Coachella: Music Festival or Content Creation Circus?

Every year, music lovers await the arrival of festival season, usually starting off in the spring and lasting through the fall. There are tons of music festivals held all over the country and the world, but probably the most popular for the United States are Lollapalooza, New Orleans Jazz Fest, Bonnaroo, Ultra Music Festival, Austin City Limits, and the most popular of them all, Coachella.

When I first entered college, I became drawn to attend music festivals like these and have been a frequent attendee of Austin City Limits since. However, Coachella used to seem like the sort of end all be all festival to attend for huge music lovers. As a college student, I never had the chance to attend Coachella due to timing, costs, and travel but always told myself that later on I would definitely make my way there. However, over the last few years, pandemic excluded, the idea of attending Coachella became less and less appealing. Let’s dig into why that is!

If someone asked you right now what immediately pops into your head when you hear the word “Coachella” what would you think of? For many people, music would not at all be the first thought, AND IT IS A MUSIC FESTIVAL! But why is that?? With social media, people who do not get a chance to attend these festivals have the opportunity to somewhat see what it is all about through the social media posts of those attending. When it comes to Coachella though, all the social media posts seem to revolve only around the fashion, celebrity sighting, and VIP type of experiences that some attendees get to enjoy.

I recently heard someone refer to Coachella as an “influencer business conference” and I think that absolutely hits the nail on the head! For influencers, it seems like Coachella is more of a weekend to try and make as much money as possible via brand deals and a chance to show off your outfits to prove that you were there. It doesn’t seem like anyone that is attending genuinely cares at all about the music and who is playing. It truly seems like more of a fashion show and popularity contest.

Now don’t get me wrong, I live for a good fashion moment and I absolutely use my time at music festivals to strut around in an outfit I love, but it certainly isn’t my main objective. However, with Coachella being located in California, naturally the amount of celebrities that attend is going to be much higher than other festivals. Celebrity attendees is actually one of the main factors that has made Coachella so appealing because it has created a sort of elevated and high-demand type of event. But with celebrity attendees, high amounts of influencers, and other California residents attending this festival, it has lead to the focus of the event to shift more towards fashion and the business within fashion.

This concept of Coachella being a big moment for fashion is nothing new, and in the past, Coachella and its fashion has sort of set the scene for festival fashion, typically with a more bohemian flair. Festival fashion is also a big player in festival culture as a whole. I used to look forward seeing what my favorite influencers would wear to Coachella and sort of get ideas for myself, but this past year has just seemed so unappealing and underwhelming for me. The fashion sort of seems like everyone is wearing different versions of the same thing, wearing clothes that are in no way practical, and wearing items that are just obscenely expensive for one day sweating in the desert. However, my point isn’t to discuss whether or not the festival fashion at Coachella is appealing, but more of just expressing my frustration with the objective of Coachella being focused on fashion and not the music.

With influencers, celebrities, and fashion brands pumping out content after content for Coachella, it makes me wonder if anyone attended Coachella simply for the music. This year has such a strong line up including Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, The Weekend, Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, and many other really great acts, but majority of what I have seen has been outfits. Because of this, it also makes the vibe of the festival and the attendees seem inauthentic and not at all in line with the core point of the festival, which is the music. Additionally, my brain has pretty much cast aside Coachella as a music festival and just sees it as an influencer and celebrity party. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy that those individuals have a place to create content and do what they have to do to make their money, but it almost seems as if the music at Coachella is simply background noise to the content creation circus that this event has become. For many artists, playing at Coachella is a huge moment for their careers and a major milestone, but I know I am not alone with thinking that the event as a whole has started to lose its luster.

So what does that mean for Coachella? Well, I think that the festival as a whole will slowly start to move away from being this huge music event, and instead play into more of the influencer and celebrity paradise. I do not necessarily think that is a bad thing, because I mean why not play into the audience you attract and make that money? But because at this rate, if you attend Coachella and aren’t some sort of content creator, you basically are treated as a nobody and are surrounded by the content creation circus where you don’t even feel the loving energy that most music festivals typically give off. Additionally, it seems like Coachella isn’t even a place that normal music lovers would even feel comfortable or welcome to attend. Overall, it just feels like Coachella is losing its credibility as a music event and has turned into something completely different. For an average music lover like myself, the thought of spending the money to attend Coachella seems like such a giant, annoying hassle and not at all appealing, especially when the other music festivals I mentioned have similar line ups.

So what do you think? Do you think that Coachella has started to lose its notoriety as one of the largest music festivals? Do you think that the festival will shift more towards appealing to those content creators? Do you think that this is simply the Coachella culture and those that get it, get it and those that don’t, don’t? Or do you think that I am just being a hater? Please let me know!