to go to off week for him, so I check the DJ i like their schedule and if I see they come to Barcelona I would book a ticket already 2 months in advance T - no, I use RA more, like there you can have the favorite artists as well so more on this. D - yeah I am checking Instagram for checking where they are. No, actually I would go for RA more T - If I find the DJ I did not know for example because of Boiler Room or set you find or song on Spotify, so I would sometimes go on RA to type in the name and see if they would go to the location where I live G - yes, I agree D - yes, me too. RA I use the most
And for conclusion do you have anything to add? Like for festival engagement?
T - for engagement, for festival what's important is content. like if they want to attract people they have of course the people that went there, but then of course you need content to attract new people with which i think the most important thing is aftermovie, sets, like sets on YouTube with the crowd filmed so that people have an idea of the crowd of location how it looks like. I think that’s the most important. I think video content is the most important. for example a set on soundcloud of a dj is nice to listen but it’s not something that i would say “ah fuck did you see how crazy it looked”, on the video you can see what kind of people went there like if it’s a laze crowd or a party crowd, it gets me more attracted to a festival I would say. I think video content is very important for me. G - I think it depends a lot on your personal obsession level about music, like for me of course DJ is important but i don't think it's like the main reason i go to a festival well it could be but i think for me i care about the whole vibe or how the organizers they care about the whole environment, the details, if the festival is too crowded, if they have some nice
69 decorations. because i am not like as fan as Tanguy. then of course the DJ and the sound is important but i also care more about general human emotion D - for me it’s very important to see the people around, first you decide by watching the movies and then when you go there you care about the crowd a lot. Like remember when I went to villa habana I was stressing a lot because it’s only weird people so you know what I mean. For me it’s about the people in general, how they are. T - the older I get, festivals are good place for me to meet with old friends again, like reconnect. Definitely festivals where you need to travel, for example I have friends that each year go to off sonar even now they are working they still go together, so I think for me Oasis would be a good place to meet with old friends as well and you are living in all different places. so festivals is good place to meet up with the people if you have good memories about that specific festival all together. P - we did not speak about the price of the festival by the way, for me it matters a lot like for example if my friends are going and it’s really nice one I can pay a lot of money to go. but if it’s super cheat and a lot of people go there then I don't really like it because you have too many people from everywhere too crowded. the price is pretty important because it categorizes the people that go to festivals. T - I make enough money not to care that much G - well in general big festivals are expensive, so what do you expect. if you want to go you will pay. T - like big festivals most of the time you have camping possibilities as well, so you can stay on site so this for example compared to smaller festivals which does not have it. Festivals that have camping spot add more to the experience because you are more likely to meet new people that are in the tent next to you, I guess it’s for real big festivals G - Also what I wanted to mention is that interaction between the DJ and the crowd is important because for example T - on smaller stages? G - for me it’s very important as I would prefer seeing a DJ caring about the crowd who is listening for example when I went to a DJ and she was good always having eye contact with us. DJ interaction is important for me. H - Before I used to go for DJ and now I go more to hang out with my friends, I do not care about the line up that much.
Appendix 4: Transcription of Interview 2
70 ME - So we already spoke with you when I did focus group, now I just wanted to dive deeper and to know more about your festivals experience in general, and a bit about you as a music fan.
N - Sure, ready
ME - Thank you. So I wanted to ask you about your festivals’ experience, I know you recently went to Present Perfect in Saint Petersburg, how was it this year? Was there something that you liked the most or dislike maybe?
N - Yes, this year was actually worse. Too many people that were there for a party and not for the music. You know it felt like they just gathered and they did not even know where and why. Compared to last year it was worse in this sense, last year it was very cozy and with the right people around. Also let me start from the beginning actually.
ME - Sure, that would be great.
N - So I haven’t been there but my friends told me (who went there) that the first PP (name of festival?) was not well-organized. It was 5 years ago I think. You know Saint Petersburg is rainy, and you know it might happen anytime but they (organizers) did not foresee this so the whole festival was destroyed. Well, not destroyed, but it was not very pleasant with all the wind and such. They did not have any rain coats ready, no nothing.
ME - Yes, and then do you remember we went to the LR (Love Rave) two years ago?
N - Yes, yes. I was about to mention this. That one (festival) was amazing, I mean the way they reacted to that storm was amazing. They had everything ready and they were fast to do it.
ME - True, I also thought about it right away. But was there anything else you liked or disliked at the festival this year or the year before when you went?
N - Last year the music matched the whole atmosphere or environment, I don't know how to call it, I mean that music was just right for the setting we were in. I think it’s very important. This year it was not as good, like, for example, there was an after party after the main
71 festival event on Sunday night, at 3am they started playing fast d’n’b music. It really did not match with anything there, like, why would you even play something like this after exhausting weekend of a festival on a Monday morning? So little by little people just started leaving and I was actually next to the entrance at around 4am, I also left, and I heard people saying “damn, what the hell is this?”. So it was really weird. Ah, also last year they did a great job with their chill area. They had like sofas all around the bay, right next to the river, and there was also some DJ playing but something like house or disco, so you could actually go there and relax. And then go back to the stages. This is something else that I find very important. This year they did not do it anymore, so there was no place to chill. We had to lay down on the ground literally, and then all of a sudden some guy came up to us and gave us a pillow saying that we won it. I don't know what was that, I think they should’ve kept their chill area, it was super good. What else… It is not about this festival but in general I do not like when DJ booth is super high and far from the crowd, like when there is a huge gap between (the DJ both and the stage with people). It should be at the same level to see how DJs work. Otherwise it feels weird, and also then when they sometimes put their hands up and it looks like they are some kind of God or a crazy rock star, I do not like when it is too much like this. Am I speaking too much?
ME - No no, go ahead please. it’s all super interesting.
N - Ok, great. So for example Egyptian Lover once went to the crowd and started hugging with people, then he was doing some weird MC stuff like cheering the crowd and all during his DJ set.
ME - So this is something you do not like?
N - I think this was a bit too much.
ME - Ok, but do you in general think that the interaction between the artist (DJ in this case) and the crowd is important? Eye contact, smiling back at them for example?
N - I would say if it comes out naturally then yes. But too much of it is not that good either. I mean if a DJ is just naturally not looking up at crowd and too focused on his music, I find it
72 fine. They do not need to do it if this is not the way they are. But sometimes it is nice. There should always be some golden mean you know.
ME - Ok, and what about some extra things like art installations, food courts or anything like this? Do you find it important for the festival to have?
N - I am not interested in this kind of things at all. I mean you know I go to festivals for music, so I do not care that much about food, installations and all those things. Well, actually they also had it this time I went and it was not bad and I guess for some people it might be cool actually. But for me I do not care that much, but it looked nice I must admit. You know what was actually a cool addition. So PP did these two events - day on and day off. Day on was like 1 month...no, sorry, 2 months before the actual festival, so I think around March this year. And Day Off was 1 day before the festival.
Me - So you went to both of them? How much did you pay for the tickets?
N - I went to Day On only in March. It was around 20 euros I think. Do not remember it that well. But it was good, I would say it is a good way to promote your festival before, so you have a possibility to show people the atmosphere of your festival, the organization. This Day On was very good in terms of organization, it was very well thought through. So I think it is good for the festivals to arrange something like this.
Me - I agree. You know here they also organize this kind of events for one of the biggest festivals, but since it got so big it is hard to really understand what is going on there.
N - Exactly. So another thing is that PPF grew a lot this year. I see they were really trying to focus on foreign crowd as well. Their website was translate in English, then they had all this information about our city, you could arrange tourist taxis on the websites. All these sort of things. So of course it is good, it was just another level. So maybe I am just being too picky, the festival is just getting bigger so of course it would not be a cozy small event like before anymore. Sorry, I remembered something else. Something that I find important as well, or did I already mention this during focus group? I honestly do not remember. Ok, it is that it is important to schedule the DJs properly.
73 Me - Yep, you mentioned this. So that the big DJs will not be playing together?
N - Yes, I mean, not big DJ specifically but the important ones, the ones with the same vibe kind of. Because then you can still have some time for example DJ 1 starts at 23:00 and then the second one on another stage at 23:30 so you can still see the first one for 30 minutes, and so on. But still it is not that good. I could not see one DJ I really like because of this, just made it for like 15 minutes of his set. I think they should schedule it more smart.
Me - Yes, had the same issues before many times. But how do you think they can change this? Since everyone will have different priorities anyways. So maybe nothing would clash for you but it would clash for someone else.
N - Yes, of course. But like this year putting DJ Nobu and Hunee at the same time was just not good. In this case both are headliners and I think they should have been put separately. Maybe do voting for this before? To see which are the DJs that everyone is waiting for the most? And then based on this create schedules, maybe put them apart.
Me - It could be interesting actually. Because I was thinking how can festivals actually increase engagement before/after festivals you know. Do you have any other ideas?
N - Actually PPF is posting in Telegram. A lot. And I do not like how they do it. I mean it is about your post engagement I guess. So they post a lot of subjective comments, stuff like “so it has been a week since PPF. It is hard. We miss it so much.” you know? And just writing something every single day. At least if it was not that subjective, I think this kind of posts should be objective always. Give facts, post good pictures. But what is the point of planting sadness every single day? Maybe here I am also too harsh but yes that’s how I feel.
Me - Can you send me their Telegram channel then so I can have a look?
N - Sure, will send it to you after we are done. Sorry and I remember something else, that’s for your engagement as well. So on one of the festivals Tinkoff (a Russian bank) gave our free bank cards that were valid for around 3 months and which you could top up on the festival. So you come to the festival, get this credit card, top up and pay with it. And the best thing is that you could still be using it after the festival in any kind of shops around or
74 wherever you want. I think it is a good example of exchanging the target audiences. So it is beneficial for both sides in this case. So it is important to find some interesting ways of collaborating, I think this kind of sponsorships can help the engagement actually, so it is not just dumb thing like having an alcohol brand as a sponsor and there is nothing but the images all around you know. When it is interactive and useful it is cool. Or for example as well Martini did something for the club in Saint Petersburg. They produced reusable plastic cups with the lights on the bottom. I would not say it is as useful but it at least looked very cool, so you go around in the darkness and then there are all these cups with pink and red lights.
Me - The Tinkoff thing sounds amazing actually, never heard about something like this. Super interesting. And moving back to what do you find the most important on festivals? I know you already answered in the focus group, but maybe you have anything else to say?
N - Well, I still think the most important is to understand who your crowd is and their psychology. This way you know how to target them, you know what they need, you know how to set up a proper atmosphere. I said that the atmosphere matching the music is the most important for me. Also the organization level, I think there should not be situations like huge lines on entrance with no one knowing what to do and where to go. Also the personal of the festivals I think should wear branded clothes. And be friendly. Last time as well the cleaning personnel was not even cleaning, they were just throwing all cups, bottles and trash to the ground and then moped it. And it was all happening on the dancefloor full of people. They could even do volunteering, I know a lot of people would join the festivals to volunteer and help cleaning.
Me - Ok, thanks a lot, this is very helpful! And by the way, a bit about your music listening habits - do you listen to a lot of music? Different genres?
N - Oh, yes. I am listening to new music every single day. I do not get how people listen to the same music all the time when there are so many great artists and producers from all over the world. I would say I am obsessed with music, this is something that help me to get energy, calm down, it can help with anything really. And yes all kind of genres. Just recently I also started appreciated classical music. It is such a pure feeling, do not know how to describe it. Isn’t it crazy what people are capable of? What kind of masterpieces they come up with.
75
Me - A nd do you have a specific favorite DJ or artist that you go to see on these festivals?
N - I cannot really say because I listen to many… well, first of all I have a very bad memory for names, and I listen to something that speaks to me on the personal level, something that is matching my internal harmony, do not know how to explain this.
Me - A nd is it important for you to see DJs playing live?
N - Yes, it is. When I see festivals like Tomorrowland or something like this like very big ones, of course I would like to attend them but I would still still not go to this kind of huge festivals, of course PPF is still more like local even though I said they grew this year. I just don’t understand how can you stand at the very end of the stage, I just do not see the point. But no, of course, you have this group of people and they also bring something to the event like money for the organizers and I understand it, because even the coziest festival would still need to make money, but in this case their first motivation should be music. But still for me it is very important to see the DJ, well, you know that I need to see how they work, I can just stare at them for hours and it adds to the, kid of, whole picture of the festival. That you came here specifically to see some person (a DJ) or just discovered him, but you see how he is working and you learn his personality this way. For example when I saw DJ Babu he was, like, a bit closed kind of, not looking up at the crowd, and he was still creating some kind of perception of himself this way. And then what I told you about Egyptian Lover, like he was so open and was more about the party vibe, trying to make everyone in this mood. It was also cool but specifically for me it was not something I loved, it felt a bit like he was trying to sell himself. But anyways I checked him Instagram and saw he had quite nice sense of humor. So what’s the most important for me in an artists is when he is in harmony with himself, this is definitely a must for anyone, and especially for a person that is doing art, doesn't matter if it’s artists, DJ, producer or painter, and sharing it with people. For these people the most important is to be in harmony with themselves. And I think these people do not get stressed about things, I am not sure I am answering your question anymore..but yes anyways, for me the most important is to see the person and to understand if he is in harmony with himself or not, you can always see it and it’s very important. Very important to see them live, because i do not just come for listening to some sounds but to see who is behind the sound and who is capable of creating this kind of vibe in the place.
76 I will let you know if I remember someone I really like, of course there are some DJs that I like..ah actually Disclosure. I like them a lot. Even though they are a bit pop now and it’s a good brand, but they are not arranging million tours all over like Scorpions with their last tour (laughing), never ending. And I like that they are a bit… independent I guess? They do not feel like commercial like Hunee now for example, that I think only plays to get money. And Disclosure are not touring that much at all. They leave their production a bit unreachable, not monetizing it at fullest, yes, this is what’s important. I understand that for example Peggy Gou is super good at monetizing her production, like playing one track at every single party and everyone likes it but then they’re losing something, like I think I have a too sophisticated taste (laughing) and for me then something is missing when everything is monetized, it becomes a bit boring, for both artist, even though they are getting more money but also losing some joy doing this, for the artist and for the fans.
Me - Thank you N, you are contributing so much to my questions, that’s super cool! I also wanted to ask you about the venue of the festivals, if it is important for you?
N - Of course, I think it’s cool we can learn from each other. And about the venue, I do not care about venue that much but it should be clean, I mean kept clean during the event, and also music should be matching with venue’s atmosphere or the other way around, it should just match. And what I mentioned about PPF before, that they should have chill areas.
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