The Newport Folk Fest is currently engaged in an enlightening and rather candid discussion of the effect a radius clause has on scheduling, promoting and announcing a festival such as it. In a series of rapid tweets coming from the fest’s official account @Newportfolkfest organizers are trying to gauge fan reaction to not being able to announce big name headliners for next year’s fest due to clauses already put in place by other festivals preventing acts from being promoted within a defined area (radius) of the other fest. Basically, Newport can either announce before the festival all of the artists slated to perform which would force them to avoid the radius clause’d “big name” acts, or have those well-known headliners but make no announcement of who they are before they take the stage. The Twitter account is asking for fans’ input and have been quick to respond to replies.
In all seriousness we may not announce the 2013 lineup until the day of the show
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
Let's us explain a bit more… Due to our size & non-profit status we have a VERY limited budget every year. Meaning only bands who get "it"
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
are the ones who come to the fest, ie not for $ but for love of the Festival
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
however, many of these bands can only play us IF they do not break other big $ paying fetsival radius clause
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
the only way to avoid breaking another festival's radius clause is to NOT use the band's name in any marketing
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
so two choices have no "headlining" artists meaning all great but smaller artists and announce the line-up OR ….
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
a few surprise/ "bigger" artists announced at the last minute….
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
what do u think?
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
the compromise of course is leave it to all bands to decide when and if they want to announce,
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
but there would be NO official announcement from NFF
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
again this is all being discussed nothing 100% decided, we love all your input
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
@Newportfolkfest marketing wise you run the risk of alienating the crowd that shows up specifically for bands and not the whole festival exp
— Music Savage (@musicsavage) October 15, 2012
@musicsavage again, smaller and "mid-level" artists are free to announce they are playing and ie what day they are playing
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
@musicsavage once the band announces we will then add to our official on-line schedule
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
@Newportfolkfest i think it's an interesting way to reveal, but it would be 100% out of your control… correct?
— Music Savage (@musicsavage) October 15, 2012
@Newportfolkfest Also not cool to sign a contract for $ & then throw a venue under the bus w/ a loophole b/c of "spirit" of another festival
— Catherine Maldonado (@terned) October 15, 2012
@terned Our event happens AFTER the other event. So artist "A" plays an event in June, & we/ they can't announce until AFTER the June event
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
@terned how would that hurt the other event?
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
@Newportfolkfest That would be fair on both accounts; just tricky to control timing. I can imagine it's a scheduling/PR nightmare.
— Catherine Maldonado (@terned) October 15, 2012
@Newportfolkfest I’d prefer to know the lineup ahead of time, as a college student I can’t afford the gamble
— ✨ Ryan Leys (@heyryanleys) October 15, 2012
@heyryanleys understod $ wise but you are okay having no "big" names?
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
@Newportfolkfest I think I’d rather hear “smaller” bands I might not know. Big names doesn’t always mean better music but either decision…
— ✨ Ryan Leys (@heyryanleys) October 15, 2012
@Newportfolkfest …you decide on will be great I’m sure, I’ve never been disappointed with the folk fest.
— ✨ Ryan Leys (@heyryanleys) October 15, 2012
@Newportfolkfest Don't care when & how lineup announced, but would love to see schedule before arriving. Do rules change once it's sold out?
— Eli (@lifftwit) October 15, 2012
@lifftwit regarding the "cubes" as we call them, we would have them ongoing as band's announce on their end
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
@Newportfolkfest Sounds like a good plan to me but I buy tickets prior to lineup regardless. I trust you guys!
— Eli (@lifftwit) October 15, 2012
think about it more like if we didn't announce MMJ, Conor, Iron & Wine, Dawes or Jackson until late would you all have still come?
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
of course we run the risk of disappointment, but we don't know any other way of bringing our headliners back, we just don't have the $
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
to compete with the uber festivals
— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) October 15, 2012
Comments
Loading comments...
Leave a Comment