The corporate hippies

This summer, one farm in Tennessee will transform into a mecca for psychedelic-minded college students, aging flower children and the trust fund brigade for the ninth annual Bonnaroo Music Festival.

Bonnaroo is just one of many festivals now spreading feverishly across the nation. Events such as Austin City Limits, Coachella and Lollapalooza have become household names among music aficionados.

As I perused some of the concert websites, I realized someone’s making a very large sum of money from all these festivals. Well, it turns out that someone is Ari Gold.

When Woodstock rolled around in the late 1960s, it represented the high-water mark of America’s cultural revolution.

It was the first instance of thousands of like-minded free spirits converging on one farm for a few days of peace, love, drugs and some music in between.

The modern music festival has transformed from its bohemian beginnings into a monstrosity of marketing and entrepreneurial spirit.

Almost every aspect of these music festivals is now carefully monitored and evaluated by keen businessmen trying to capitalize on the spirit of free love, which for the savvy entrepreneur can translate into big bucks.

William Morris Endeavor Entertainment currently manages Lollapalooza, a music festival that takes place annually in Chicago. WME is one of the largest entertainment representation companies in Los Angeles and has a roster of stars that includes Russell Crowe, Clint Eastwood, Adam Sandler and Denzel Washington.

Interestingly enough, Ari Emanuel, the CEO of WME, is the brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and the inspiration for the character of Ari Gold on the hit HBO television series “Entourage.”

Some might find it ironic that such a massive corporate entity is operating a music festival featuring bands that rail against free-market capitalism and the other intrinsic values of corporate America.

I have the feeling the real deal is a little more ironic. Most of these bands must be smart enough to know that if they want to capitalize on their talent, the easiest way to go is to sign with a corporate record label.

There have been instances of acts bucking the trend and trailblazing their own path to success. Radiohead released its latest album, “In Rainbows,” through its website, where fans could name their price. The band sold more than 100,000 copies.

While the Radiohead experiment proved successful, I highly doubt it would work for a start-up band with no fan loyalty or name recognition. For most, signing with a corporate label is the only viable option.

This is why I see flaws in the mindset that “indie rock” is good and “corporate rock” is bad.

Just because a band signs with a major record label does not lessen its musical ability or call into question its ethical beliefs.

Music snobs call this “selling out.” I simply call it “being a rational person.”


E-mail: halderfe@indiana.edu