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Coachella 2024: is its popularity decreasing each year?

The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Casper Libero chapter.

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is an annual festival that counts on different kinds of music, but began as a rock event. It happens in Indio, California at the Empire Polo Club. It was idealized and co-founded by Paul Tollet and Rick van Santen in October 1999 as a two-day festival. Art and colors are a remarkable characteristic of it since the first day.

COACHELLA 2024

The 25th edition took place from the 12th until the 21st of April and the line-up of the year was composed of a diverse nationality of artists such as the K-pop group ATEEZ, Lana Del Rey, Sabrina Carpenter, Blur, Young Fathers, Erika de Casier, Doja Cat, J Balvin, Ludmilla and Carlita.

However, this year, Coachella decided to innovate: they gave what everybody always wants in a show – a surprise, a plus! The list of musicians was extended including, to do so, more stages and hours of festival. Twelve more music stars and six more songs hours!

However, aspects show that, maybe, this music bonus didn’t pay off… This year, distinctly from the others since 2011, the event hasn’t sold out the tickets a few days after going on sale. According to Billboard, Coachella took 27 days to sell less than 128,000 tickets for the first weekend, whereas in 2023 the sold-out happened in only four days.

OK, BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

So, the thing that comes to everybody’s mind is: Coachella’s popularity is decreasing?

A lot of hypotheses come from everybody who analyzes and talks about entertainment. Some of them are:

  • Is the interest in big festivals decreasing?
  • Are the youngest ones (the main target audience) becoming more house worms?
  • Unimpressive lineup?
  • Or is the economic context the main issue?

The most accepted idea is the last one, especially because the cheapest ticket was around US$ 550 due to the inflation and economic scenario in the USA. People can’t afford as many tickets as they used to in the previous years when the festival had to organize VIP and more days of music and enjoyment for its audience.

The other suggestions are less possible since these reunite a wide range of music interests, so they do attract a notorious crowd. Furthermore, music is something that connects people by their hearts and souls, in this way, it’ll always be an extremely alluring experience. The lineup, on the other hand, counts with huge music contemporary names, such as Lana Del Rey, J Balvin, and Doja Cat, catching the eye of most fans around the globe.

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The article above was edited by Duda Kabzas.

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Marina Buozzi

Casper Libero '27

A journalist in formation passionated about Communication and discovering new stories, living unusual experiences and learning different things.