New study asks: ‘Have music festivals sold out?’
With the increase in the popularity and number of music festivals (since 2003 there has been a 71 per cent increase in the number of British music festivals) a new study has investigated how corporate branding has changed the festival experience and what these extremely popular events mean for the large numbers of people who attend them.
Dr Andrew Bengry-Howell based within Social Sciences, says: "Despite becoming far more mainstream and corporate than prototypical festivals like Woodstock, the Glastonbury festivals of the 1970s, and the early National Jazz Festivals or the late 1950s/early 1960s, for many contemporary festival goers today's music festivals still evoke feelings reminiscent of the ‘Summer of love', and provide a sense of freedom and belonging within the temporary community that is produced on a music festival site.