Coachella offers music as an experience like how it is meant to be savored. Last year, Paul Tollet’s music festival sold two hundred thousand tickets and the program, spread over two weekends, earned 95 million dollars. When Coachella beckons, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, and the like…they respond.
Tollet is 51 years old and boss at Goldenvoice, a promotional company that operates out of Los Angeles. It is a part of the A.E.G Corporation. Tollet has pulled off major coups in the past; getting heavyweights used to performing indoors to perform in an outdoor setting. He managed to convince The Who, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and the Rolling Stones to show off their skills under the skies.
Tollet is one of the top rock promoters of his generation, but you’d be hard-pressed to guess as much from his very regular appearance and totally chilled demeanor. But it’s not hard to guess that this man has amazing powers of persuasion and is willing to go the extra mile to get big names to play at Coachella. For example, he set up a 40-yard air-conditioned racing track for Mick Jagger. The star performer used the track to sprint on and warm up before his performances.
Apart from his persuasion and business skills, Tollet also possesses keen engineering and problem-solving skills. These come to the fore when preparing seating arrangements for nearly 100,000 people who come for the show spread over three days. A third of these are campers who need all the facilities for a comfortable stay. Putting things up and then taking them down requires logistical finesse and Tollet has been doing this for years.
The grounds on which the music festival is held are spread over 700 acres and also hosts polo competitions, dog shows, and many other events. Each year, the festival organizers have to worry about the same issues; such as preventing gatecrashers, ensuring a supply of water, providing washrooms, etc. Sometimes, new issues crop up. Like the time when the identification wristbands were counterfeited and the organizers literally lost control of the gate. Now, the ID bands carry a hologrammed logo and RFID tag.
There is also a fair bit of psychology involved in Tollet’s job. For instance, the VIP seats in the front row have black cushions so that when the lights go off, the artists cannot tell if the seats are occupied or not. Empty seats are not good for an artist’s ego or morale, feels Tollet. While these premier seats cost $1599 for three nights and are invariably sold out, you can also opt for cheaper arrangements. Tickets further back cost $199. If you’re camping, then you can simply spread out a blanket and watch the show unfold on giant screens.
Tollet skillfully curates a mix of big-name performers, critic’s favorites, and the not-so-well-known bands. The marquee names can receive anything between three to four million dollars. The smaller bands may have to make do with $10k for their efforts. His job is clearly cut out. Many of these performers will also showcase their wares at other festivals such as Glastonbury, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, etc. Tollet has to wrangle with the artists’ agents over fees and also such mundane but crucial matters as the font size used to display an artist’s name.
Before the lineup for 2017 was released, Coachella had already sold nearly 75% of the tickets. Within two hours of the names of bands that’d be playing there were released, the remaining tickets were sold.
Tollet has been in the game since 1982, when he made his first poster for his brother’s ska band, The Targets. He knows the arguments agents advance to get the best deal for their artists. He knows the metrics that he needs to consider. Even though an old-timer, he is fully aware of the power of social media and the manner in which artists interact with their fans online. When he first began working for Goldenvoice, Tollet promoted punk rock bands such as Jane’s Addiction and Bad Religion.
The idea of shifting his energies to an outdoor venue for the music came to Tollet when he found, repeatedly, that the bands he worked with, invariably outgrew their association with Goldenvoice, and when they did, Tollet’s company never had the cash to make deposits for buildings, and booking arenas was out of the question. So, he took to the fields…literally.
And since then, while there have been downs like near bankruptcy and bands ditching them at the last moment, Goldenvoice has more than managed to stay afloat. Today, marquee names are more than willing to discuss the terms for playing at Coachella. The event is a brand by itself.
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