Research Finds Music Festivals More About Escapism & Less About Music

Despite the social media frenzy that follows the announcement of a headline act at the UK’s top music festivals, according to research by British camping manufacturer www.olpro.co.uk , it’s not the music that keeps people coming back. It’s the inner hippy in all of us that festivals unleash, allowing us to live simply, in a community and without responsibility.

The OLPRO team went to ten festivals in 2013, each of them offering a different range of music and content, appealing to everyone from families to heavy metal fans. OLPRO spoke to over 10001 festival-goers and established that 90% were there to forget real life rather than to see a specific artist. Interestingly, most of those questioned admitted to spending only 50% of their waking time enjoying the music with drinking, eating, partying and being with friends and family being equally as important.

Of those questioned who had gone travelling during a gap year, for example, 95% stated that a festival reminded them of the simplicity of life as a backpacker. People seem to yearn for a stripped-down life where the only concerns are where you are going to sleep and what you’re going to eat.

40% of those OLPRO spoke to stated that they have started to go camping at other times of the year to recapture the feeling of being at a Festival, even though the majority never went camping as children. Commenting on their findings, OLPRO MD Daniel Walton stated:

“Festivals remind people of their childhood – the big circus-like tents, fairgrounds, entertainers, stalls and side shows, bubbles. For a few days they can forget their job, their responsibilities, which reminds them of how they felt before they grew up. The music seems to be secondary to the adventure.”