The sold out and highly anticipated Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival that concluded Sunday, April 17 was said to have been an “unreal playground for music fanatics and lovers,” leaving me utterly jealous. Time and time again, Coachella produces one of the most anticipated musical line-ups and this year, a buzzing rumor throughout the music world was that Daft Punk was supposedly playing at the festival, which, for many, would entail a completely epic experience. However, after the line-up was finally released, Daft Punk fans like me were disappointed to see that they would not be featured this year. But, there was no reason to fret, because the 2011 line up still offered amazing artists such as Afrojack, Cee Lo Green, Cold War Kids, The Black Keys, Mumford and Sons, Arcade Fire, Kanye West, The Strokes and many more that left no doubt in anyone’s mind that Coachella 2011 was the place to be.
Serious fans bought their tickets in advance to avoid the immense disappointment of an unpredictably fast sell-out rate, leaving the rest of the desperate music lovers looking on eBay, where tickets were sold for ridiculously high prices. Although, for the many who were unable to get their hands on regular priced tickets, someone came to the rescue: Youtube.com. YouTube announced this month that they had plans to stream Coachella 2011 live so that fans everywhere could watch the performances from their laptops. Upon hearing this news, two thoughts immediately came to my mind: “Now I don’t really have to miss out on Mumford and Sons singing live,” and “Do I really need to struggle to get a ticket next year if I can watch the performances free on my computer?” Although there is speculation as to whether or not this new YouTube phenomenon will affect the public’s desire to purchase tickets and produce revenue for the festival, I beg to differ that despite a few negative connotations with this idea, there are benefits as well.
Being able to watch the performances online is ideal for not only people who were unable to get tickets, but also for those who are die-hard fans of one or two artists and for the rest who do not feel that they are acclimated for Coachella’s one of a kind environment. In addition, this could benefit those who are in dire need of going to the music festival because it’s basically their Christmas, Easter and every other holiday combined into one. More importantly, anyone who has been to Coachella — or merely spends their time dreaming of this musical wonderland — knows that half of what makes Coachella so epic is the environment and thrill of seeing over 150 amazing artists live, and not solely the melodic tunes that can be replicated over iTunes or YouTube. The YouTube ordeal will most definitely turn Coachella into a bigger phenomenon than it already is by allowing footage of the three-day festival to be open to a more broad audience. Once viewers witness the live streaming of Coachella, they will have more of an urge to buy tickets in the future. Furthermore, it will give fans an opportunity to either imagine they were there or to relive the memories.
Emily Andrews is a junior journalism student and contributing writer for the Daily 49er.
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