The world’s top fifty festivals and what it says about the live music industry
The world’s top fifty festivals are big money makers and definitive of the state of the global music industry.
The world famous and iconic Coachella Festival is so big that it takes place over two consecutive weekends in the Spring. Coachella generated an insane $ 704 million in overall spending activity by consumers and businesses. It also contributed $106 million to the local economy.
Another iconic festival in the UK, Glastonbury is also a big money drawer. This year one hundred and thirty five thousand people attended. The festival increased physical sales for Adele, Mercury Rev and other indie and celebrity performers by as much as 1,009% to 6,600%.
The figures come from a report of the top festivals across the world by the B2B music publication, Festival Insights.
2016 report
The report with the world’s top fifty festivals was released in September this year. The rankings are made up of factors such as ticket revenue, capacity estimates, sponsorship estimates, and duration.
The world’s top fifty festivals reveal that genres are becoming increasingly more diverse on the world stage.
The two regions with the most successful festivals are United States and the United Kingdom. Africa, Latin America, and Asia are not quite making the top tier cut as yet but have festivals in the running.
Twenty of the world’s top fifty festivals happened in the United States or the United Kingdom. Two of them are in California and two in Florida. Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, and Austria also show up on the list with some of the world’s top festivals.
Latin America, Asia, and Africa have three spots in the world’s top fifty festivals. Fuji Rock in Niigata, Japan sits at No. 3 behind Glastonbury; Rock in Rio in Rio de Janeiro is at No. 19 in between two U.K. festivals, then Mawazine in Rabat, Morocco, is at No. 25 before Ultra Festival.
