‘This is one of the strangest times we have ever experienced in live music in the history of the business,’ Bill Werde, director of Syracuse University’s music business programme, told the Los Angeles Times. ‘Finding out what the new normal looks like is going to take a couple more years.’ Werde is referring to the latest slowest advanced ticket sales for Coachella in a decade. It took a month for the opening weekend tickets to sell out compared to minutes in the 2010s.
Tickets for the festival’s second weekend were even available or sold below face value by ticket reseller sites this month. The downward trend was already evident in 2023, when although weekend one sold out in just four days, weekend two never did. The most diverse and inclusive headliners in its history – Bad Bunny, Blackpink and Frank Ocean – were not enough to revive the shine that has made Coachella one of the most iconic music festivals since its inception in 1999.
Amid The Great Concert Comeback, the thriving market for live performances is now facing saturation. Fans’ purchasing behaviours have changed, and festivals now face fierce competition from solo tours by high-profile musicians. Even this year’s headliners like Lana Del Rey, Tyler, the Creator, and Doja Cat had recently wrapped up tours or festival appearances, potentially dampening fans’ enthusiasm to watch the same performance again.
Coachella also contends with rivals boasting more enticing line-ups in a crowded festival landscape, from Stagecoach to Lovers & Friends. On the same weekend as Coachella, there were a multitude of festivals across the US, with some featuring big names like Post Malone, Stevie Nicks and Sting. This intense competition marks a departure from the traditional music festival experience, giving rise to Coachella fatigue. This, in turn, is driving a quest for fresh ways to engage with and savour music festival culture.
The desert festival’s appeal to music enthusiasts waned as it moved away from its once vibrant community-centred ethos and increasingly relied on brand activations, sponsorships, pop-ups and events that had less to do with the music. Entitled influencers invited by brands replaced the feeling of belonging with an injunction to fit the same bohemian cowboy in the desert aesthetic yearly, and to over-consume fashion and beauty products while encouraging social media doomscrolling to create FOMO. But this era is over, as seen with the diminishing interest in the same traditional Millennial Instagram influencers who made Coachella less authentic.
Inflation and the cost of living crisis also contribute to this lukewarm reception of the festival. Coachella ticket prices can reach up to £442 ($549, €514), and VIP tickets can go as high as £1,021 ($1,269, €1,187) – and that is without accommodation, transport, parking and food expenses. Perhaps that’s why Couchella has become a popular alternative. This virtual experience (available in multiview on YouTube) allows fans to enjoy festival performances from the comfort of their homes.
This shift underlines a growing demand for accessibility, contrasting sharply with the discomfort often associated with attending in person. Why brave a porta-potty when you can enjoy the comfort of your own couch? ‘When you’re standing at the back of 50,000 people, it’s like: ‘Well, shoot, I can get a better seat at home and then I can do Uber Eats and have seven margaritas and this will be great’,’ says Tommy Dietrick, music producer and founder of the Desert Stars Festival in Joshua Tree.
As Coachella’s star dims, the struggle isn’t just about line-up or competition fatigue, but about a clash between authenticity and commercialisation. I forecast that intimate gatherings and non-conformist spaces built by communities will continue to redefine live music experiences in the next few years. The resurgence of the rave scene in Los Angeles offers an alternative for music enthusiasts, with intimate DIY events catering for niche audiences seeking authenticity.
The US West Coast music scene also embraces unconventional venues like Laundry Wand in Highland Park, where owner David Mollison combines live music with laundry services, attracting diverse patrons and democratising access to performances. After all, what if real magic can be found closer to home than in crowded festivals?
Ozge Sargin is a creative strategist and cultural intelligence and insights writer based in Los Angeles
