In 1993, the band Pearl Jam was truly in a jam. They wanted to boycott venues controlled by Ticketmaster because of a dispute over unnecessary charges attached to ticket sales, according to the New Yorker. The band needed to find a new place to play, and they landed in a desert valley in Indio, California at the Empire Polo Club.
“You gotta run pretty far to get some space for yourself these days,” Eddie Vedder, singer and frontman, said to the crowd, according to the LA Times.
The Pearl Jam show was a smash hit and proved the venue could be a great location and a thrilling experience. It inspired Paul Tollett, who also founded the Goldenvoice Music Company, to start an annual alt-rock music festival in 1999. He named the festival after that valley where people had run to find a space for themselves – Coachella.
Now, Coachella is no hidden gem or indie rock dream. It draws talent and fans across nations and subcultures alike. With tickets starting at $499, Coachella is now the most widely attended and highest-grossing music festival in the world, according to Billboard.
This year’s Coachella lineup included Lana Del Rey, Doja Cat and Tyler, the Creator as its headliners, with smaller but notable performances from Chappell Roan, Reneé Rapp, Sabrina Carpenter, Lil Uzi Vert and even No Doubt.
Not only are the artists featured at Coachella undergoing demographic shifts, so are its attendees. More and more, Coachella has drawn “influencers” who come to the festival primarily to generate content to post. Coachella 2023 garnered 5.4 million hashtags, according to Izea.
Some worry that the emphasis on influencers has made the Coachella experience overly corporate and inauthentic.
Mary Carreón, a former Coachella die-hard, told Business Insider, “In recent years, the event has felt like a full-on social media convention, not a music festival. Every few feet, I saw Instagram models flaunting an outfit that they were likely paid to pose in, as well as branded tents filled with companies trying to sell their latest products … I despise that Coachella has become an influencer marketing tool, yet I loved my days on the Polo field.”
This year, Coachella saw less attendance than expected. Though the festival drew an impressive 200,000 attendees, it only sold roughly 80% of the available tickets for sale.
Many concerns have risen out of the changing Coachella culture, especially its impact on the environment.
Festivals like Coachella are a hotbed for microtrends and fast fashion – cheaply made outfits that are meant to be worn once or twice while they’re on trend, then thrown away.
In 2019, a study done by The Fashion Law found that “single-use outfits for music festivals, such as Glastonbury and Coachella, alone, account for approximately $307 million worth of items per year, or about 7.5 million outfits worn only once.”
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The fast fashion industry and festivals, like Coachella, that keep the trend cycle turning have detrimental environmental impacts. The fashion industry accounts for 10% of global carbon emissions and is the second biggest water-consumer of all industries, according to earth.org. Cheaply made garments also release microfibers equivalent to 50 billion plastic water bottles per year, according to the site.
Some, however, argue the importance of festival fashion as necessary for self-expression.
Madeleine White, influencer and Coachella attendee said in a TikTok, “It’s a festival. That’s our only opportunity to do that, because we can’t really wear that to go to the bar on a Saturday night. That’s what festivals are for – for fun and self-expression. Don’t worry about what the ‘cool police’ have to say about it.”
The festival has come a long way from its origin as an indie rock festival, hosted by those wanting to get away from the more corporate aspects of the music industry. Coachella will continue to change as culture changes, and culture will change as Coachella changes. Hopefully, it will take a turn away from destructive overconsumption and remain a celebration of music across genres and nations.
