Author | Fan Zhihui
Since the beginning of this year, the domestic performance market has entered a state of "overheating", of which music festivals are the most prominent.
The data shows that during May Day alone, 42 music festivals are staged in various places. According to data from the China Performance Industry Association, the box office revenue of national operating performances was 1.519 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 962.2%, of which 42.53% came from large-scale music festivals and concerts.
But on the other side of the heat, chaos such as setting off cold flames, rushing fences, and scalping reports, as well as stage audio reductions, late performances of artists, and insufficient transportation and catering services frequently broke out. There are also data showing that before the epidemic, music festivals accounted for half of the "one-year tours", and the disappearance rate increased from 40% to 50%, showing an increasing trend year by year.
Behind the "one hot and one cold", the question of how music festivals can be long-term and IP-based is indeed worth thinking about by the industry. After all, the real development of an industry does not depend on the expansion of capital in a rush, but also on the love and persistence rooted in the industry.
How can a music festival survive for 8 years?
At the 8th Music Industry High-end Forum 2023 last Friday, Shen Lihui, founder of Modern Sky and strawberry Music Festival, Zhang Fan, principal of Beijing Midi Music and founder of Midi Music Festival, Li Hongjie, founder of Zhangbei Music Festival and MTA Tianmo Music Festival, Jia Minshu, president of Street Sound Company and founder of Simple Life Festival, and other veterans in the music festival field talked about how to continue to develop Chinese music festivals, and there were many constructive views.
For example, Shen Lihui mentioned that although the music festival is a little involuted now, it is still necessary to differentiate what it is best at and have its own starting point; Zhang Fan believes that there are more than 3,000 counties in the country, and every city should actually have a music festival, and behind it is a way of life; Li Hongjie mentioned that no matter how many people do music festivals outside, they must still firmly stick to their original intentions and do more innovation; Jia Minshu's expansion from Taipei to Shanghai from the Simple Life Festival proposed that the music festival take root in a certain city and seek local development.
Although the festival market is hot on the surface, the reality is so cruel that it is impossible to name even a few brands of nascent music festivals. Regarding the phenomenon that Chinese music festivals are difficult to brand, Li Hongjie once told Music Xiansheng, "First of all, the brand must be related to history and time, but the music festival that is really called a brand may not have more than two hands." Probably combing, how many music festivals do you say China has a history of more than 3 years? How many are there in 5 years? How many are there in 8 years and how many are in 10 years? ”
In fact, although the current music festival market looks prosperous, there are not many that can really survive and survive. If you want to hold a music festival that is not a "one-year tour" and has a brand, many aspects are tests, such as whether there is a continuous and stable team, stable venue partners, and whether this can achieve benign operation.
Regarding the various problems exposed by the current music festival, Li Hongjie also said bluntly, "The music festival is actually the most complex form of live music, it is not like doing a concert, setting up a stage, three hours, and leaving after the performance." In the past three or four days, in fact, everyone's eating, drinking, life and entertainment are here, so it is actually not so easy. ”
If you count from the first Midi Music Festival in 2000, China's music festivals have only developed for 23 years. As a veteran of the industry, Li Hongjie can be said to have witnessed the development of Chinese music festivals from 0 to 1.
In 2007, Li Hongjie began to really devote himself to the live performance production of music festivals, first making a hip-hop stage for the Midi Music Festival, specializing in hip-hop; In the same year, he also performed two stages, Rock Girl and Hip-Hop Reggae, for the first Modern Sky Music Festival.
After two years of practical operation, Li Hongjie and less than 20 people from the magazine founded the first Zhangbei Music Festival in 2009, and the rock music festival that grew up in this poor county also became a benchmark case for learning the "music festival + cultural tourism" model in various places.
But at the same time, the music festival itself is also facing upgrading and iteration with the deepening of the market. In Li Hongjie's words, the 1.0 stage represented by the Zhangbei Music Festival focuses on the performance lineup, and the experience in all aspects is not so much refined operation; while the 2.0 stage represented by the MTA Tianmo Music Festival gives fans a more comprehensive experience and can provide greater imagination.
Indeed, as a heavy fan of perennial music festivals, the MTA Desert Music Festival really impressed me. Whether it is the unique geographical environment in the desert, the integration of the concepts of music, technology and art, and the artists who have appeared on the concept stage of Mustafar, Naboo and Supernova, as well as exquisite and shocking art installations such as Snake Valley, Interstellar Lovers, Astronauts, and Flamingos, even if they are placed in three or four hundred music festivals in China, they can present a distinct personality and recognition.
To put it simply, at the MTA Desert Music Festival, you can not only hear music from techno to hip hop, R&B, jazz, and rock music, but also feel the collision of ideas from technology, the imagination of art, and immerse yourself in a surreal multiple experience.
Li Hongjie mentioned that around 2013, he began to think about how to make a different 2.0 product from the Zhangbei Music Festival, so he went to international music festivals such as Southwest South and Coachella to investigate and began to study the Burning Man, which led to the MTA Tianmo Music Festival. He once compared it to the fact that the MTA met Coachella on the grounds of Burning Man in the south-southwest.
Today, the MTA Desert Music Festival, as the "new species of music festival" of that year, has also entered its 8th year.
It is understood that based on the control and pursuit of music quality and the resonance of the same frequency, this year's MTA Tianmo Music Festival and Shrimp Music Entertainment reached a strategic cooperation, which is believed to add another fire to the heat of the 2023 MTA Tianmo Music Festival. At the same time, the co-producer of this music festival also has the "For the World" music label, which is committed to the development of independent music industry with the concept of "being a musician", and the incubation of musicians and the creation of high-quality performance live and performance IP are also a good opportunity for young newcomers who are about to appear on the Supernova stage.
It can be seen that these 8 years are not easy, but Li Hongjie is more looking forward to its future, "MTA is like a child, hoping to use its aesthetics and taste in the three fields of music, science and technology, and art to get more resonance with young people with the same good and influence more people." ”
Where are the music festivals that represent China on the world map?
Two major events occurred in 1969: one was that Armstrong took a historic small step and landed on the moon for the first time in human history; The other is four young men who are not afraid of tigers when newborn calves raise the banner of "peace and music" in Woodstock, and together with 500,000 hippies, they create a historical moment that can go down in history.
Joel Rosenman, John Roberts, Michael Lang, and Artie Kornfeld, who organized the Woodstock Music Festival, have passed away, and today's young people are no longer rebellious and angry. Zhang Fan believes that Woodstock's mud no longer exists, but its genes of freedom, equality and fraternity will be inherited.
If Woodstock was the grandfather of music festivals, the culture is now deeply rooted around the world. At present, in countries with developed music festival culture, basically have their own representative music festivals, Japan has Fuji Rock, the United States has Coachella, the United Kingdom has Glastonbury, then, we also want to ask, the domestic music festival is now so clustered involution, but where is the music festival that can really represent China on the world map?
Fuji Rock Festival
Before answering this question, the first thing to be clear is, what kind of standards should be representative of China's music festival?
Li Hongjie believes that the first is to have international standards from a global perspective, and establish its own brand label through continuous holding, such as in addition to rock music, Japan's Fuji Rock is considered the cleanest music festival in the world; The second is to establish enough brand influence, so that fans have the trust to buy tickets without looking at the lineup, and musicians will be proud to perform at this festival.
Since its inception, the MTA Desert Music Festival has always been aiming for this. When the first session was held in 2016, Li Hongjie invited Michael Lang, founder of Woodstock, to attend the cross-border forum of the MTA Tianmo Music Festival "Technology x Music".
At the same time, the MTA Tianmo Music Festival has indeed been working hard in accordance with Li Hongjie's high standards. For example, since 2018, the MTA Tianmo Music Festival has invited the iPledge team, an environmental organization that helps the Fuji Rock Music Festival, to guide the audience to sort garbage, hoping to create a "cleanest music festival in China". In the same year, with the support of Damai, the MTA Tianmo Music Festival began to implement a more environmentally friendly ID card verification method; In 2019, it became the first music festival in China to use the "face recognition system" for ticket verification.
More importantly, on the stage of the past MTA Tianmo Music Festival, we also saw a large number of overseas artists who came to the stage of the Chinese music festival for the first time, from Alan Walker to Clean Bandit, Years & Years, Kehlani, Tove Lo, ZHU, Jay Park Park Jae-beom, etc., Tianmo gave many overseas artists a stage to show in China, and also gave domestic music fans an outlet to contact good music.
In the interview, Li Hongjie mentioned, "We have always used A&R ideas to select young musicians, Alan Walker, Tizzy T, Covert Ops, Haipengsen, KAFE. Before HU and other artists became more famous, the MTA Desert Music Festival invited them. He said proudly that Alan Walker came to Tianmo in 2016, which was also his first time to perform in China, because of this stage, he was recognized by more Chinese music fans, and the fans rose by several million, and his value also increased several times, and the listening rate of songs in NetEase Cloud also reached 1 billion.
Another advantage that other festivals may not have is that the MTA Desert Music Festival has continued strong support from the Huailai government, and the two sides have signed a contract until 2030. Li Hongjie said that we have always tried to do the right thing, and if we are lucky, we hope that when the 15th anniversary of Tianmo, the MTA Tianmo Music Festival can become a music festival representing China to the world.
In the interview, Li Hongjie also revealed that the company will also plan to do some overseas projects this year, and it is expected that in early July, a music festival of MTA sub-brands dominated by foreign artists will be held in New York; In November, a music festival called "Friends from the East" will also be launched in New York, inviting Chinese musicians such as Lingyang, Universal Youth Hostel, Combs, and Landlord's Cat, and later from South Korea, Japan, India and other Asian countries.
In addition, in order to commemorate Mr. Zhang Bo, the founder of SAG, a famous sound engineer, mixer and musician, Li Hongjie also plans to permanently name the Naboo stage Chinese "Bo" stage from this year.
Speaking of this, Li Hongjie's tone began to become heavy, "Although I have never said this to the outside world, in my heart, I have always felt that Lao Zhang is a co-founder of the Tianmo Music Festival." So, even though the other person is gone, I hope he can see that we are growing, that we are improving. That's what he worked hard for, and at least at our festival, he should always be remembered. ”
Perhaps, in the DNA of the MTA Desert Music Festival, in addition to Unique, Diverse, Fresh, Real, there is also the background of Human in the bones. It is a futuristic, inclusive, international music festival product, and has an emotional core full of human touch and universal values, just like Woodstock.
epilogue
Music festivals are never done with money, but are backed by the hard work of professionals and the resolute execution of countless details.
As a slow product, the festival is not about the head artist, but in the final analysis, it is experience and quality. As Li Hongjie said before, "The business model of the music festival is very simple, the income is only a few pieces: tickets, sponsorship, catering, peripheral products, I think the most important and valuable part is actually the brand of the music festival, but the brand is not achieved overnight, it takes time and needs to accumulate." ”
In the long run, even if platter-style music festivals will always exist, we still expect more music festivals with international vision and brand awareness to emerge. After all, more and more different alternative music festivals are the real blooming flowers that can bring real market prosperity.
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