Back in April, more than 150,000 music fans flocked to Indio, Calif., for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival. In mid-June, Bonnaroo drew over 100,000 people to Manchester, Tenn., to see Sir Paul McCartney and R. Kelly, among others. Sasquatch brought droves of people to a far-flung corner of Washington State for a long weekend. Every year, more and more festivals seem to pop up in addition to the dozens of music events that already exist. For every Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits or Riot Fest there's a Governor's Ball, which just held its third festival, or Catalpa Festival, which is in its second year.

    Why are so many festivals popping up? Because music festivals are big business. Coachella is the most profitable festival in the U.S. Last year it sold 158,000 tickets and pulled in $47.3 million in revenue, according to Billboard Boxscore. That's up from $17 million in 2007. Tickets for the 2013 festival sold out in 20 minutes. Goldenvoice, which produces the festival, expanded it to two weekends last year, a move that was scoffed at, but is now being replicated by other events. Sasquatch has announced plans to expand to two weekends for 2014 after a "highly successful" 2013 edition, which sold out in a record 90 minutes, according to promoters. Bonnaroo also sold out with regular tickets ranging from $224 to $269, and a pair of VIP tickets -- which include parking and camping perks, exclusive lounges and viewing areas -- going for $1449.50. According to Bonnaroo representatives, the festival has no plans to expand just yet.

    While it's clear that there is money to be made in festivals, for some promoters, there are non-financial reasons to get involved in the festival circuit. For Budweiser (BUD), getting into the festival business was an easy decision. "Our company has had an amazing legacy of being a patron of music," Paul Chibe, Vice President of U.S Marketing at Anheuser Busch told Fortune. The company had a festival in the 1980s called Superfest ,and Chibe wanted to reenter the sphere, which they did last year with their Jay-Z curated Budweiser Made in America Festival, which will take place again in Philadelphia over Labor Day weekend. "I felt like it was important that we reestablish ourselves as a leader in the music industry," Chibe said. "We did it last year in Philly and ended up being a much bigger success than we ever expected."

    "From a financial standpoint we put more in. We didn't make money on it," Chibe noted, but that wasn't the point of the festival. Instead Budweiser saw an opportunity to give back to the community via the Budweiser Made in America's festival partnership with United Way, but it was also a way to connect with consumers on a personal level. "Music is a key part of who people are," Chibe said. "It's a powerful pathway to create relationship with the consumer." He continued, "When people think of great music and the brands that enable it, we want them to think of Budweiser." This year's festival is headlined by Beyoncé and Nine Inch Nails.

    今年4月份，超过15万音乐迷成群结队地来到美国加州印第奥，参加柯契拉山谷音乐艺术节(Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival)。6月中旬，波纳若音乐节（Bonnaroo）吸引10万多人来到田纳西州曼彻斯特，观看保罗•麦卡特尼爵士和R. Kelly等明星的精彩演出。在一个悠长的周末，大批乐迷不约而同地赶赴华盛顿州一个遥远的角落，参加在那里举行的野人音乐节（Sasquatch）。除了几十个已经存在的音乐活动外，每年涌现的其他音乐节似乎越来越多。加入洛拉帕罗扎（Lollapalooza）、奥斯汀城市极限（Austin City Limits）或暴乱盛会（Riot Fest）等音乐节行列的，是一些你或许没有听说过的音乐盛宴，比如刚刚举办了第三届的州长舞会（Governor's Ball），以及进入第二个年头的梓木音乐节（Catalpa Festival）。

    为什么突然冒出这么多音乐节？因为这是一门大生意。柯契拉山谷是美国最赚钱的音乐节。根据Billboard Boxscore的统计数据，这个音乐节去年售出了158,000张门票，斩获4,730万美元的收入，远高于2007年的1,700万美元。2013年的门票在20分钟内就宣布售罄。主办方Goldenvoice公司去年将柯契拉山谷音乐节扩充，横跨了两个周末。尽管此举受到嘲笑，但其他音乐节正在效仿这种做法。野人音乐节已经宣布计划称，2014年的活动将延长至两个周末。据推广方透露，野人音乐节在2013年“大获成功”，90分钟内就卖完了门票，创下了新纪录。波纳若音乐节的门票也宣告售罄，音乐节普通票的价格从224至269美元不等，两张VIP门票（这种门票可享受停车和露营方面的特殊优待、专用休息室和观赏区）的售价为1,449.50美元。波纳若音乐节的代理商表示，他们目前还没有扩充计划。

    音乐节显然是可以赚钱的，但有些推广方参与这种活动却不是因为钱。涉足音乐节对于百威啤酒（Budweiser）来说是一项非常容易做出的决定。“对于我们的公司来说，赞助音乐活动是一个令人惊奇的传统，”百威英博公司（Anheuser-Busch）美国市场营销业务副总裁保罗•奇比接受《财富》杂志（Fortune）采访时说。早在上世纪80年代，这家公司就主办过一个名叫“超级盛会”（Superfest）的音乐节，奇比想重新进入这一领域。百威英博公司去年联手嘻哈天王Jay-Z主办了百威美国造音乐节（Budweiser Made in America）。第二届百威美国造将于劳动节周末在费城举行。“我觉得，重新树立我们作为音乐产业的领导地位是一件非常重要的事情，”奇比说。“去年在费城的活动大获成功，远远超过了我们此前的预期。”

    奇比指出：“从财务的角度来看，我们投入了很多，并没有赚到钱。”但赚钱并不是赞助音乐节的主旨。相反，百威啤酒认为，与联合劝募会（United Way）联合打造的百威美国造音乐节不仅是一次反馈社区的机会，也是一种在个人层面连接消费者的方式。“音乐是人类生活的重要组成部分，是与消费者建立关系的强大途径，”他说。“当人们想到伟大的音乐和打造出这种音乐的品牌时，我们希望他们想到的是百威啤酒。”今年音乐节的焦点明星是碧昂丝和九寸钉乐团（Nine Inch Nails）。

    This year marks the first year that the Mad Decent Block Party – a festival that started as an actual block party outside of record label Mad Decent's office in Philadelphia – has charged money and issued tickets for their shows. It's a move that has allowed the festival to expand into a 13-city roving tour with an eye on even more growth. Turning a free event into a ticketed one can frustrate fans, though, which is why Mad Decent has worked with sponsors to keep ticket prices low. "The average price of our tickets is $30, and the early bird ticket was $20. At some of the larger festivals, that would easily be an $80 to $300 dollar ticket," said Andrew McInnes of TMWRK, who helped organize the event. "That's all due to sponsorships. We make an effort to make it affordable."

    "People don't mind sponsorship as much as they would have a few years ago," said Sam Hunt from the Windish Agency, which has been involved with booking and marketing the Mad Decent Block Party rom the beginning. "A high ticket price would keep out our core fanbase, but the cheaper the ticket, the easier it is for fans to accept."

    Their affiliation with producer/musician Diplo's Mad Decent label helps, as well, because artists like DJ duo Flosstradamus and Baauer of "Harlem Shake" fame are willing to contribute their services at a reduced cost, and the festival's headliner is typically Diplo or his band, Major Lazer. In the past, artists played for free, but according to McInnes, "A ticketed event means everyone gets paid this year." Hunt hurried to add, "Everyone gets paid, but no one's getting rich. "

    It's something that Seattle's Bumbershoot understands well. The festival, which takes over the city's downtown every Labor Day, remains true to its nonprofit core, which dates back to when Bumbershoot started in 1971. "In the '70s and '80s, festivals were the realm of pirates and crazy people, but as time went on in the late '90s and 2000s the rest of the corporate world has caught up and now it's just business," Jon Stone, executive director of One Reel, the producer of Bumbershoot, laughed.

    "Bumbershoot pioneered corporate sponsorship in the mid-'80s, but we used sponsorship to keep ticket prices low. If you look at the price of Bumbershoot versus other festivals, we've stayed true to that desire to eliminate economic barriers to entries."

    Stone also noted that for Bumbershoot, being nonprofit "is a philosophy, not a tax status." He added, "Economic barriers to entry are real things in the industry these days, especially at larger festivals. That's why we keep ticket prices as low as we can." Stone estimates that ticket sales make up about 60% of Bumbershoot's revenues with sponsorship accounting for 30% and assorted concessions and vendors making up the rest. However, instead of focusing on profits, the organization focuses on exposing attendees to the arts, which was the City of Seattle's mission when they started the festival. As a city festival, they also focus on local talent. "We reserve about a third of our musical programmatic space for local acts," Snow noted. "We want to champion local artists and use the festival to shine the spotlight on local artists."

    Among their success stories is Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, who played Bumbershoot's small stages for years before moving to the main stage last year on the strength of their song "Thrift Shop." The group made history when they became the first duo ever to have their first two singles top the Billboard Hot 100 charts. That is definitely good business.

    Mad Decent Block Party音乐节起源于在Mad Decent唱片公司费城办事处所处街区举办的一个派对活动，它今年首次销售演出门票。正是这个举措让这个致力于进一步扩大规模的音乐节得以在13个城市举行了巡回演出。从免费变为售票可能会让粉丝感到失望，但这也是Mad Decent公司拉来赞助商以维系低票价的原因所在。“平均票价是30美元，最早卖出的门票售价20美元。在一些更大规模的音乐节上，80到300美元的门票很常见，”组织方之一TMWRK公司的安德鲁•麦克因尼斯说。“这种低票价全靠赞助维持。我们百般努力，为的是让乐迷们买得起入场券。”

    “现在与几年前的情形有所不同，人们不再介意赞助商的存在了，”Windish Agency经纪公司的萨姆•亨特这样说道。这家公司从一开始就参与Mad Decent Block Party音乐节的预定和营销工作。“高价门票会把我们的核心粉丝群挡在外边，但票价越低，粉丝们就越容易接受。”

    Mad Decent Block Party音乐节与制作人兼歌手迪布洛的良好关系也发挥了作用，因为像哈莱姆摇摆舞（Harlem Shake）DJ二人组Flosstradamus和Baauer等音乐人都愿意降低身价，友情出演，而这个音乐节的头牌人物通常则是迪布洛或者他的乐队Major Lazer。过去，歌手们都是免费演出，但麦克因尼斯指出，“售票演出意味着每个人今年都获得了酬劳。”亨特急忙补充说：“每个人都有钱拿，但没有人发大财。”

    西雅图的雨伞音乐节（Bumbershoot）对此也深有体会。这个每年劳动节在西雅图市中心举行的音乐节依然恪守着自1971年创建以来一直坚持的非营利准则。“上世纪70年代和80年代，音乐节是侵犯版权者和狂人们的天地。但到了90年代和21世纪初，企业界的其他公司也开始参与，音乐节现在就是一门生意，”雨伞音乐节制作商One Reel公司的执行董事乔恩•斯通笑着说。

    “雨伞音乐节在上世纪80年代中期率先采用了公司赞助的方式，但我们拉赞助的目的在于维持低票价。如果你对比一下雨伞和其他音乐节的票价，你就会发现我们一直怀抱着一个愿望，那就是尽可能地消除入场的经济门槛。”

    斯通还指出，对于雨伞音乐节来说，非营利性“是一种理念，而不是为了享受税收优惠政策。”他补充说：“入场的经济门槛是音乐界目前面临的一大难题，特别是一些大型音乐节。这就是我们为什么尽全力维持低价的原因。”斯通估计，在雨伞音乐节的收入中，门票销售约占60%，赞助费约占30% ，其他收入来自各种特许权和商摊使用费。然而，组织者并没有一门心思地赚钱，而是全身心地为参与者提供精彩的艺术表演，这也是西雅图市政府创办这个音乐节的目的。作为一个城市音乐节，他们还注重推出本地人才。“我们把三分之一的音乐表演场地留给本地人才，”斯通指出。“我们想支持本地音乐人，通过这个音乐节让乐迷们关注西雅图本地的音乐人。”

    麦克勒莫尔和瑞恩•刘易斯就是通过这个音乐节获得成功的。在雨伞音乐节的小舞台上表演了数年之后，他们去年凭借着单曲《旧货店》（Thrift Shop）登上了大舞台。这对组合已经创造了历史：他们成为有史以来第一对有两首单曲位居Billboard Hot 100排行榜前两位的歌唱二人组。所以说，音乐节绝对是笔好买卖。（财富中文网）

    译者：任文科