Research Outline Final Draft
Chris Pool
Research_Outlinenewexamples11.docxLastname 9
Firstname Lastname
Professor Anna C. Morrison
English 100
13 May 2016
Music Festivals: Prevalence and Influence (Outline)
I Introduction
a. Hook: Why are music festivals still prevalent in American culture, and what are the impacts they have on youth?
(i) Since the first arrival of music festivals, with Woodstock Music and Arts Festival becoming the first marker in this festival era back in 1969, people have been attracted to congregate to enjoy the musical bliss.
(ii) The most prominent music festival, Woodstock, was able to attract approximately 400,000 people from across the nation for 3 days of peace, love and music.
(iii) Consequently, the trend continued with festivals emerging nationwide from SXS in Texas, Lollapalooza in Chicago, Coachella in California, and Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas.
(iv) They are sprouting in every state, and their influence is increasing annually.
b. Thesis: The popularity of music festivals in America has provided an escape outlet with the advantage of new discoveries, increased consumerism, and an environment of carefree diversity amongst youth.
II Body Section 1: Since their origin, music festivals have portrayed an inviting environment of a different kind of concert experience with the notion of unexpected discovery for any music enthusiast.
a. The Festival experience offers “a moment of sublime happiness [and its] ‘not just happiness, its identity’” (Horon).
(i) Therefore, music festivals have become a way for an individual to state his or her individuality with also a sense of belonging.
(ii) It becomes a form of expression freedom and self- identification; people link uniquely to the experience of attending a music festival.
b. It acts as a “discovery aspect,” traveling from stage to stage, “they [then] stop and listen and get turned on to a new band. The contemporary music experience is all about discovery” (Puente).
(i) With a variety of music genres now available at music festivals, people like the idea of being the first to discover new music and then sharing publicly via social media.
(ii) It’s all about being the first and being able to brag about it.
(iii) However, there is that rare music enthusiastic population of attendees that are extremely drawn to the idea of new music discovery without the need to publicly display everything throughout social media.
c. With inadequate water and food intake, prolonged time in the sun, sleepless nights, the consumption of drugs and alcohol, and sexual encounters, festival goers can feel the strain on their health and physical exhaustion that comes hand in hand with attending festivals (Daswani).
(i) Consequently, people tend to avoid or limit their consumption of food and water due to their excessive prices at music festivals.
(ii) If consuming drugs or alcohol, this can leave festivalgoers extremely dehydrated and more susceptible to overdose.
(iii) Along with increased sun exposure and sexual encounters, those with inadequate water intake tend to leave their bodies open for various health risks, including heat stroke.
III Body Section 2: With the constant rise of music festivals throughout the country, there is an increase in consumerism in regards to any aspects relating to festivals.
a. In “2015 the [Coachella] two-weekend festival” sold 198,000 passes and “grossed $84,264,264” (Puente).
(i) Even with increasing ticket prices, people are still willing to purchase passes to such music festivals, and as long as they are willing, promoters will keep increasing prices annually because they continue to profit.
(ii) Therefore, attendees are at fault for the increasing prices as much as is the promoters taking advantage.
b. The reality is that “festivals like Coachella” have transformed from music-centric weekends to wallet-exhausting fashion shows that treat the music as near secondary” (Nease).
(i) Consequently, Stores like H&M have now included dress wear exclusively for festivals with clothing they have dubbed Coachella wear. At any given store one chooses to enter, the clear presence of festivals is clearly in full view. Once March starts rolling around, the bohemian and hippie fashions start hitting the shelves, marking the subconscious but at the same time overt proper fashion attire in regards to festivals.
(ii) With any festival, be it an EDM festival or Coachella, there is a clothing attire associated with that festival that festivalgoers strive for.
(iii) It has become more and more about Coachella day one outfits than Coachella day one music. This is broadly broadcasted across social media, starting a trend, and everyone starts hopping on the bandwagon.
c. However, “there are still plenty of smaller, midrange regional festivals that offer a good value…in the $200 price range such as Summer Camp, FYF Fest, Riot Fest, and Summer Set” (Puente).
(i) Although prices are still increasing annually for all music festivals, there are those that are still relatively lower than the most mainstream festivals.
(ii) These still offer a varied range of music with more emphasis on the indie aspect of music. It’s difficult to say whether most of these festivals will continue to be economic or strive to become the next Coachella as their popularity increases.
IV Body Section 3: A diverse, cultural, group of people from around the world is attracted to music festivals due to their increasing popularity; this provides a sense of unity amongst festival attendees.
a. There is “physical unity and social unity. People are together, sharing the identity forged by the music and their consciousness” (Gozzi).
(i) Therefore, with festivals gaining momentum, people travel in flocks for the Electric Daisy Carnival, Lollapalooza, and Coachella. People feel a sense of unity as they relate to people worldwide with relatable interests. They forget the outside world and only involve themselves with those around them who are experiencing the same things as they are.
b. When in the festival mind set, “a body of people listening to one piece of music is able to have both the same experience” as that of a group and an individual, “but their shared affiliation acts as a kind of social glue” (Horon).
(i) People at festivals are more likely to befriend those they would not outside the festival because the experience is different, and the atmosphere is different.
(ii) They are allowed to connect and broaden their social circle to include those from South America, Europe, and etc. These friendships allow for the festival experience to be seen as somewhat multicultural, breaking the boundaries of country segregation and uniting people from around the world.
c. Although there is diversity amongst the crowd, backstage is another story. “Coachella had 162 bands overall, 22 including a female musician.” “Female musicians” are “snubbed for the headliner spot, or even the first line of music festival posters;” this is the “product of male dominance in the music industry” (“Sun God’s History of Male Headliners Reflects Sexism In Music Industry”).
(i) With festival crowds embracing diversity, it should be more overtly presented in the music involvement.
(ii) There should be more effort to portray more up and coming female and ethnic artists as well as those widely known. Due to the emphasis placed on trying to outdo the previous year by hiring the most popular and well-known artist of the time to headline, some great talents are overshadowed.
(iii) There are so many great all-girl bands out there and various underground ethnic hip hop artists that would bring so much diversity to the lineup of festivals. It would be great to see an emphasis on booking other artists from around the world.
(iv) In some previous years, Coachella did strive to book artists from Mexico and other worldwide artists, but it seems like diversity for the line-ups for many festivals is diminishing as they are moving more and more towards capitalization.
V Conclusion:
a. Music Festivals, therefore, provide an escape outlet where the attendee is able to forget the normality of the outside world and enter a new and spontaneous environment.
b. With the increasing pressure of festivals to outdo the previous year and each other comes the increase in everything festival-related and the inflation of consumerism.
c. The constant media exposure of music festivals attracts concertgoers worldwide that allow for a multicultural concert experience for the attendee.
d. Despite any health risks associated with festivals, their popularity now seems more prevalent than ever before.
e. For many it has become a tradition they practice annually, be it with friends or alone.
Works Cited
Cooke, Douglas. “Woodstock.” St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, Edited by Thomas Riggs, 2nd ed., vol. 5, St. James Press, Detroit, 2013, pp. 420–423, Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://mms02.cerritos.edu:2048/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=gvrl&sw=w&u=cerritos&v=2.1&it=r&id=gale|cx2735802992&asid=0e9f48e6f3a9eaadb086e3a6874cf574.
Daswani, Kavita. “Mind and Body; Rock Well at Music Festivals; Fun at Summer Music Festivals can Sour Quickly because of Dehydration, Lack of Sleep, Sun Exposure, and Other Risks. Here’s How to Hear it All and Stay Healthy.” Los Angeles Times, May 23 2015. Proquest, http://search.proquest.com/docview/1682542623/EADDA9716C84975PQ/1?accountid=45477. Accessed on 12 May 2016.
Gozzi, Jr., Raymond. “Metaphors in Action: at a Music Festival.” ETC: A Review of General Semantics, vol. 64, no. 4, Oct. 2007, pp. 389–389. Academic Search Premier, http://mms02.cerritos.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=27186012&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Helf, Kristin. “Not so Woodstock: Festival Evolution.” Thetowerlight.com | Not so Woodstock: Festival Evolution, The Towerlight, 20 Nov. 2015, http://thetowerlight.com/not-so-woodstock-festival-evolution/.
Horon, Tom. “Can Music Make Us Happy? It’s a Big Question, But Some People Think They Have the Answer.” The Daily Telegraph, vol.1, Nov 25 2006, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3656733/Can-music-make-us-happy.html, Accessed on 12 May 2016.
Marsh, Tilney. “Lollapalooza.” St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, Edited by Thomas Riggs, 2nd ed., vol. 3, St. James Press, Detroit, 2013, pp. 348–348, Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://mms02.cerritos.edu:2048/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=gvrl&sw=w&u=cerritos&v=2.1&it=r&id=gale|cx2735801647&asid=54130df7174babfdde0d82367599bfec.
Nease, Andrea. “Beyond the Bubble: This Festival Brought to You by...” The Dartmouth, The Dartmouth, 27 Apr. 2015, http://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2015/04/beyond-the-bubble-this-festival-brought-to-you-by/.
Puente, Maria. “Are Popular Music Fests Pricing out Everyday, Middle Class Music Fans?” USA Today, Gannett, 13 Apr. 2016, http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2016/04/12/popular-music-fests-pricing-out-everyday-middle-class-music-fans/82747404/.
