If somebody asked you which music festival is the most influential in the world, a festival like Glastonbury would be high on the list. If a music event still running today could ever be compared to the Holy Grail, it would probably be Glastonbury.
We could list a mountain of acts to prove as much, but it might be quicker to list who hasn’t played the event. And do we really need to mention its popularity? 135,000 tickets sold in 2013 does all the talking there needs to be done that issue.
[include_post id=”345454″]
But Aussie music festivals are proving once again to be industry leaders, and the influence their lineups and events have on our musical tastes have a global impact, as Spotify revealed in their analysis of the “ripple effect” behind some of the world’s most popular festivals and festival headliners over the last year.
Spotify analysed the global “festival ripple effect” of streams following headliners’ performances at 14 of some of the world’s biggest festivals, in markets where Spotify is live, to find the festival and headliner with the widest reach and the biggest impact on streams.
Streams of the headline acts for each festival were analysed two weeks either side of the date of their festival performance around the world.
Unsurprisingly, Glastonbury achieved the biggest global impact, with an average 78% increase in streams for headliners Kasabian, Metallica and Arcade Fire. Aside from its success in the UK, with an average 57% increase in headliner streams, Glastonbury fared well internationally with an average 60% increase in headliner streams in the US.
“There is a clear link between festivals and global streaming behaviour this year, and great to see streams of certain headliners peak in non-domestic markets following their performances,” explains Angela Watts, VP of Global Communications at Spotify.
[include_post id=”415312″]
Incredibly, taking second place was Australia’s Future Music Festival, which saw an average 70% increase. Future Music also had the biggest impact in the UK for a non-UK festival, with an average 56% increase in streams in the UK for headliners Deadmau5, Phoenix and Pharrell Williams.
Pharrell Williams saw a 90% average surge in global streams following his performance at Future Music Festival. In Australia, streams soared to 102%, and in the Netherlands they were up 173% following his appearance.
[include_post id=”392760″]
Each of the headliners at St Jerome’s Laneway Festival all saw significant increases in streams in Australia following their performances at the popular boutique festival with electro-pop group, CHVRCHES leading the charge with a 101% increase followed by sister-act, Haim (65%) and genre-defying producer, James Blake (56%).
However, the most successful non-headliner was Ed Sheeran at Glastonbury, where he enjoyed a 130% average increase in streams across all markets. In fact, in the UK, Ed Sheeran’s streams spiked at 319% within a week of his Glastonbury performance.
“Australia has been a very enticing market for international acts for some time,” says Kate Vale, the Managing Director at Spotify Australia & New Zealand. “These findings take that one step further, proving that a festival ripple effect on an artists’ Spotify streams (both here and abroad) can occur after a killer headline set, and that in itself is quite powerful.”
Laneway Festival has announced its return in 2015, with dates locked in and their lineup due any day now. Future Music Festival is also expected to return in 2015.
Top 10 most globally streamed festival headliners
1. Pharrell Williams, Future Music Festival
2. Deadmau5, Future Music Festival
3. James Blake, Laneway Festival
4. The Offspring, Ruisrock
5. M.I.A., Hove Festival
6. Stevie Wonder, Roskilde
7. Phoenix, Ruisrock and Future Music Festival
8. Outkast, Coachella and Way Out West
9. Arctic Monkeys, Roskilde and Les Vieilles Charrues
10. Imagine Dragons, Hove Festival
Top 10 Festivals according to global impact on streams
1. Glastonbury, UK
2. Future Music Festival, Australia
3. Way Out West, Sweden
4. Les Vieilles Charrues, France
5. Coachella, US
6. Hove Festival, Norway
7. Laneway Festival, Australia
8. Rock Am Ring, Germany
9. Roskilde, Denmark
10. Bilbao BBK Live, Spain
