Why Coachella Sold Out in Less Than a Week
This year’s Coachella festival has sold out faster than ever before in the 12-year history of the event. Tickets for the festival, which will be held on April 15-17th in Indio, California, were gone entirely yesterday after having gone on sale Friday.
According to concert promoter Paul Tollett, this year’s festival sold at a much faster pace than the previous year. Whereas 51,000 tickets to this year’s event had been sold by Monday, only 11,000 tickets were sold in the same timeframe in 2010.
To some extent, the success of this year’s Coachella can be attributed to a bill that arguably boasts more star power than previous events. Though the 2010 festival included top-selling acts such as Jay-Z and Muse, the other headliners were either side project bands featuring Thom Yorke and Dave Grohl or cult acts such as Pavement, Faith No More and LCD Soundsystem. This year’s bill is anchored by top-selling acts Kanye West, Kings of Leon and Arcade Fire, and will also feature performances by established stars the Strokes, Lauryn Hill, PJ Harvey and Brandon Flowers.
That said, the artists on the festival bill may not be as big of a draw as the festival itself. Over the past decade Coachella has built its reputation to the point that many music fans plan on attending no matter who is booked. Also, Coachella is simply very convenient to fans in the southwestern United States, an area of the country that is generally under-served by major tours. When put up against the option of making numerous treks to Los Angeles and other large cities in the region, spending a single weekend in the desert with dozens of bands is an attractive alternative.
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival tickets sell out in record time [The Desert Sun]