It is no secret that music festivals are where money is right now in the music business. Unless you are named Adele, Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift, you probably aren't making much money selling records and live music can be hit or miss with the up-front costs of touring as a band. Festivals are both profitable for bands and the owners. Forbes just released its list of the ten most profitable music festivals from 2015 and Coachella with its unassailable brand, high ticket prices and attendance tops the list next to other American festivals like Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC), Stagecoach and Outside Lands.
Coachella tops the list by a long way, capitalizing on two weekends, grossing $84.26 million over that span with 198,000 in attendance.
The drop off from Coachella to the second highest grossing festival is dramatic. Coachella makes about three times more than fellow California festival Outside Lands, who rakes in $24.3 million, but from only 70,000 people.
Stagecoach, another California comes in third, followed the New York / New Jersey edition of Electric Daisy Carnival.
That is it for United States festivals. The rest are from around the world including Byron Bay Festival in Australia, Hurricane Festival in Germany, Osheaga in Montreal and Lollapalooza Brasil.
Attendance doesn't always equal the most money however. Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas has nearly 500,000 people enter its gates over three days this past year and it didn't crack this list. Sky high DJ fees and massive production could be the reason for this.
See the full list below.
1. Coachella (Indio, CA)
Total Gross: $84.26 million
Total Attendance: 198,000
2. Outside Lands (San Francisco, CA)
Total Gross: $24.3 million
Total Attendance: 70,000
3. Stagecoach (Indio, CA)
Total Gross: $21.88 million
Total Attendance: 70,000
4. Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) [East Rutherford, NJ]
Total Gross: $9.82 million
Total Attendance: 105,500
5. Byron Bay Festival (Byron Bay, AU)
Total Gross: $9.82 million
Total Attendance: 105,500
6. Bravalla Festival, Norrkoping, SE)
Total Gross: $9.65 million
Total Attendance: 46,500
7. Osheaga (Montreal, QC)
Total Gross: $9.25 million
Total Attendance: 135,000
8. Southside Festival (Neuhausen, DE)
Total Gross: $9.2 million
Total Attendance: 60,000
9. Hurricane Festival: (Scheessel, DE)
Total Gross: $8.68 million
Total Attendance: 65,000
10. Lollapalooza Brasil (Sao Paolo, Brazil)
Total Gross: $7.32 million
Total Attendance: 125,000
