How are music festivals changing?

How are music festivals changing? What does this reveal about the music industry, identity and target audiences?

Music festivals have rapidly changed over the past years; they have now diversified which has included music which targets a niche audience, there are festivals such as ‘Big Chill’ which targets an audience that have past their best, who used to go to raves in their younger years. Music festivals have become more corporate, festivals such Glastonbury and V festival now have large food and drink companies selling their products. Ticket prices are sky high, reaching £200 for the more expensive festivals; this supports the ideology that music festivals are becoming more mainstream. Also the prices have risen because of revenue streams, because of illegal downloading, artists need to make their money through festivals because they don’t through retail.  At many of the major festivals there are numerous stages, this has caused audience segmentation. It means that a lot more people go to the festivals however; they are split into niche audiences due to the interests of the audience. The reason that people are going to music festivals is changing, they now go for the experience, however, it is not what it once was. There is now upmarket and people can rent luxury tents. The music festivals are changing dramatically and it is affecting its audience and the artists there.