Bands Are Back to Creating Their Own Festivals

Back in the Good Old Days of the music industry when margins were fat and record labels were rolling in money, it was rather common for a single band to arrange their own muisc festival.  The Tragically Hip toured with Another Roadside Attraction.  Our Lady Peace had Summersault.  You remember, right?

When Napster hit and CD sales tanked, there just wasn’t the money for those types of things anymore.

The idea of a single band anchoring a festival featuring their friends was, well, uneconomical for a hundred different reasons.

But a strange thing has happened in the second decade of the 21s century.  Bands are organizing festivals again.  Everyone from Metallica to Jay-Z to Mumford & Sons to Cage the Elephant are back in the game.  

The LA Times has a look at this resurrected phenomenon of the band picnic.  How long will it survive?  Read all about it here.