Coachella, the number one festival event of the year. Influencers dressed to the nines, celebrities everywhere and the best headliners. Every year on Instagram, I see videos and photos of everyone’s outfits and all the events from the weekend. Thousands of people are packed into the desert, A-List headliners such as Lana Del Rey, Billie Ellish, Tyler The Creator and Childish Gambino. Recently I saw a video that popped up saying that the festival used to be only a couple hundred people, rock bands used to play and everyone was dressed more in a mix of band merchandise and dessert festival wear. People who headlined were alternative artists such as Beck and Rage Against The Machine. So this had me thinking, how did Coachella become such an influencer event?
Coachella then-
Coachella was first thrown in October of 1999. Since Woodstock ‘99 was a disaster (they were known as Anti-Woodstock). Coachella was planning on being distinctly different, from the location to the bands. The origins go back to a PearlJam concert at the venue which led to the idea of Coachella. A couple hundred people attended with the sales being non-profitable. Multiple talent agencies were coming up with this idea as well, the difference was that the co-founder wanted to book “trendy artists” that weren’t topping the charts that much and group them together for a line-up. The festival was only for a weekend and had headliners (as I said before) Beck, Rage against The Machine and Tool. The tickets were priced at fifty dollars which included the general admission fee, a parking pass and a complimentary water bottle. People were there to see their favorite bands and to have a good time.
Coachella now-
Coachella now is thrown in April and spans for two weekends since 2012. In October with the temperature reaching over 100 they moved into April with the high being 87. Now with the tickets being 429$ just for GA and a VIP package it costs a good amount just to attend.With that if you want to camp there instead of renting an AirBnB the cost can be from 149$ to 11,000$ (a very pretty penny). Brands now are attending more than ever as a platform to launch new products, with that influencers go hand in hand promoting products and the brands. Social media has made a big change as well. Many influencers can get in for very little money as well with brand partnerships and promoting bands. More and more people are not buying tickets since everyone can watch it through a livestream or Youtube. With that comes my answer to why Coachella has changed over the years.