Capitalist excess swallows Coachella and the festival spirit whole

An excellent TikTok by Mandy Lee https://lnkd.in/eKcNAQks it articulates something that those of us who work in the cultural sector have long felt; that aspects of the scene have been swallowed whole by consumerism, marketing and ‘content’. 

Coachella was her chief target, noting that the ‘fun’ of the festival is essentially a way to lure people into partaking in capitalist excess, self-perpetuated by the added pressure to “perform fun on the internet” – hence our association of the festival with Instagram posts of girls in “Disco Bohemian in the Dessert” outfits, rather than live music.

It was a brilliant expression of something we’ve known for years, both those of us who are uneasy with the appropriation of culture as a consumerist status symbol and those who see it as an opportunity to make a lot of money without offering very much in return. 

It was telling that one of the big stories to come out of Coachella in the UK was the fact that the ‘random 18-year-old British fan’ pulled up on stage to perform Thiago Silva with Dave (a wheeze he’s pulled before) was none other than the aspiring-rapper son of a world-famous film director. Of course, there’s a chance it was all a coincidence but the incident does not do much for the perception of the music at the festival being incidental to the opportunity for privileged aspiring celebrities to gain a few followers…

In the UK we’re seeing a trend in that very direction. While a few old warhorses of the festival scene (often though not exclusively those involved in the early evolution of Glastonbury) grumpily bang the drum that the festival is the music and live entertainment, others are increasingly preoccupied with what drinks brand will sponsor their backstage VIP area and what radio presenter-cum-influencer it might help them attract. 

This phenomenon is not exclusive to music festivals; the line is increasingly blurring between art exhibition and ‘selfie museum’ – a term coined (unfairly) to describe the clever and phenomenally content-rich experiences created by the likes of #MeowWolf but then taken a bit too literally by an army of charlatans who forgot to include any art in their exhibitions.

Similarly, museums are desperate for partnerships that basically serve as adverts-in-exhibition-format for heritage fashion brands or beloved old-timey IP, or to make traditional art ‘immersive’ (read – better fodder for social media content but sorely lacking in substance). We are also seeing a trend for ‘immersive theatre’ that relies more on a couple of photo opportunities and a whole lot of product placement than it does on storyline or world-building. 

Culture is struggling back to its feet after the pandemic, and if the corporate world is willing to genuinely support it, that could be crucial to its survival, but not if the price of this support is to turn these events into giant adverts that serve only as fodder for influencers.