Create Your Own Music Festival Event
When trying to come up with a unique and profitable summer event, don’t forget that music festivals are all the rage. Gathering in droves to sit and listen to artists singing their favorite songs or just trying to find that new sound is what people love to do at these events.
This can be simply organized by a good booking agency with a large roster of profile artists, emerging bands and interesting new entertainment acts. In addition to reducing your overhead by getting great rates from the agency, you can also increase revenue by adding “booths” to the mix.
There’s nothing more exciting than a music festival filled with things to do. It keeps your attending audience occupied and engaged while they listen to the music. Best of all, it gives you the opportunity to rake in some extra earnings from each booth, either by a flat-rate cost for setup or a devised ticketing system where the patrons pay for tickets and you pay the vendors based on the tickets they turn in. Either way, you’re sure to keep your crowd happy with added stimulation.
Since music festivals are such a part of the “feelgood” culture you’re already a winner before starting.
The more young emerging artists you include means that you are supporting the local talent which is always an inexpensive and important thing to do. In fact, placing emerging artists between more popular talent can breath new life into your event and help the new artists gain a larger set of listeners who are attending for larger name acts.
Determining the type of music festival is entirely up to you, but sometimes a more diverse lineup is better than targeting a niche market demographic. For instance, a heavy metal festival may be less successful than a “RockFest” that includes a few heavy metal artists. Take a look at the location and decide what will be best suited for your area. You might find that to be successful with your first event, you should try to target an audience that produces big results. After you build a name for yourself, then begin to branch out into other genres. Eventually your music festival could lead to greater possibilities.
Obtaining Vendors is a huge marketing campaign and should be handled as such. When approaching your local eatery or vendor you wish to participate, ask them what they spend on marketing. Then explain that for a nominal fee, they too can participate in introducing their best food to attendees, not only increasing exposure and popularity, but also revenue they obtain from the festival attendees. You’re sure to get many on board with this simple technique.
Here are 10 Music festival styles and ideas:
Acoustic Music Style – Bring in all acoustic music artists that you can afford. Choose a quiet location with good acoustics to provide a calm atmosphere that caters to this type of music; amphitheaters are perfect for this style of music. Additionally, top it off with booths that sell folk art, comfort foods and trinkets.
New Emerging Talents Festival – Give your local artists a chance to be heard. Include a few bigger named artists from the area and separate their schedule with other, less-popular names. This will draw in a decent crowd and bring emerging talent out of the woodwork. Provide booths of local arts and foods.
RockFest – Keeping the genre the same doesn’t mean you have to bombard your audience with the same style. Rock includes several sub-genre that can be enjoyed by all. When throwing a RockFest, try to either break up your music styles a bit by providing a couple stages or by scheduling your artists in a way that you don’t lose your attendees. What I mean by this is don’t setup a 3 hour long heavy metal session when parents may be attending with children. Couple your RockFest with booths of fashion and apparel, music-related items, barbeque and chicken eateries and maybe even a piercing booth.
Latin Fever Festival – Your festival doesn’t have to be a typical music fest. Many people like to explore cultural music and dance. If you live in the south, perhaps a Latin Fever Festival is in order. Tejano music, Spanish and Cuban guitars, flamenco dancers and even a Latino magician would be the right mixture for this type of festival. Be sure that with these types of festivals that you also adjust your booth styles with Latin foods and arts.
Traditional Celtic Music Festival – Many towns have their own way to honor traditional music. With these types of festivals it is best to not just cater to the style, but to diversify your acts so that you can please the masses. What I mean by this is to keep your attendees engaged. The best way to do this at a Celtic Music Festival is to provide different types of acts and provide a Celtic ambiance. If you turn this festival into a Celtic Music concert, it may become a bit boring for some. Instead, encourage staff and vendors to wear Celtic attire to enhance the experience for your guests. Bring in vendors that produce Celtic related goods, beers and foods to make this festival really stand out.
World Culture Music Festival – Think Disney or Six Flags! Invite your attendees to a festival that features music, arts and talent from all over the world. As explained in #5, encourage your vendors and staff to wear appropriate attire to liven up the experience. Add dance acts between or even paired up with music acts to promote audience attention and a master of ceremonies to announce style changes to give your festival an additional level of organization. Be sure to separate your vendors into different worldly regions and add a special touch by creating banners that say something clever, such as “Welcome to Mexico” or “Enjoy Asian Cuisine”.
Swing and Jazz Fest – When putting together a Jazz or Swing Festival, just remember that these festivals are typically meant for an older or more refined crowd. Be sure to choose your location and decor wisely. You want to provide an ambiance that fits the style and this means that your vendor booths should match. Wine, microbreweries and Italian eateries are a great set to start with.
OctoberFest – When hosting one of these events, it’s all about the beer, the German culture and the beer. Yes beer was mentioned twice for a reason. Give your attendees something to come back for next year by introducing them to great music, great German dance artists and annual contests. These contests can be anything from the best beer in town to the best dance, attire or even foods. Let them get involved in the festival! Be sure to encourage your staff and vendors to dress accordingly and ensure you employ enough security to prevent drunken violence. You may not have a problem at your event, but when you get thousands of drunk people together, the possibility of a fight increases. Just keep that in mind.
New years Eve Party – Holiday parties can be a real treat and the more you host these types of events, the better your turnout should be the following year, especially when you pay attention to detail. When throwing a New Year’s Eve Festival/Party, you will want to make sure that this is the ONLY party people will want to attend because there is only one count-down each year and only one place people would rather be. First, if your budget (and laws) permit, shoot for fireworks! Nothing brings in the new year like a spectacular fireworks show. Next, bring in the best talent you can afford. Local talent is great, but if you can spring for a known headliner, do it. If you cannot afford one, couple your local artists with dance acts. This will not only increase the attention given to the bands, it will add an additional visual flare to your event that people will anticipate next year. Finally, bring in vendors who know how to party. Walking vendors with glowing party necklaces and bracelets, beverage vendors with glowing cups add color and movement to your festival. Food vendors with new and exciting dishes are the way to bring in the new year with new flavors and a way for people to try exciting tastes on this special holiday.
“Taste Of…” FoodFest – America loves food! This event couldn’t be easier to bring in a large attendance. Just provide food right? Wrong! When putting together a FoodFest, it is best to determine the theme. Some may be “Taste Of {insert your town here}”, with which you should bring in all restaurants and foodies from your town to participate. Whereas, a “Taste Of Barbeque” festival should only include smokehouses and barbeque joints, though the participant populous may span the entire country for participation. Whatever you choose as your theme, it should have similar entertainment included. For instance, if your town is known for bluegrass and barbeque, the “Taste Of {your town}” festival should not include techno and Chinese food, rather, it should be barbeque and bluegrass bands. It needs to make sense and must appease the masses to be successful. Finally, be sure to bring in vendors that do not take away the audience’s attention from the main events and add value to your festival. You want your attendees to be entertained by the talent you bring it, but have an outlet for those with shorter attention spans.
Author: Blue Moon Talent, Inc.