Decisions on participation in music festivals: an exploratory research in Portugal

PurposeMusic festivals offer new opportunities for leisure and tourist experiences in Portugal. Some tourists and residents, the so-called festival goers, participate and come back to these events, whereas others, the non-goers, never participate and are not willing to do so. The aim of this research is to understand the decision to participate or not based on facilitators and constraints to participate or not in a music festival, dismantling residents and tourists' attitudes.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 1,178 music festival goers and non-goers in Portugal. Content analysis was undertaken to depict the most important determinants of their decisions. Those determinants were categorized according to the three dimensions of factors of ecological systems theory, considering festival goers and non-goers as well as tourists and residents.FindingsThe results suggested that although constraints are not as often voiced as facilitators, both influence decisions that are expressed as delaying, postponing, avoiding or complying with others by participating in these events. Furthermore, the results suggested that the decision to participate or not depends on the social contexts of the festival goers or non-goers, and that these social contexts may invert their decision, be it by facilitating or constraining their participation.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is limited to festivals in Portugal and used a qualitative analysis that may be confirmed in other countries with quantitative methods. Nevertheless, this research opens paths to discuss facilitators and constraints through ecological system theory and gives insights into this industry.Practical implicationsThe results provide important insights for festival organizers to retain and build long-term relationships with festival goers. The results also provide insights into how to overcome the resistance which non-goers demonstrated.Social implicationsThis research offers an in-depth and insightful understanding of individuals' attitudes towards music festivals, allowing festival demand to be better understood. Furthermore, this research proves that attendance of music festivals is mostly a socially driven behaviour.Originality/valueBy eliciting facilitators and constraints of the decision to participate in music festivals, considering residents and tourists, festival goers and non-goers, this study provides a deeper understanding of the decision to participate, through a theoretical framework which is rarely applied in this field.

Impacts of a health crisis on music festivals: a qualitative approach

PurposeThis research explores the consequences of a health crisis provoked by a pandemic scenario on music festival impacts considered by the stakeholders involved. The purpose of this paper is to identify the perceptions from the stakeholders' point of view (host community, public and private sector) and to identify the impacts generated before and after a health crisis regarding the celebration of a festival.Design/methodology/approachThe study offers a holistic insight into impact research by music festivals. The methodology implemented is based on qualitative techniques. By conducting 20 in-depth interviews with essential stakeholders, it is possible to determine their perceptions of the impact of the event and the effects of a health crisis.FindingsThe results allow detecting a gap between internal and external stakeholders due to poor communication and planning of the event. The results show that a health crisis provokes negative impacts on the economic benefits of events' organisation. However, the cultural city's identity suffers an important damage that it is difficult to overcome. The community and visitors are the stakeholders that suffer a detrimental impact on their experience when attending the festival, considering the security measures. Moreover, results allow us to identify practical implications for event management and planning in a health crisis scenario.Originality/valueThe most important contribution of this research is the theoretical model proposed to analyse stakeholders' perception of the event celebration in a context of a health crisis. The model also considers different moments of the social exchange. The theoretical approaches considered theory of social exchange (SET) and Visitor, Industry, Community and Environment (VICE) models allow analysing the stakeholder's perception of a case study of a music festival (Viña Rock Festival, Spain). The emerging and central role of the cooperation between stakeholders constitutes another notable contribution to the literature.

Identity, place and values. On construction and internalization of festival normalities on the examples of music festivals in Poland

The aim of this paper is to compare of how two different festivals stimulate specific norms and perceptions, and therefore to present the way in which the visions of the festival cities are reproduced by the festival audience based on the axio-normative orders contained in the missions of the events. Based on the shared symbols and life strategies promoted by festivals, participants (re)build their identity which they manifest in chosen cultural practices. The article attempt to answer the following question: what is shared by festival-goers? Are the main motivations for participating in the vent due to shared musical tastes or also specific values and lifestyles, and consequently a common identity? It has been shown that the values promoted during festivals are declared by their organizers – they are present in the visual identification, seminars, workshops, etc. Festivals create their narratives based on symbols such as logos, attitude smartphones, or festival slogans which contain condensed axio-normative systems that create the boundaries of the community. It influencesthe behavior of festival goers: the city’s vision, ways of spending free time, and their identity. The places where the fieldwork was conducted were: “Henryk Rasiewicz National Festival of Unbreakable and Independent Songs in Kraków”, “Ostróda Reggae Festiva” in Ostróda, and the “Song of Our RootsFestival” in Jarosław.

Nightlife Ethnography: A Phenomenological Approach

This chapter offers advice on how to conduct phenomenological ethnographic research in nightlife settings such as bars, nightclubs, and music festivals. It argues that phenomenological ethnography focuses on studying experiences as they occur to the people living them. Phenomenological ethnographers use their bodies as research instruments to develop an experiential connection and understanding of the people they are studying. Priority is given to clarifying essential properties of embodied, emotional, and sensory experiences, and to describing these as precisely as possible. The chapter proposes that the Durkheimian concept of collective effervescence may be used as a sensitizing tool to understand and describe some of the essence of what people search for, and sometimes experience, in nightlife settings. In particular, the concept is helpful in the study of intensive forms of celebration and intoxication. The chapter concludes with policy recommendations and suggestions to direct future research.

Tomorrowland Around the World 2020: A Virtual Pilgrimage

The year 2020 was devastating to electronic music festivals and their attendees as the COVID-19 pandemic forced most festivals to cancel their events. Because attendance at these festivals is a sacred experience for many of their participants, this manifested as a loss for participants. Tomorrowland, however, created a virtual festival through filming DJ performances and working with visual effects teams. Tomorrowland Around the World functioned to constitute a global public. This paper will situate the electronic music scene in a spiritual context that promotes the well-being of its participants. Next, the paper will explain how the DJ performances worked with the visual production teams to create a sacred virtual space that promoted unity, love, life, and a general sense of well-being.