New York Musical Stage and The Panorama Festival

After the Panorama festival entered the New York City music festival scene, Founders Entertainment, the independent promoters that produce the Governors Ball entered into negotiations with Live Nation for the large concert promotion company to purchase a majority stake in Founders Entertainment (Nelson, 2016). According to Billboard magazine online, “A festival arms race of sort s has been playing out between Live Nation and rival AEG Live, as both aggressively seek to build their respective festival portfolios in what has been the most successful sector of the live music business for the past decade (Waddell, 2016). AEG is considered to be the front runner in the competition by Billboard because it owns or has a stake in 30 music festival in North America. This large concert promoter may now be the cause of one of the last remaining independent promoters losing its independence as Founders Entertainment “is now headed toward an alignment with the world’s Largest promoter” (Waddell, 2016).

Ultra Music Festival - EDM Festivals, SFX and the Impact on the Festival Marketplace

Electronic dance music is quickly becoming the hottest music of the millennial generation. In fact, it can arguably be called the music of the 2010 through 2020 decade due to its immense popularity (Heitner, 2013). “With popular DJs including Tiesto, Avicii, Calvin Harris, Kaskade, David Guetta and plenty others commanding performance fees in the tens-to-hundreds of thousands of dollars (per performance), radio airplay on traditional pop stations and an increasing number of collaborations with artists in other genres, EDM has become a favorite type of music on the airwaves and at public performances. And a favorite yearly event among fans of EDM is Miami, Florida-based Ultra Music Festival, which is a part of UMF Worldwide” (Heitner, 2013). With the aforementioned highly paid stars and its increasing popularity, the music festivals of this genre are thriving as well. One would expect that electronic dance music festivals are over-the-top when compared to other music festivals and they are right; furthermore, there is a booming market for these festivals in the United States. “The US has become the largest market for the super-sized, pyrotechnics-driven events called ‘EDM festivals’” (Garcia, 2014). This type of music festival, which can be consider by many to be a slightly newer form of the music festival, is fast becoming the most popular type of music festival for festival goers. “While Coachella 2006 was certainly a turning point for the mainstream profile of electronic music, it wasn't until about 2010 that festivals devoted exclusively to electronic music came into their own in the US. Since then, they've turned into a lucrative and culturally significant industry, which has also begun to influence the global festival circuit” (Garcia, 2014). With the growth of this type of music festival, there are also some concerns about fan safety.

Rise And Fall Of SFX

SFX Entertainment, a company started in the 1990s by Robert Sillerman, reemerged in 2012 to take over the electronic dance music scene (808SJake). Silllerman’s first SFX Entertainment was sold to Clear Channel in 2000 for $4.4 billion; this SFX Entertainment later developed into Live Nation Entertainment. IN 2012, Sillerman hoped that his new SFX Entertainment would be just as successful as it predecessor had been for Live Nation. “From June of 2012 through today, they’ve made a number of acquisitions that have included everything from some of the biggest EDM promoters in the world to companies that handle buying tickets. Instead of just going after one particular portion of the EDM pie, Sillerman plans on not only controlling the entire pie, but changing the way you eat it” (808SJake). The company had acquired: Disco Donnie Presents, Dayglow LLC, The Voodoo Experience, Huka Entertainment, Beatport, ID&T, Miami Marketing Group, Totem OneLove, Arc90, Fame House, Tunezy, Made Event, Rock in Rio, i-Motion, and Paylogic (808SJake). With these acquisitions as part of his company, Sillerman planned to take conquer the electronic dance music world (Mac & Gara, 2015).

One could officially declare Sillerman’s plan to take over the electronic dance music scene a failure in 2015. “Sillerman is now in a fight to salvage SFX Entertainment, which went public at $13 a share and was valued at more than $1 billion in Oct. 2013. On Friday, the stock closed at 91 cents a share. SFX now has a market capitalization of $88 million” (Mac & Gara, 2015). As SFX Entertainment is now on the brink of bankruptcy, one has to wonder where the company and Stillerman went wrong.

The plan for SFX Entertainment seemed simple enough: roll up local EDM event organizers under one umbrella organization that could drive profits by providing structure and efficiency. It wasn’t a plan too dissimilar to Sillerman’s to moves with the original SFX where he spent more than $1.2 billion to gobble up regional rock promoters, venues and management companies in the late 90s (Mac & Gara, 2015).

Sillerman believed that due to the popularity of EDM festivals around the globe, this music scene would be the new rock and roll for millennials. In 2015, however, Sillerman became embattled in a lawsuit with acquaintances who allege that they devised the idea to consolidate the EDM industry (Mac & Gara, 2015). Furthermore, according to business analysts the holding company management and board of directors are to blame for the SFX Entertainment’s problems, not the festival and business unit levels of the company (Mac & Gara, 2015). Due to its financial problems and the unlikeliness that Sillerman has the ability to bring the company back to one that performs strongly financially, there is a chance that the company may be sold off so that Sillerman can get out from under it. One possible buyer for SFX Entertainment is Live Nation, the company that developed out of Sillerman’s original SFX Entertainment.

EDM Festivals May Be Losing Popularity

In March of 2016 the Miami Herald reported that the electronic dance music craze may be starting to fade in a similar manner as that of disco (Levin, 2016). Although all of the tickets to Ultra were sold out, at this year’s event there were significant signs that the popularity of the electronic dance music scene may begin to quickly diminish. “’EDM is over – it’s like disco,’ says Vanessa Menkes, former head of communications for the now disbanded Opium Group, whose cubs including Mansion and Set dominated South Beach nightlife for years. ‘In 2005, you could open your doors on a random Saturday and make $150,000. Those days are not coming back” (Levin, 2016). The article goes on to state that electronic dance music may have peaked in 2013 (Levin, 2016).

Several factors may contribute to the decline in the popularity of electronic dance music. One significant factor which may affect the music genre’s popularity is the prohibitive cost of a club outing to enjoy being part of the music craze. “Many of the music-loving clubgoers that are the genre’s core audience have been alienated by spiraling entry and drink prices that put the cost of even a minimal night out well over $1000, even as clubs cater to wealthy customers who spend thousands in VIP sanctums” (Levin, 2016). One reason for the large price tag associated with enjoying a night out at a club where electronic dance music is featured is due to the price tag that the most popular DJs can command The genre is dominated by a few superstar DJ/artists such as Calvin Harris, Diplo, Tiesto, and Skrillex (Levin, 2016). These top earners can command as much as $400,000 to give a show at a club. “According to one Miami music insider, when Mansion booked leading DJ Afrojack for more than $150,000 shortly before the club ended its 11-year run last fall, it couldn’t draw enough of an audience to break even” (Levin, 2016). In addition, many music industry insiders speculate that the popularity the popularity of electronic dance music that led to a rush of corporate sponsorship is ruining the genre as commercialized music for social media hits and profit are replacing artistic music. Furthermore, the limited number of acts that can headline this genre of music has led the aforementioned few giving a large number of repeat performances causing fans to slowly losing interest in attending electronic dance music events.

In fact, according to Pitchfork, an online music new magazine, the bubble has already burst for electronic dance music and the craze which is now characterized as a fad had already started on a dramatic downhill plummet. Contributing editor Philip Sherburne states, “the only thing the media loves more than a success story is a spectacular fall, and thus the death knell for EDM has been ringing louder and louder in recent months” (2016). The article goes on to state that the top acts in the genre were commanding more money than they were worth as the result of a fast growing fad; the decline in the popularity of electronic dance music is simply an example of the market correcting itself (Sherburne, 2016). Thus, many music industry commentators are attributing the beginning of a decline in the popularity of electronic dance music to the fact that it never should have been as popular as it has when it peaked in 2013.

The Music Festival Bubble

One of the reasons for the increase in the popularity of music festivals over the last decade is the changing landscape of the music industry as a whole. There was a time when tapes and CDs accounted for the majority of sales in the music industry. However, the Internet has changed the way revenue is generated in the music industry, and along with it, the music festival industry. “The growth in the number of music festivals over the last decade and half has coincided with a big shift in how people buy recorded music – if they buy it. And now streaming services like Spotify, Pandora, and, soon, Apple’s Beats are reinventing the model again” (Robinson, 2015). This new type of distribution has had a significant effect on the music industry as a whole. The means by which music is promoted and distributed has changed in favor of new bands with little cash. “Thanks, to easy online distribution and promotion of music, an upstart act can find an international audience with as little as one song to their credit” (Currin, 2014). Due to the fact that music festival attendees can go online and check out the acts on a festival’s lineup for free ahead of time, bands can often draw far larger crowds at festivals than they can draw at their own show. Thus, online music access and has helped lead to a phenomenon in which music festival tickets are one of the hottest music items, at least at the current moment.

As music festivals have become more popular, the way in which these festivals operate continues to change in a way that may eventually cause smaller music festivals to begin to disappear. The massive growth in the popularity of the music festival industry has encouraged music festivals to seek and cater to corporate sponsors who are attracted by the potential for large amounts of revenue; this is leading to the over commercialization of music festivals. As music festivals have become increasingly commercialized, have begun to compete more fervently to attract the big name acts that will bring in significant revenue. This threatens the smaller music festivals which do not have the ability to attract the big name acts. For this reason, these smaller music festivals may find it difficult to succeed and continue in coming years. Therefore, there may be a ‘what goes up must come down’ effect with the growth of music festivals characterized by the plethora of music festivals that have emerged in recent years being replaced by a few big name music festivals, which are turning into super concerts.

According to Wondering Sound, a music news outlet, the summer music festival bubble is about to burst (Currin, 2014). The music news outlet's journalists speculate that the growth that music festivals have experienced in America in the past decade is unsustainable. “There are signs that the exponential curve of festival growth is a path to an unsustainable scenario, where too many festivals overshoot talent costs and overrun the ability of fans to buy tickets at all” (Currin, 2014). The Wondering Sound article goes on to state that what is happening in the American music festival industry is typical with many trends that occur in America where once something proves to be popular, millions jump on the bandwagon to cash in; however, as the newness of the trend fades, it popularity begins to decline and it is quickly replaced by the next hot new trend.

Drug Use and Safety

Music festivals offer festival goers the chance to enjoy themselves listening to new and popular artists perform live, however, some festival goers also see these festivals as a time to engage in drug use. “To some, music festivals are a time to get away from life, to party with friends, and to experiment with a wide range of illicit drugs. Sometimes, these experiments have disastrous outcomes. A Billboard article in July 2014 tallied 15 deaths at music festivals at that point in the year. Not all were attributed to drug use. But that’s not to say drugs at festivals can’t be fatal — quite the contrary” (Williamson, 2015). It is important to note with a word of caution that drugs are often used and / or available at many music festival events. In fact, an article appearing on the drugpolicy.org website, “Music Festival Promoters Join with Drug Safety Experts to Reduce Harmful Drug Use at Events”, music artists, DanceSafe, and the Drug Policy Alliance urge festival goers to abstain from the use of drugs at the music festival events. (Drug Policy Alliance, 2015). The number of illegal substances mentions on Instagram [2015] for the most popular festivals was studies and Electric Daisy Carnival had 42,000 substance mentions, far more than its closest competitor, Ultra Music Festival (Williamson, 2015). This may lead one to assume that electronic dance music festivals have the most drug users, however, it is important to note that these festival brands take place in several locations around the world each year; thus, the higher incidence of drug mentions for these two festivals may be due in part to the fact that it is more than one festival each year.

Country Music and Alcohol

While ecstasy and dance music may be the most widely discussed substance abuse issue, plaguing music festivals, it is far from the only one. At the 2015 Stagecoach Music Festival, 157 people were arrested, mainly for alcohol related crime. “The biggest factor of all the crimes seemed to be alcohol, with a whopping 89 percent of the arrests due to alcohol violations, according to a press issued Tuesday morning. Of the 141 arrest made for alcohol violations, four main charges included minors in possession of alcohol, minors in possession of fake IDs, adults giving minors alcohol and minors purchasing alcohol, Marshall said” (Mendoza, 2015). Unlike at Coachella, a music festival held at the same location, the Stagecoach festival does not have ‘beer gardens’ set aside where festival goers can drink their alcohol; instead those who partake of this festival can walk about with it. This has led to a more significant problem with alcohol at this event than at Coachella according to police (Mendoza, 2015).

Branding and Experiential Marketing Sponsorship at Music Festivals

To increase profits, music festivals are constantly looking for more sponsorships, likewise as music festivals have exploded in popularity, brands have found festivals to be an ideal place to spend their marketing budget.

Sponsorship is key to any festival, even if it tries to keep things low-key - as Goldenvoice does at Coachella, more than its sister country-themed fest, Stagecoach, the following weekend. It can be the difference between losing and making money, especially in the beginning, and it helps salve the wounds when the weather turns foul. Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell tried for a while to keep the corporate brands at bay but found sponsorships the only acceptable way to keep ticket prices down. From 2003 to 2010, music sponsorship of concerts and multi-day festivals doubled from $574 million annually to $1.17 billion, with much of that increase coming from festivals (Perry, 2013).

Thus, brands are willing to shell out the cash in large volumes to sponsor music festivals. Brands are spending large sums to sponsor music and music festivals in the hops that there will be significant returns. In fact, in 2014 brands spent approximately $1.34 billion in music sponsorship. Beer and spirits are at the top of the list of those who are sponsoring music followed by banks and soft drinks.

Many brands have realized that sponsoring music festivals is an ideal way to reach the millennial generation. “A recent study conducted by massive live promoter AEG and Momentum Worldwide, a marketing agency focusing on experiences in the music world, shows that when it comes to millennials, this is the place to be” (McIntyre, 2015). This study found that: “93% of respondents say they like brands that sponsor live events; 81% say that the coolest brand experiences they’ve ever seen somehow involved music in a live setting; around 80% admitted that the best and most effective way for brands to connect with them is through a branded live music event; and those millennials who engaged in a branded music experience come away with a 37% better perception of the brand” (McIntyre, 2015). The study also showed the effect that attendance of an event sponsored by a brand had on millennials perception of the brand versus the millennials that did not attend the event. According to the survey: 89% of millennials surveyed who attended music festivals like brands that sponsor a live music experience, as opposed to 63% among of those who did not attend; 89% of millennials who attended perceive those brands as more authentic, as opposed to 56% among of those who did not attend; 83% of attendees left with a greater trust for brands that supported a live music experience, as opposed to 53% among those who did not attend; 80% of attendee millennials purchased a product from a sponsoring brand following the experience, as opposed to 55% of those who did not attend; and 80% of those who attended recommended brands that sponsored a live music experience to their social networks, as opposed to 49% among non-attendees (McIntyre, 2015). Needless to say, sponsoring music festivals is an extremely effective way for brands to reach the millennial demographic.

Due to the fact that one in five millennials attended a music festival in 2015 as well as the statistics concerning marketing brands to these millennials by sponsoring events, there is strong competition among sponsors to get noticed at these events. “while music festivals are a marketer's dream in terms of connecting with an audience that's savvy, engaged and open to new experiences, the competition is fierce. In 2014, some 447 brands played a role in 300 music festivals worldwide, according to analysis by FRUKT” (Finn, 2015). Marketing agencies have experimented with various methods to connect with fans these events. One common way that brands often use to get to millennials during festivals is going mobile. “Millennials make up the largest segment of smartphone owners. In the second quarter of 2014, 85% of millennials ages 18–24 and 86% ages 25-34 owned devices” (Finn, 2015). Brands often try to entice this group to post to their social media accounts during festivals in order to widen the impact of their sponsorship activation. Thus, many brands that are sponsoring music festivals are making sure they have a presence on mobile devices.

In an effort to remain competitive, brands are also trying to transform the fan experience in unique ways instead of simply plastering their logos on the stage. “At SXSW, Mophie created some serious buzz with its Mophie Rescue program. Users tweeted screenshots of their dying battery to @mophie with the hashtag "#mophierescue," and the company responded by sending a St. Bernard equipped with a charger” (Finn, 2015). This unique activation is an attempt at getting people not only talking about their brand but also sampling the sponsor’s product. Companies have smartly realized that millennials are incredibly active on social media during festivals. If they can get their brand in front of attendees, they are likely to post social media. While Facebook is undeniably the most popular of the social networking sites for millennials today, applications such as Snapchat and Instagram that offer a more visual experience are quickly catching up. In order to capitalize on the social media aspect of these festivals, brands need to figure out how to have a presence in these realms of social media as well. Thus, it is not simply the music festivals themselves that need to have a presence of social media, but the brands that wish to market at these events must have a presence on social media as well.

Another branding trick that companies are using to reach millennials at music festivals is to offer millennials the chance to get involved in societal causes. “The most effective cause marketing campaigns are ones that relate directly to the brand. StubHub, for example, hosted a series of concerts in 2014 to raise funds for Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, which donates musical instruments to under-funded music programs. When you make your brand a vehicle for change, you'll change the way millennials perceive you” (Finn, 2015). This also increases their motivation to post on social media, because they will be dually motivated by their desire to post about the festival and to post about the charitable cause.

When Sponsorship and Sponsorship Backfire

All of the branding that is taking place at music festivals today may be starting to take a toll and take something away from the festival itself. In fact, one music festival, SXSW or South by Southwest Music Festival, was recently accused of feeling corporate with all of the branding that was displayed at the festival in order to realm in consumers who attended the event. “Sponsor-suggested hashtags were all over the place at the 28th annual South by Southwest Music festival here: on walls, on stages, on billboards, on vehicles, on T-shirts, on stickers, on cellphone apps. A newcomer to SXSW might well believe that the whole thing was created to induce social-media marketing” (Pareles, 2014).

This type of corporate marketing focus takes away from the original purpose of the festival in more than one way. In addition to fans being inundated with marketing messages, the up and coming acts were neglected, by many accounts, to showcase the mega-stars that were the best for corporations to bring in money. The New York Times said of the SXSW music festival, that the million dollar acts were definitely the center of attention with Jay Z and Kanye West diverting attention from up and coming acts which could have been ignored complete at this festival (Pareles, 2014). Therefore, the opportunity for little known acts to shine was missing. “The tiny fraction of a percentage of performers who have made it big were grabbing even more exposure away from the struggling majority. For hip-hop fans, SXSW 2014 was a corporate-financed cornucopia; in the course of the festival, mostly in sponsored settings, there were also performances by Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, 2 Chainz, B.o.B., ASAP Rocky and many other top rappers, often on big outdoor stages with their music booming for blocks”. (Pareles, 2014). Mega branding of festivals and attempts to generate revenue by corporate sponsors has led to a phenomenon in which big acts are desired by festivals hosts to bring in revenue while newcomers, part of the traditional music festival experience, are being overlooked.

The Future of the Music Festival Industry

In the years to come, American music festivals will experience so changes. Technology will be one of the driving forces behind the trends that will affect music festivals in the coming years, many estimate. Furthermore, production budgets will continue to increase; high end production will allow festival goers to see a spectacular show (Blatt, 2015). Additionally, more modern comforts will be added to these outdoor music festivals; for example, “festival production companies such as Red Frog, which produces the Firefly festival, are bringing in a service mentality that treats music fans as customers” (Blatt, 2015). Moreover, these music festivals will be streamed live so that those who are not in attendance can see the event as things happen via the internet.

In addition, there will be a number of spin-off options for music festivals from which the fans can select as those in the industry try to capitalize off the popularity of the American music festival industry. The different varieties of music festivals will each offer fans something different from the traditional music festival.

Boutique Festivals

Boutique music festivals, which have been popular in the United Kingdom for some time, may be gaining popularity in the United States as well. These music festivals are small fest which boast that they have big line ups for the fans that choose to attend. “On the rise: such boutique festivals as Desert Hearts and Basilica Soundscape, which average around 3,000 attendees and offer intimate experiences and obscure lineups aimed at an older, in-the-know crowd” (Buerger, 2015). Boutique music festivals offer the opportunity to do something different than that which could be done with the large music festivals. For example, the Further Future fest, a boutique music festival that is inspired by Burning Man, is by invitation only. “Others, like the free Hundred Waters-curated event FORM Arcosanti, happening over Memorial Day weekend in the Arizona desert, required attendees to apply” (Buerger, 2015). Splash House is a bi-annual boutique festival in Palm Springs, California that throws pool parties hosted by popular DJs (Buerger, 2015). According to Billboard magazine online, these types of music festivals may be more appealing to the 30-and-over crowd (Buerger, 2015).

Destination Music Festivals and Cruise Music Festivals

The music festival industry has now combined two vacation past times into one with the music-festival-themed-cruise-excursion (Melendez, 2015). There are a number of cruise ship and destination cruise music festivals from which someone who is looking for a music filled vacation can choose. Some examples of these include: the Mad Decent Boat Party, Flogging Molly’s Salty Dog Cruise, Florida Georgia Line: This is How We Cruise, Gronk’s Party Ship, Holy Ship, and The ‘80s Cruise (Melendez, 2015). In addition, to the cruise destination cruise music festivals, destination music festivals which feature high end production and great live music experiences in unique locations are beginning to become more popular (Hutchinson, 2015). One example of a destination music festival is that of Ceremonia which “takes place on a racetrack outside Toluca [Mexico], surrounded by a forest. Its diverse lineup includes rappers Snoop Dogg and Pusha T, Brit garage-punkers the Horrors, Australian soulster Chet Faker and techno and house DJs like Daniel Avery and Art Department (Hutchinson, 2015). Some other music festivals that are growing in popularity in this arena include: Nrmal in Mexico City, BPM festival at Playa Del Carmen, and Tropico in Acapulco Beach.

Traveling Festivals

Not all music festivals are stationary, held in one particular location. Travelling festivals or touring festivals are also becoming more popular. These touring music festivals are not a new creation. One example of a traveling festival is Warped which is the longest running of the touring festivals that are available today. According to Billboard, “Warped has endured because it stays true to its punk origins even as the genre goes through its ebbs and flows” (Waddell, 2015). The travelling music festival features 80 acts pet day.

MAD DECENT BLOCK PARTY TRIES TO BE EVERYTHING AT ONCE

The Mad Decent Block Party started as a free block party thrown by Wesley Pentz, also known as Diplo, outside of his music studio in Philadelphia. Wes “invited his friends out to plat a free party for anyone who wanted to come down. The attendees did not pay admission, and the artists were not paid to perform. The music ranged from rap to electro house to pop, and the grill was worked by a single freestyling burger flipper. With that, the first of many branded events had begun: The Mad Decent Bock Party was born” (Zwilling, 2014). The popularity of the Mad Decent Block Party has skyrocketed since that time and it has evolved into a travelling festival. The travelling tour has twenty-two stops and continues to grow. In fact, after the travelling music festival had a good showing in South Africa in 2014, talks have started concerning an International Mad Decent Block Party (Zwilling, 2014). In 2016, the Mad Decent Block Party took place in several cities in India (Middleton, 2016). In addition, the travelling music festival, now a brand, is launching the Mexican Beach Party 2017 (Middleton, 2016).

Festivals Exploring Attendee List Curation

Some smaller music festivals now have hand-picked guest lists. One example of this is that of FORM Arcosanti, a music festival that is presented by Hundred Waters. To attend this music festival, potential festival goers must submit an application. Approximately 200 to 350 guests were chosen from all of those whom applied. These guest enjoyed performances by an international group of musicians as well as Hundred Waters. This guest list only event is free of charge. The showcase festival also featured yoga instruction, tour guide led tours of Arcosanti, as well as various crafts that are indicative of the area.

Further Future is another example of an exclusive, invite only party. This is a music festival that premiered in 2015. Although it is pegged to have a number of similarities to Burning Man, the guest list limits the crowd to a much smaller group. “Organizers are expecting about 3,000 attendees, some of whom will have the option of purchasing pre-built tents, suites or luxury camping units for a few thousand dollars” (Mac, 2015). Classified as half Silicon Valley, half Coachella, the event will also feature speakers (Mac, 2015). Thus, an educational component accompanies the music at this invite only music festival.

Multi Venue Festivals

Many people may not want to attend the large crowed traditional music festivals with tens of thousands of fans outside trying to get a glimpse of their favorite acts around other rowdy fans with cameras in the air and people on their shoulders. For these people who do not want to battle the crowds, there is an alternative to the traditional music festival, the multi-venue music festival. The aim of the multi-venue music festival is to “showcase multiple locations in a city’s downtown and provide people with high quality, small scale, intimate shows” (Gibson, 2013). These festivals, unlike tehir big outdoor counterparts, strive to “make the experience something greater than an endurance contest and instead show off the diversity of a city’s live music venues, theaters, and restaurants” (Gibson, 2013). Instead of being 500 feet away from the stage, multi-venue festival attendees can find themselves five feet from a performer (Gibson, 2013). They may also have the opportunity to see a national headliner for free (Gibson, 2013).

In addition to the traditional multiple venue music festivals, there are also some notable multi venue electronic music festivals emerging. Decible, a huge music festival, allows its guests to have an intimate experience due to the fact that the electronic music festival which features over 100 artists, occurs in a number of locations throughout Seattle. The Together Festival in Boston, Massachussetts, holds a special spot as one of a limited number of electronic music festivals that take place in New England.