Why Music Festival Organisers Link Line-up Artist Playlists in Promotions.

It is not unusual to see artist line-up announcements from music festival organisers that include links to their profiles and playlists. Although an artist’s profile has long been a standard part of an announcement, there is an increasing trend for each artist’s playlist to be made available too. Why do organisers do this and what processes do they employ to make it happen.

Any artist line-up will inevitably include a mixture of headline acts, well known support acts and new talent. Whilst established artists will be generally known by potential ticket buyers, any new artists will benefit from a detailed profile, but a linked playlist can help indicate genre and style too. Even headliners are keen to link playlists often because they have new material that they want to showcase. Linking playlists is becoming more common and is becoming an essential part of both the festival and the artist’s promotional strategy.

Collaboration and Promotional Strategy.
Providing links and access to playlists can be used as a strategy to convert listening into ticket sales and platforms like Spotify are increasingly being used for this purpose. Spotify also uses algorithms to recommend specific festivals based on an individual's listening behaviour providing an alternative promotional channel for organisers. Festival organisers can gain great data by tracking playlist followers and streams, adding insight into audience demographics and music listening trends. This can also contribute towards the curation process and adds useful data that can be used in future marketing campaigns.

Contractual Obligations.
Although there is no obligation for an organiser to add a playlist link to any line-up announcements, it can be used as a tool in fee and contract negotiations when booking an artist. Contracts often include clauses that require an artist to participate in pre-event marketing activity which can include the supply of high-resolution images along with posts on the artist's own social media channels. Including links to playlists in promotional activity is a tactic that benefits both the festival and the artist and is sometimes included as part of a contract but not always. Linking to a platform like Spotify ensures that the linked playlist is of the necessary quality and that all publishing and performance licences and handled correctly. Contractual obligations may also include the sharing of relevant data obtained on playlist performance (followers, stream count, and demographics). Data collection and processing must be handled in compliance with any prevailing GDPR regulations.

The Playlist Creation and Linking Process.
Aside from simply publishing links to an artist’s own Spotify account, it is essential that the festival entity also creates a business profile specifically for their event. The dedicated festival account allows organisers to use their brand identity and logo along with images and a detailed profile description. Once their line-up is confirmed organisers can post selected tracks from artists to give potential listeners a flavour of the sounds to expect at the event. Spotify enables the creation of a unique ‘Spotify Code’ for the festival playlist that can be used for promotional purposes and are commonly seen on websites and social media posts. Spotify is also enhancing its functionality to provide event recommendations with each artist’s profile with links to selected ticketing platforms or a festival’s own website enabling a seamless process from listening to ticket purchase. An alternative approach is for organisers to create a unique Spotify URL that is given to a specific artist for them to add it to their own profile which can help to generate additional traffic and ticket sales. Other activities can involve close collaboration with selected artists to create and exclusive pre-festival playlist to help with the overall promotional activity to generate interest and ticket sales.

For festival organisers planning their next event using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, site planning, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Image by tomasi via Pixabay

<< Back to articles