Are We Forgetting the Purpose of Music Festivals?

filthyfriday.com

Last week during the first ever EDMBiz Conference in Las Vegas, EDC founder Pasquale Rotella announced in front of a room filled with top financial execs, industry promoters and artists that he is no longer interested in booking "big name" acts for his festivals.  An article on Billboard.biz. quotes Rotella, 

"Our strategy moving forward is we don't want to book the big guys.  I don't want to be a promoter.  My passion is not selling tickets and making money.  I want to create an experience.  You don't need to book the big acts who sell out arenas"..."The DJ is important and has a job to do, but I want the budget to bring in art and production. We balance through negotiation.  They get higher fees somewhere else, but they feel our shows are special."

When question by other panel members on his controversial stance, Rotella carried on by bringing up Burning Man, a leave no trace festival which he attends every year in Nevada's Black Rock Desert.  Burning Man doesn't book any big name talent, yet it sells out year after year for it's celebration of life and all forms of bare art, i.e. sculptures, paintings and an assortment of music.  It's refreshing to hear that Rotella wants to provide his customers will an all around experience, rather than charging them hand and foot to see some of the biggest names in the business right now (who by the way were too good to show up on day three of EDC after day two was cut short due to the weather, cough cough Tiesto).   We're interested to see what Insomniac has in store for next year, as well as the years following the burst of this gigantic EDM bubble.