Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues have been closing left and right in an effort to “flatten the curve” by increasing social distancing through banning the congregation of large crowds. With these closed venues comes canceled events, including music festivals, where event-goers have purchased tickets months beforehand and arranged for travel to attend.
On March 6, 2020, Ultra canceled their event, Ultra Music Festival as a result of the City of Miami’s decision two weeks before the event was scheduled to take place, noting that the event scheduled for the weekend of March 20, 2020 will be postponed until the weekend of March 26, 2021.
However, Ultra announced that they would not issue refunds but rather honor the 2020 tickets for their event in 2021. This announcement was met with backlash among event-goers who had purchased their tickets up to months before the event.
Goldenvoice’s Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals, originally scheduled for April 2020, were postponed to October later this year at the direction of the County of Riverside and local health authorities. However, both musical festivals offered full refunds to those who had purchased tickets and no longer want to attend the postponed event.
Some individuals compared how Goldenvoice had a better response to the pandemic compared to UMF in terms of refunds.
The same day California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that events with over 250 people are to be canceled on March 12, 2020, Insomniac’s postponed their Beyond Wonderland Socal event to late June after leaving inquiring event-goers without any updates for weeks. However, the company’s owner, Pasqual Rotella, announced that full refunds will be issued for those who are unable to or no longer want to attend the event. People commented that this was a responsible decision considering recent events and applauded Insomniac for issuing full refunds after seeing how Ultra had responded.
Insomniac’s Electric Daisy Carnival is scheduled to take place months from now and will be moving forward as planned. However, event-goers are skeptical of whether or not the event will happen if the COVID-19 pandemic continues to worsen in the upcoming weeks. Some even commented that it was irresponsible of the event company to move forward with the event considering the increase of COVID019 cases in the U.S.
In all of these cases, each music festival organizer took different approaches on how to respond to the situation. In some cases, some individuals were understanding of the decision while others were upset and angry. Of course, it’s nearly impossible to please everyone in these instances. What do you think would be the best course of action for music festivals during this time of pandemic that would mitigate damage to the brand?
References
https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/touring/9332232/coachella-stagecoach-rescheduled-coronavirus
https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/touring/9331890/ultra-music-festival-miami-no-refund-coronavirus
https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/dance/9333990/insomniac-events-beyond-wonderland-socal-rescheduled-coronavirus
https://www.businessinsider.com/california-bans-gatherings-250-prevent-coronavirus-six-foot-spacing-rule-2020-3
4 Responses to Music festival brands on the line amid the COVID-19 pandemic