The Changing Image of Festivals – How Technology Will Shape the Future

Coachella, Coachella, Coachella… I think that I, more so than any of my friends,  have been rambling on about this festival more than is socially acceptable since I came back from California at the end of April. I even kept the wristband on for a good 3 weeks afterwards.

Since 2011, Coachella has used RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) wristbands to bring a new dimension to their patrons festival experience. Once tickets have been purchased in the mad rush after going on sale, the wristbands are then delivered to the guests via post (how vintage). The wristbands can then be registered to an online user account (not obligatory) prior to attending the festival. The wristbands and accompanying RFID chips are then scanned at different primary entry points (it was supposed to be exit too but security were much more relaxed about this). This provided the organisers with key statistics about how many people were in which area and at what time. It also gives festival goers a unique insight to where they were, at what time, helping them to track and record their experience in a completely new way.

Various arguments have been given for and against the ability to be tracked at a festival in this fashion. Organisers argue that it helps to eliminate ticket fraud, like the guy in this article who netted £10K at T in the Park. It also offers a convenient way to pre-load cash to a wristband and not have to worry about safety and potential loss when carrying around your money.

However, critics argue that the wristbands are an invasion of privacy and increase the commercial element to what should be considered a liberating event.

Festivals in the UK are also starting to see this trend develop in a more substantial way with a number of key festivals currently employing the idea whilst others are still holding on to more traditional means of entry and identification. Glastonbury, for example, currently uses an extremely taxing method of acquiring tickets in which the patron must register and upload a picture in order to verify their identity to access the festival.

Either way, we are certainly starting to see the incorporation of technology becoming a big part of attending festivals and are bound to see this trend continue well into the future. As with the technology we carry with us on a day to day basis, wristbands are becoming more dynamic and can provide all events, not just musical events, with a new element of protection with regards to security, customer mosaics and usage statistics.

Published June 6th, 2013