Web3 and the music festival sector

Music festivals have been experimenting with digital technologies for several years – including livestreaming, digital ticketing, holographic performances, augmented reality and virtual reality. Yet, the imposed lockdowns and disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic have accelerated interest in both virtual and hybrid events as festival promoters have sought to adapt to changing circumstances, and to protect against the effects of future public health-related closures. At the same time, there has been burgeoning interest in Web3 technologies including Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse. These technologies afford new developments within the music festival sector, including transformations in how festivals may be owned, managed, marketed and experienced. The longstanding transformative and carnivalesque experience of the music festival might be regarded as under threat by moves that shift attention and interaction to digital platforms and technologies, yet the music festival sector must also keep up to date with changing audience demographics and interests in order to remain relevant. The infrastructure underpinning such developments remains challenging and the hype surrounding Web3 needs to be tempered by the realities of working with virtual assets. This presentation outlines the debates and explores the issues that are affecting the present and future of the music festival sector.