Imagine a music festival that starts off innocent. Imagine a music festival where people can go and enjoy great music, eat and drink inexpensively and learn about better ways to recycle and protect the environment. Well that place used to be the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Remembering past experiences and now having worked at the festival, I have seen first hand at what is described as a “corporate takeover”. Superfly Productions has been promoting Bonnaroo since the beginning of what used to be a jam-band influenced, environmentally-conscience music festival. This innocent adolescent (6th year) of a festival has abruptly turned into a corporate monster. The price rise on everything from water to food to merchandise is astounding. Even thought the festival is making more money, Superfly continues to raise the price on admission. It is as if the company does not care at all about the fans. A company that is already making a ton of money is milking this festival for everything that it is worth. Little of the money is going toward efficiently cleaning up the event. The rest is going toward filling the promoter’s and advertiser’s pockets. There must be something done to take this corporate giant down and get back to the drawing board.
In December 2006, Superfly Productions bought a huge chunk of Sam McAlister’s farm just outside Manchester, TN. “Bonnaroo is the top-grossing event of its kind in the world, capturing the top festival award at the Billboard Touring Awards for three consecutive years. Last year's event grossed $14.7 million.”(Waddell, 2007) Superfly Productions bought the land from Sam McAlister for a measly $8.6 million, considering that the company almost doubled that price in one festival. The company alone has grossed over $50 million since the introduction of the festival in 2002. This has been a huge success for Superfly Productions but there is just one catch for concertgoers, everything has increased in price. What was $2.00 a bottle for water in 2005 is now $4.00 a bottle at 2007’s festival. A bag of ice in 2005 would cost you $1.00; in 2007 a bag of ice cost $3.00. A 12 oz. can of beer went from $4.00 in 2005 to $6.00 in 2007. Even all the merchandise went up an extra $5.00. Actually everything you could possible fathom jumped in price since the festival went corporate last year. There is no reason for the increase in prices. There is just one word to describe what is controlling this festival: Greed.
Waddell, Ray. “Jam Band Scene: A Sticky Situation.”
Billboard 25 June 2005 Vol. 117 Issue 26, p21-21, 1p, 1c
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