OVO Fest, and Dreamville, and Astroworld, Oh My!: The Rise in Popularity of Rapper Curated Festivals

Since the origins of Woodstock, there are now more than 800 music festivals in America each year. Rappers are now increasingly staging festivals all over the country with exponential success, leaving traditional festival organizers scratching their heads as to what they’re doing wrong.

Written by Emily Gruner

Since 2015, the amount of hip-hop acts at Coachella have doubled. It’s safe to say that rap has not only become a cornerstone of pop culture, but music festival culture as well. Now, rappers are entering the game with their own events, from Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival, Jay-Z’s Made In America, and Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw. Despite doubts from traditional festival organizers, these rapper produced festivals have typically gone off without a hitch — so what has made these rappers so successful?

Crowds at Astroworld Festival courtesy of Hypebeast

Considering the vast amount of music festivals hosted in America alone today, it’s safe to say that starting one independently is a huge undertaking. Now that big companies are focusing on booking artists that drive ticket sales, music festivals aren’t niche anymore. Attending these festivals is more accessible and easier than ever. This makes differentiation amongst music festivals difficult, with artist lineups for big festivals becoming more homogenous. But the logistics (hi Fyre Fest) are another huge endeavor: land booking, artist fees, security, sound. . . it’s not cheap! It’s essential to have high ticket sales and lucrative sponsorships, considering it takes organizers a few years to break even on their investment.

First off, this niche experience is a huge opportunity for artists to add their friends to a lineup or for labels to put their artists on the map as well. Drake’s OVO Fest always features artists from the label, and J.Cole is now doing the same with his Dreamville festival. This not only lowers costs, since labels don’t have to bid for larger headliners, but also drives higher ticket sales through targeting these labels’ dedicated fans.

Image courtesy of NOW Magazine

Because sponsors will receive more valuable promotion on social media from  partnerships with big stars, it is more lucrative for artists to brand themselves at their own festivals while demanding higher fees from these sponsors. And of course, artists can employ the services of their famous friends and family for promotion. Prior to their break up, Kylie Jenner posted promotions for Travis Scott’s Astroworld to her 100M+ followers, taking advantage of her large following to boost attendance for the festival.

But as many music festivals are seemingly becoming “generic” and “pop,” the hip-hop and rap genre is increasingly seeing dedicated fans enter its corner. Since artists are trusted sources for music recommendations, many fans take those recommendations when searching for new music to listen to. So when it comes to events and festivals, those hosted and curated by someone’s favorite artist serve as an indication of a great experience to come, making the avid fan the most benefited stakeholder in this situation.

Hip-hop’s rise in music festivals is remarkable, but these artists are changing the game by creating their own special events for fans. These hustlers are moving up the chain by propelling their starpower and loyal fanbase to drive the success of these curated festivals, leaving traditional festivals scrambling to bid on headlining artists to compete.