2024 has been a brutal year for music festivals, with cancellations hitting both the U.S. and abroad. Festivals like Desert Daze in California and Blue Ridge Rock Festival in Virginia were among the many that had to pull the plug. Even overseas, the situation is grim, with over 60 festivals in the UK canceled and events like Lollapalooza Paris being scrapped. This year has been dubbed the "festival recession," and it’s no surprise given the state of the economy under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Rising inflation and surging production costs have made it nearly impossible for smaller festivals to stay afloat. Fans are tightening their wallets, unwilling to shell out hundreds of dollars for tickets when basic living costs are soaring. Even major festivals like Burning Man and Coachella, which used to sell out in minutes, are struggling with ticket sales.
On top of Biden’s economic failures, the music industry itself is riddled with corruption. Corporate giants like Live Nation and Ticketmaster dominate the scene, prioritizing profits over fans and smaller events. As a result, only the biggest players in the industry are surviving, leaving little room for independent festivals to thrive.
The festival landscape has become a winner-takes-all market, where only massive events or star-studded concerts like Taylor Swift or Beyoncé can draw a crowd. Meanwhile, corporate greed and government mismanagement are crushing the heart of live music, forcing festivals to cancel and fans to miss out.
Under Biden and Harris, the music scene is just one more casualty of a broken economy and the chokehold of big music monopolies.
