Do we still need to go to big festivals? The ‘exclusive’ content overload

Glastonbury. Lollapalooza. Coachella. All internationally renowned music festivals, with a huge following and an impressive online presence — but are they killing off the music festival vibe?

Slowly but surely, brands, sponsors and festival organisers are adding their voices to the digital space and creating phenomenal online festival experiences. You can watch the festival via livestream (this year’s Coachella was broadcast live on YouTube), catch sponsors showing the latest festival wear from the event, read exclusive interviews with the artists on websites, and talk with the artists themselves on Twitter. All while the event is happening.

All this content is great. As people in digital, we salivate when we hear about the amount of content and stories that are being produced and how brands are pushing for it too.

Considering this, do you still need to attend a music festival when you can get most of the experience from the comfort of your own couch? Yes, the vibe isn’t the same. But the fact that you aren’t standing in queues for porta’ loos, for example, is a huge bonus.

Are we creating too much content? Are we not taking away from the experience and exclusivity of an event by broadcasting it to the world?

As people who are passionate about the digital space, and huge advocates of sharing experiences online, are we reaching a tipping point where we, as an industry, create an overload of information? Sharing too much online by taking away from the experience and not building or adding to it? TMO overload.

It is up to us to ensure that we don’t cheapen an experience. We have been fighting to get great and unique content for our clients, but when do we stop jumping on the bandwagon and start thinking more strategically about it? We need to start creating valuable stories that add to an experience vs. taking away from it. The territory is still undiscovered and it is up to us to forge our paths.

Image: Eva Rinaldi (via Flickr).