Dance To The Music: Fans and Socialites in the festival audience – Stephen Henderson and Emma Wood (2009)

Author(s): Stephen Henderson and Emma Wood
Organisation / Affiliation: Leeds Metropolitan University
Date: 2009
Source: Academic

This paper uses the Wireless Festival held in Leeds in 2008 to look at the different motivations of attendees across the two days where the programming was directed towards different music interests. It concludes that whilst different genres of music may attract audiences with different demographics, there are two significant groupings of attendees at the festival. These are those for whom ‘the music really does matter’ and other tribal ‘socialites’ who seek an experience beyond the music being played on stage. For those promoting festivals, this has important implications in the way that not only they are programmed in terms of music but the surrounding environment is arranged for socialisation.

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