With all the excitement around Coachella, I know a lot of you are watching from home, wishing you were there for Justin Bieber. And honestly? Same. My FOMO’s never been worse. But here’s the thing: Coachella is very inaccessible to students on a budget, and honestly, anyone who isn’t being sent for free. When you actually break down the cost, attending comfortably requires thousands of dollars. Plural.
What’s wild is that Coachella didn’t start this way, and it definitely wasn’t meant to become the spectacle it is today.
The start of Coachella.
Coachella actually began as a protest against Ticketmaster. Founder, Paul Tollett, created this festival after his company struggled to book artists due to the competition from bigger companies like Ticketmaster. Originally, Coachella actually began as an affordable festival with “free parking and a well-behaved crowd”, but has now become an insanely expensive, highly commercialized event, packed with brand deals, celebrity appearances, and influencer culture.
What we see online.
Now unless you’re an influencer being sponsored by a brand to attend Coachella for free while staying in an all paid air bnb, with free goodies on top of that, Coachella may not be the lavish event you’re imagining.
Most of what we see online is very curated. Influencers are attending Coachella through a brand partnership meaning their biggest concern is putting together outfits and capturing content—not budgeting or logistics. The reality is that the perfectly edited content posted by influencers is something most attendees can’t and won’t experience.
The reality of Coachella.
In reality, Coachella is an event far more enjoyable and accessible for affluent individuals or those with brand sponsorships. Lets just think about what the Coachella experience would be if we were trying to go with the cheapest most attainable option as college students. With the weather experienced in the Coachella Valley desert, air conditioning would be ideal. Yet the cheapest option for attending Coachella is car camping. This can cost up to $400, the closer you want to be to the venue, the more you have to pay. Additionally, if you want upgraded restroom and shower facilities, you might have to pay up to $620. For air bnbs and hotels, those cost a few thousand for a weekend, actually a couple months worth of rent. On top of that the food and drinks at Coachella are very expensive, just like how much it would be at Disney, or even six flags. And this is without factoring in travel tickets, gas, outfits, and other mundane purchases. So when you add it all up, Coachella seems more like an exclusive luxurious experience rather than a music festival. Not to say Coachella isn’t fun, but it does mean we should be more aware of how the festival operates and what tax bracket the event is truly enjoyable for.