The electronic dance music movement is continuing to explode and Forbes – the leader business and financial news – has the numbers to prove it. Large scale events like Ultra Music Festival have continued to flourish, expanding their reach to to countries like Chile, Buenos Aires, South Africa, Korea, and Japan among other exotic
locations. Far and wide, people are cranking up the bass and throwing up hearts and big business has taken notice.
This has really begun to take shape over the last several years and you may have been too enthralled in the festival experience to even noticed. Beverage companies Heineken and Red Bull have obtained exclusive beverage rights at Ultra Music Festival with Bud Light featuring Afrojack in their most recent Superbowl advertisement. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. We have known it all along; living the festival life and breathing in the magic while 100 decibels of bass coursed through our veins. We saw it on the festival grounds. Now big businesses are starting to take notice, and Forbes says it is time to invest now.
Promotional giant ID&T and magnate Robert F.X. Sillerman have invested over $1 billion in acquisitions within the EDM marketplace and the fans are benefitting. Festival production engages attendees at every sensory level with stunning visual productions, interactive art installations, appealing merchandise, and high quality tunes. As more and more festivals continue to emerge, the competition is causing curators like Insomniac Events to push the envelope creating bigger and better experiences.
Here is a little peak in to the magnitude of the burgeoning electronic dance music industry.
By the Numbers
- Ticket sales for Ultra Music Festival are expected to exceed $132 million this year.
- Ultra Music Festival will have an economic impact of over $200 million in just three days for the city of Miami.
- Since 2005 Ultra Music Festival has seen a 750% increase in attendance.
- Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas generated over $278 million in revenue with over 345,000 fans in 2013. EDC has already sold out over 3 months in advance for 2014.
- After going public in 2013, SFX Entertainment has a market cap of $724 million and owns an estimated 16% of the entire EDM space.
With SXSW wrapping up, Buku next weekend, and Ultra right around the corner, festival season is officially underway and soon to be in full swing. Even if attending festivals and other live events are not in your plans, perhaps it would be wise to invest while you can.
