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Music festivals in 2024 will offer more diversity of styles, there will be more pop than rock, they will be more polarized between the big stars and the rest of the artists on the lineup, they will have even more sponsors and we will be able to follow them up-to-the-minute on TikTok and Instagram because influencers are the new favorite toy of marketing teams. These are some of the conclusions reached by several experts in the sector consulted by EL MUNDO.

There are all kinds of opinions about festivals, they also have a growing critical mass crystallized in Nando Cruz's book Macrofestivals: the black hole of music. However, the figures are resounding: live music is experiencing a golden moment in terms of turnover, with a record turnover of 459 million euros in 2022, and an increasingly important portion of that big pie is festivals. The number of attendees at these events has continued to increase and so has its own variety, both in musical genres and format, from giant venues for 70,000 people to proposals for the family.

So, for the time being, even if some festivals cancel their editions or suffer a crisis, we will not see the bubble burst. These will be some of the keys we will see in 2024:

THE RAPID CRISIS OF INDIE ROCK

"We're never going to see a festival with the same line-up again," says Nacho Córdoba, director of Madrid's Dcode festival. "Young people, who are the main audience for big festivals, want to see variety. For them, mixing styles is the norm, they like very different artists with the same passion and they have the criteria to differentiate when a mix makes sense and when it doesn't."

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Music.

Madrid, the supercapital of concerts: "Things are happening that we have never seen before"

  • Written by: PABLO GIL Madrid

Madrid, the supercapital of concerts: "Things are happening that we have never seen before"

Music.

Lana del Rey, Pulp and SZA, headliners of a Primavera Sound faithful to its origins

  • Written by: PABLO GIL Madrid

Lana del Rey, Pulp and SZA, headliners of a Primavera Sound faithful to its origins

It's something that has already been perceived in recent years: posters that combine artists of very different styles. What's going to be less of it is what we've seen the most for 25 years: indie rock bands. That sound of guitars and urgent anthems has been the ABC of Spanish festivals, but it is going through a severe existential crisis. Neither foreigners nor Spaniards will be the protagonists next summer. "It's a sound that has fallen quite a bit internationally, but in Spain it was still working until now, when it has plummeted," explains Córdoba. "What's very strong is fan pop, it's gone up to the beast; On tour, it has gone from halls to sports palaces and at festivals no one is going to accuse you of being sold out for including those types of artists."

Urban music will continue to gain more prominence, although Latin artists in general are not convinced to come to Spanish festivals (they do not amortize the trip because they do not do more festivals in Europe) and rap will continue to be quite limited to festivals specialized in hip hop.

A phenomenon that is consolidating and that has surprised programmers: the testosterone rock of the late 90s and early 20s is all the rage. "There's a very beastly uptick, both punk-pop and punk-rock, emo and nu-metal from like 41 years ago, bands like Sum 182, Simple Plan, Blink-182, Paramore... There are a lot of young people reclaiming that sound." Precisely, it will be strange if we don't see Blink-<> or Paramore again in the summer, as well as the revived Limp Bizkit.

SUPER HEADLINERS

The artists placed at the top of the line-up are becoming more and more stellar and have a more differential prominence. That horizontal festival in which there are many groups that paint the same thing is a story that no one believes anymore. "The cachet of headliners has gone up quite a bit, in general they only perform with more complex and personalized shows, and they charge for it," says Ella McWilliam at BIME, the music sector congress held every autumn in Bilbao. "That has led to an increase in the price of season tickets and made it more difficult for the promoter to make money," continues McWilliam, who is director of London-based marketing and communications company Full Fat Agency.

What will be the problem in 2024? That there is not much on offer of great artists to headline a festival. It is a weak year in which the headliners will be, in general, old acquaintances, several sources agree. Olivia Rodrigo has been the most hotly contested option, but in the end she won't be doing summer festivals next year. There was talk of a Talking Heads reunion, but it didn't materialize.

In general, stadium artists like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé or Metallica don't need to do festivals; Foo Fighters, Bruce Springsteen and AC/DC are bidding from that league. Primavera Sound has already announced its line-up with three resounding headliners: Lana del Rey, SZA and the Pulp reunion. And Azkena Rock too: Queens of The Stone Age, Sheryl Crow and Jane's Addiction.

To find out who many of the headliners will be in 2024, just look at who is touring sports palaces, such as Dua Lipa, The Smashing Pumpkins or Måneskin: place your bets.

YOU'LL SEE IT ON TIKTOK

TikTok is the new festival fetish, and, to a lesser extent, Instagram. On the one hand, promoters study trends to locate groups with a pull and even decide to make a contract; On the other hand, they reach agreements with content creators to promote the event. We've experienced it in an embryonic way this summer and last and we'll get bored of seeing it in 2024.

"Social media isn't new, but the way the public behaves around it is new," McWilliam explains. "It's very important for festivals to move with their audience and communicate through the channels that this audience usually uses, that's why collaboration with content creators is going to go up a lot."

Does that mean that traditional media is, ahem, in decline? No, according to this expert. "Traditional media brings enormous value to festivals as brands. A good review in a newspaper gives a recognition, a trust and a prestige that no comment from a content creator can achieve," says McWilliam, who recalls: "Kids don't read newspapers, but their parents do, and in general they are the ones who provide the money and permission for a subscription."

MORE MARKINGS THAN A PILOT'S OVERALLS

If sponsored spots in the middle of the venue and brand-named stages bother you, get your best swear words for 2024 ready. Festivals are at a crossroads: they invest more in caches, but it is very unpopular to raise the price of tickets and subscriptions so, in order to end the year with profits, many will bet on increasing the number of sponsors. "But it's important for festivals to work with brands in a way that can be authentic," McWilliam explains.

"Brands will strive to create a unique experience to enhance the connection with people. It's not just about setting up a space," sums up this marketing expert, who predicts a greater profusion of brands in everything related to festivals.

MORE PUBLIC, MORE SELECTIVE

"In recent years the public goes to fewer festivals, it has become more selective. People think about it a lot and every summer they go to one or two at most," says McWilliam. She points to the increase in the cost of living and, above all, the rise in the price of season tickets as factors that explain this trend.

If people go to fewer festivals, how do you explain the increase in the number of tickets sold? Quite simply: because there are many more people going to music festivals than 10 years ago, and that number is going to continue to increase, according to all forecasts. Not only in Spain, but throughout Europe, says McWilliam.

"In this increase in audiences we are going to see a higher percentage of foreign audiences, especially British ones," says this agent with an office in London. "The British love Spanish festivals. They find them affordable, the weather is great, there are many flights and the experience of coming goes beyond the music. For a Brit, coming to a festival in Madrid, Barcelona or Bilbao is a holiday in which, in addition to concerts, they see many other things, get to know a new country... There is a huge interest in the UK for this type of experience," he concludes.

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