Edm Case Study

Words: 1431
Pages: 6

Identify the Key Issues and Trends facing this Industry & Business

As SFX was thought to be the leader of the EDM (Electronic Dance Music) live music events and a main competitor of Live Nation, they face the following issues in the live music industry.

Lack of Headliners
When music festival choose headliners, they want chart toppers so the festival would sell, since the revenue of a music festival is generated by ticket sales and sponsorship. Yet Harvey Goldsmith, the famous concert promoter that organized Live Aid in 1985 and worked beside the Rolling Stones, Queen, the Who and Bob Dylan, pointed out that there is not enough big acts for music festivals to be stand out, forcing headliners to be in short supply while concert promoters will
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As the new kid that has only been on the block for the last five years, EDM has no older legacy acts to support the huge amount of EDM music festivals, which forces EDM festivals to compete on themes and brands instead of music, and causing every year's line-up to look the same. To make things worse, starting since Daft Punk's legendary performance at Coachella in 2006 ,while other normal music festivals are free to invite the best EDM DJs, EDM music festivals lack the choice to go the other way around. While the current boom in music festival business is predicted to run into a natural roadblock, EDM music festivals are hitting this roadblock due to the lack of history and overloading competition, which is one of the main problems that SFX entertainment has …show more content…
For example, one of SFX Entertainment's music festivals main focus TomorrowWorld 2015, ran into a barrage of rain and thunderstorms creating dangerous conditions, leaving the festival no choice but to denying entry to anyone with only a single-day wristband or guest list spot, and leaving thousands of attendees stranded under the weather without transportation, which caused serious financial damage.

The decision of the company deciding to cancel the festival this year highlights another problem, which is location. Music festivals with large capacity will have to rent places that most of the time does not function as a festival, therefore leaving damage to landowners. Also, noise, opening hours and late night opening restrictions limit the hours that music events could operate and run, causing the price of renting farmlands and parks to go higher than ever, with a large amount of upfront money and long-term lease contracts, yet they still need to expand to different locations to get in touch with more consumers. For example, while the first TomorrowWorld has happened in 2013, SFX Entertainment has signed a lease with Bouckaert’s Farm in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia that will last untill 2025 , meaning that SFX Entertainment will pay for the use of the ground whether it is used or not, creating