This week, Beyonce announced that she was pulling out of Coachella; being the co-headliner of the most profitable music festival in the world (last year driving $94 Million in sales) for two consecutive weekends, Beyonce's actions may prove detrimental for not only the festival, but also for her own brand image. This festival, which was sold out in a matter of minutes, sold over 200,000 tickets (at $400 - $900 each). Although she claims she is very sad to pull out and that it is strictly due to the risk of pregnancy, many Coachella goers are extremely disappointed. Although, it appears through the social media outlets that many are hoping to get a refund for their ticket, the Coachella ticket website strictly states 'No Refunds'.
A similar situation happened in 2009, when the Beastie Boys were scheduled to headline Lollapalooza. However, the lead singer, Adam Yauch, was diagnosed with cancer and they could no longer perform. Lollapalooza tried then to get a replacement to help retain brand sentiment, however the band they selected (the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) did not have the same appeal. Due to the high volume of performers at Lollapalooza, the repercussions of the Beastie Boys dropping out were not as severe as they could have been. However, many fans (of both Coachella and Beastie Boys) were left disgruntled, especially due to the fact they were unable to receive a refund. They handled the situation relatively okay.
In 2010, U2 had to drop out of the Glastonbury due to Bono injuring his back. Similar to Beyonce, U2 had a huge following with very dedicated fans who bought tickets just to see them. However, Glastonbury handled the situation extremely well. They had Gorillaz (a known band with a similar target audience) replace U2, invested a ton of money in the aesthetics and nautical theme of the show. They then also surprised the audience with guest performances from Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Bobby Wormack, Shaun Ryder and a few others. The audience was so excited and pleased, not only with the aesthetics and feel of the show, but also the surprise guest appearances. Many consider this to be one of the best performances in Glastonbury history.
Although these festivals were able to stay afloat from the headliner pulling, some music festivals are not so lucky. This past fall, Lollapalooza Colombia was cancelled due to the fact that their main mystery headliner (later revealed to be Rihanna) pulled out a couple of months before the show in fear of contracting the Zika Virus. Although they had close to forty other performers (including Lana Del Rey, Disclosure and Wiz Khalifa), the festival felt they did not have enough time to find a replacement headliner of that caliber. They therefore refunded all of the tickets, and in the end took the deficit for the show. There are currently no plans for a Lollapalooza Colombia festival for 2017. This debacle is said to have halted Lollapalooza's plans to create a festival in Colombia (whether indefinitely is still to be determined).
The examples stated prior were all cases where the headliners canceled due to illness, injury, or health concern. However, sometimes artists cancel due to personal beliefs. For example, in 2014 R. Kelly was scheduled to headline the Fashion Meets Music Festival. Due to R. Kelly's association with sexual violence and assault, two performing groups as well as a sponsor pulled from the festival. They did not want their brand image associated with him. There were protests against R. Kelly performing, and a month before the show, in fear of the success of the event, Fashion Meets Music Festival decided to pull R. Kelly. They also did not find a replacement for R. Kelly with such short notice. With all of this negative publicity and boycotts associated with the event, crowds proved to be sparse. The event itself underperformed in sales and attendance.
Ultimately, from these examples, one can see there are three critical areas to determine if an event can be successful after a major headliner pulls out: how many other performers/headliners are scheduled, the reason why the headliner is pulling from the show, and how much notice the headliner gives/if there can be a replacement. First, the music festivals that tend to be more stable when headliners pull are the ones that already have more performances and acts. The tiny 'boutique' festivals have more at stake when the headliner pulls, simply because more of the ticket purchasers purchased their ticket with that one band in mind. Where in larger festivals, people tend to purchase their ticket to see multiple bands. Second, the reason why headliners pull from a show is critical. When someone pulls due to medical conditions or injury, the audience tends to be a bit more forgiving of both the show and of the performer. However, when bands start to pull due to political or personal beliefs, this can create a divide and/or protest among the general public, as seen in the R. Kelly example. Third, when the headliner pulls out is critical to the stability of the show. As seen in the Lollapalooza Colombia example, when the main act pulls out last minute, often times there is no time for a replacement and the show is left with a large hole. This hole or blank space hurts the brand sentiment, and in this case even led to the cancelation of the event. However, when given enough time and music festivals are willing to find a replacement, the audience can be left with a surprise, and it can ultimately help the brand sentiment, as seen in the Glastonbury example.
Determining whether Beyonce canceling Coachella will ultimately hurt Coachella's brand image as well as her brand image will depend on several factors. Although the size of Coachella is immense and they already have some all star co-headliners as well as acts, Coachella will need to find a replacement for Beyonce. Beyonce has a huge following and appeal. Coachella will need to not only find another all star to fill her shoes, but they will also need to find someone with a similar target audience, as this will be the crowd that's disappointed by her pulling out. Beyonce has such a wide appeal, that it may be hard to find someone that caters to everyone's tastes. Coachella should also try to do what Glastonbury did and maybe find more than one person to fill Beyonce's shoes to ensure all target audiences are satisfied. Also, by investing money in creating the ultimate experience for the fans, this could be a great marketing strategy to overall help the brand. When music festivals act like they are on the same side of the fans, stating how they too are disappointed in what is happening and acting on the fans' best interests to create an unforgettable experience, the music festivals create brand love and loyalty. This ultimately will drive ticket sales and increase social mention.
Another key component that will determine if Beyonce's cancelation will effect her and the festival is determined by her reason for canceling. The latest reports say that it is due to the fact that she is pregnant with twins and that she plans to headline in 2018. If this is the case, fans will be more forgiving of her and Coachella. However, it is rumoured that she canceled due to the fact the the owner of Coachella is a supporter of Donald Trump, where Beyonce openly shares her support for the Democratic Party. If this is the case, this could create a divide among the festival goers and could ultimately hurt the show, as well as inspire other performers to drop out of the show as well. As roughly half the country is Republican and half Democrat, if the music festival starts to pick a political side, there could be tension among the festival goers, which would hurt not only Beyonce's brand image but also Coachella's.
Ultimately, the PR and marketing team need to work swiftly. They need to quickly find a team of replacements for Beyonce to cater to her wide appeal. The marketing team needs to make sure they stress that Beyonce is canceling due to her pregnancy and that she fully intends to perform in 2018. Coachella also needs to stress the fact that they are so sorry for the inconvenience to the music festival goers and that they fully intend to create an unforgettable experience despite this situation out of their control. After this, they should also create marketing campaigns that highlight the other great performers that will be performing at Coachella. Although this is an unfortunate series of events for Coachella, they can use this opportunity to surprise the audience and try to create an even better performance than anticipated (similar to what Glastonbury did in 2010), which will ultimately increase brand sentiment and loyalty and drive more sales for future shows.