Success in the Dutch music festival market: the role of format and content

Nowadays, music festivals are very important for generating revenue streams in the music industry. However, studies on what makes music festivals a success are scant. In this article, a conceptual model to explain the success of music festivals is introduced and tested. Such a model seems pressing now that competition in the music festival industry is increasing. Our conceptual model includes variables that are under the control of music festival organizers, namely format and content characteristics. The content features include scope of the audience, lineup, age, and having a theme or message. Budget, ticket price, location, and having a maximum visitor capacity make up the format features. The model is tested with data from 47 music festivals in the Netherlands. The results show that relatively newer festivals can achieve good growth in terms of visitor attendance, especially if they have a narrow scope (niche). Interestingly, this is true for both large and small festivals. Our findings are important with respect to music festival diversity and choice for audiences, which may be at risk due to increasing competition. The fact that several festivals have a capacity constraint seems to be beneficial for diversity as well. Interestingly, budgets (and star lineup and ticket price), theme, and location are largely nonsignificant predictors of success.