Discoverability for Niche Music Festivals.

Some of the longest running and financially successful music festivals are small events that focus on a specific niche. These festivals can remain invisible to the majority of regular festival-goers because the appeal is too narrow for them. How can organisers of niche music festivals make their events discoverable to the right target audience.

Many of the larger music festivals operate in a highly competitive environment where every organiser is trying to attract big volumes of ticket buyers through advertising and marketing campaigns that bombard broad audiences. Niche festival organisers do not participate in this large advertising spend culture and instead focus on low spend highly targeted marketing activities that delivers relevant content usually resulting in much higher conversion rates to ticket purchase. What are the strategies that niche music festival organisers should consider to make their small events discoverable.

What is a Niche Music Festival.
The origins of many niche music festivals have come from fans or record labels of specific subcultures, genres or experimental themes that are not catered for at traditional music festivals. Audiences prefer to consider themselves as part of a tribe or small community where they share a common identity and set of values. Typical music genres that may be considered niche can include Prog Rock, PSY Trance, Goth and Bluegrass plus numerous others which take place around the world. With smaller attendances (typically between 500 and 5,000) niche festivals often take place in natural environments like quarries, abandoned factories, or ancient ruins to enhance the genre's vibe.

Identify the Ideal Customer Profile.
For niche festival organisers to successfully target the right audience, it is essential that they understand their ‘Ideal Customer Profile’. Consumption of niche genre music is usually the most common factor when identifying potential audiences. This may be combined with unique fashion indicators, usually clothes and accessories purchased and worn. In addition, consumption of genre-specific online content can be added into the mix. Most potential niche music festival-goers do not consume mainstream media but prefer online communities like Reddit forums, Discord and Facebook groups that identify with that niche. These online communities are often inherently linked to relevant niche musicians, artists, record labels, and promoters.

Targeting Niche Audiences.
Segmentation of historical data for previous ticket buyers will be the fastest way to identify and build a potential audience for marketing campaigns to promote upcoming festivals. With a known ‘Ideal Customer Profile’ organisers can use the resources of Google or Meta to find lookalike audiences using sample data which can then generate a potential audience for targeting. If the organisers have already identified relevant online communities, they can generate festival-related content along with utilising sponsorship opportunities where possible at a low cost.

Marketing Strategies.
The most effective marketing strategy to reach and engage with potential niche music festival-goers is to target their communities in online groups and forums. This approach does not require much financial investment in marketing; it does require contributions that will be considered valued and appropriate. Engaging in this tribal environment where fans get to discuss music and trends with festival organisers builds a unique level of trust. Organisers and fans get to discuss potential line-up options and other event features that are in high demand. This helps organisers to build an event that fans trust where they feel they are part of the organising process. Organisers can further leverage content delivery to increase discoverability by using platforms like Bandcamp, Resident Advisor, and Songkick where fans can access event information about forthcoming festivals. For every music genre niche there will be performers who are perceived as innovators or leaders in their field. Organisers can do deals with these micro-influencers who can be paid to engage with their own audiences and generate relevant online content to communities, promoting a niche event. Most niche music genres are dominated by specific record label organisations so it is essential to get them involved in every aspect of the festival. That label may be responsible for many of the curated artists and will invariably have access to buyers of their music. Getting the record label to contact music buyers and promote the event is a win win for festival organisers, record labels and the represented artists too.

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 josh A. D via Pexels

<< Back to articles