Zarządzanie Kulturą, tom 6 (2013), nr 3 / Culture Management, vol. 6 (2013), no. 3 Aleksandra Jackiewicz (Jagiellonian University) THE STORY OF HOW JOHN SOLD THE VINERY, SO WHY HEINEKEN OPEN’ER FESTIVAL IS NOT ONLY AN EXPERIENCE.
Key words: transformation, experience, music festival, culture, cultural impact. Abstract: Internet development and broad changes in the entire scope of the music business have come with the evolution of music festivals. Knowing phenomenon and how it works is the basis for successful management, as well as scientific analysis. This article aims to describe a phenomenon and tries to answer the question whether Heineken Open’er Festival is still part of the experience economy, or has become part of the transformation economy?
John is selling the vinery Inspired, hurt by and disagreeing with teacher’s words reducing music festivals to the experience economy phenomenon, I contend that with the outstanding activity within the culture management and music business management fields, that music festivals are much more than an experience! This does not apply to all festivals, but specifically to one festival which widely extends the experience category. It is the Heineken Open’er Festival 1, which has been awarded twice in a row the title of ‘Best European Music Festival’ by the European Festival Awards [http://opener.pl/ pl/Ofestiwalu/Historia]. This essay applies the idea presented in Monika Kostera’s book New directions in management, Academic textbook, examples of changes that market undergo [Kostera 2008, p. 398402] Which is that the process of constantly catering to clients wishes (customization) and the subsequent adapting by the competition leads previous innovations into becoming the standard (commoditization). I will try to present each stage of that process, taking my considerations into the field of music business. John has achieved everything in the world of wine. He decides to sell his business and start the game of moving between markets levels. He decides to open up a bar. The theme and localisation are similar to the competitors’. The amount of beer sold is a matter of pricing. Not willing to enter a bidding war with the competition about whose price will be the lowest, John decides to move his offer from commodities market to goods market. In the meantime he starts to like music. And he decides to associate his business with it. He decides on the rock music genre. Adding the music allows him to increase prices. Competitors become aware, and are catching up, which leads the competition again into a matter of pricing. In
1 Przystanek Woodstock may be pointed as similar festival, as in offers a lot of other non-musical activities and culture creation. However this festival is based more on a social aspects rather than musical. As a free festival it cannot allow to afford the biggest musicians. Often focusing on bands offering performing covers rather than their own music, or just music more mainstream or less ambitious. As an experiencing art, experience is much poorer.
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Zarządzanie Kulturą, tom 6 (2013), nr 3 / Culture Management, vol. 6 (2013), no. 3 response, John builds a stage and decides to run live concerts. This moves his activity into the services market. Again, the competition becomes aware, and so the next impulse and level of development for John is to organize a music festival. With a big number of artists, which constitutes mass customization – everyone finds something for themselves, and feels a connection to their favourites, thus moving John’s actions to the experience economy. “Guest is achieving something that is uncountable and incomparable – memories, relax, pleasure” [Kostera 2008, p. 400.] To remember the experience, clients get a bracelet which was previously a ticket, and also upgrade from clients to friends of the event – by posting their opinions on forums, blogs, or by recommending it to their friends. The number of music festivals around is rising, and regular music offerings are no longer innovative, which leads to degradation, which becomes commoditization. It is time for the transformation economy now. Evolving, John runs a music festival and makes a show about how musicians are learning from each other or from revered authorities. The guitar is taught by Jimmy Page along with Eric Clapton, Phil Collins and John Bonham are teaching drums and singing is taught by Robert Plant, Janis Joplin and Mick Jagger. Lectures about making the show and side effects are given by Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd, James Cameron and Steven Spielberg. Choreography is taught by Michael Jackson… Festivals like this do not exist and that probably will not change. However there is one festival (at least out of polish festivals) that, thanks to the role of creating culture, stands somewhere between the experience and transformation economy. Open’er, and it’s experience In promoting educational and pro ecological organizations like Word Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace and Ecogadget, the Opener festival shows the importance of environment preservation and makes people aware of these subjects. But not only that, ecology is supported by a whole bunch of actions like Eco Zone, entertainment creativity via segregation, natural exhibitions of Baltic fauna and flora, workshops increasing knowledge about ecological actions and the responsibilities we all share as well as by presenting alternative sources of energy like solar energy, windmills, phone chargers, or showing ecological devices like raincoats made of potatoes or self - charging torches. For their pro-ecological activity festival was awarded with Green’n’Clean Award, [http://opener.pl/ pl/O-festiwalu/Historia] given to Eco-friendly festivals. Further education about environment preservation, emphatic thinking about next generations and abuse of mother earth, are experiences unique and inspiring, that can impact everyone live, as long as they are paying attention, and care about more than just themselves. This also depends on whether parents will be open to the message. Because Heineken also has a pro-family policy. The Kids Zone makes it possible for whole families to attend and contain classes about recycling and music worshops, workshops in street art, graffiti, drawing comic books, shadow theatre and meting circus performers. „As a result of constantly expanding number of new records that come up every year, the manner of new selection methods and suggesting music will increase” [Gałuszka 2009, p. 282.] Precisely one of the methods for getting to know new music is attending music festivals. However it is hard to say that that ‘regular’ concerts present a wide range of artistic levels or that supports are playing much of an ‘inspirational’ role. With a wide range of music genres, 7 stages, and huge amount of trends present at Open’er, the festival is actually improving musical open mindedness as well allowing musicians to get new fans. The Phenomenon of becoming inspired by new music, genres or actual musicians nowadays during the crisis that publishing companies, focused on their own interests are going through, seems to be a great alternative for musicians, much better than ACTA. While publishing companies with internet expansion are going through a crisis, live music 2
Zarządzanie Kulturą, tom 6 (2013), nr 3 / Culture Management, vol. 6 (2013), no. 3 businesses are booming. In 2011 record-holding band U2 earned 283 million dollars within a year! [THR Staff 2011]. The number of concerts is rising every year, along with the number of festivals, and the costs proportionate to the number artists performing is relatively low. From an economical point of view, especially in the era of overproduction of music, festivals seems to be a much better alternative for musicians than records sales, and for fans they provide a much better alternative to expensive non-festival concerts tickets. Not to mention that festivals are a great method of capturing well known artists and promoting lesser known ones. In fact, they are quite often the only method of doing so. “Open’er was not only musical achievement, along with commercial success it is also a prosocial accomplishment”. [Malinowska 2010, electr. doc.]. A series of procedures by the organizers helped increase voting during presidential elections on 4 th of July 2010. By 5pm, 13 000 people placed their votes after gaining special authorization for voting outside of their place of inhabitancy. [Malinowska 2010, electr. doc.]. Organizers also actively suport NGO’s. And the generation, next to JP2, also known as the ‘Mtv generation’, ‘generation of Open’er did not disappoint. Twenty one different NGO’s presented their programs in a special tent where they could showcase their values. The method of using bracelets for entry instead of tickets was not revealed to attendants in advance, causing a lot of controversy. Since then, thinking about this method has changed greatly. With the experience economy a souvenir is a required attribute – which further supports the process of “finding consumption style and making ‘better self’” [Kostera 2008, p. 410] in the case of the Open’er festival, this adds symbolic content and allows festival attendees to identify with each other, meeting the basic human need of being a part of a group. Obviously there are voices which see this as a method of showing off, and they are often justified. Although “in the modern world, a person is not defined by their possessions or wealth but their lifestyle, what is being consumed, tasted and experienced.” [Kostera, 2008, p. 410.] And these bracelets, which are not pretty, play a socializing role by allowing attendees to recognize each other and giving them an excuse to make friends. The socialising impact of the festival is not only through the bracelets. Arousing a positive vibe allows people to make new friends and allows them to have spontaneous experiences that they will remember for their whole life, like a night time swim in the sea, overnight campsite singing, flash mobs, etc. To quote Mikołaj Ziółkowski 2: “Even in coffee places that used to be meeting spots, we are sitting with iPads, laptops or other electric devices, not necessarily speaking to each other. And here this very basic, tribal need of being with another human is realised” [Ziółkowski 2012, p. 4.] Culturally – the touristic aspect which results from a neighbourhood with Gdynia is also of high value for both sides - festival attendees, as well as tourists, city and citizens. Culture creating and transforming festival roles Open’er is not only about the music. As Ziółkowski said transformational, innovative and culture creating aspects are the key to a “strong turn into ambitious culture – theatre, cinema, visual arts […] after 10 years we had to answer the question where do we want to go. Is that direction of another 50-100 000 of participants, but for the price of substitutes and compromises, for example change of music for more mainstream? Or whether interdisciplinary, more culture creating than mainstream festival with a lot of art?” [Ziółkowski 2012, p.5]. The festival site is a mecca for all sorts of artists, not only musicians. „Separated festival space „Alter Space”, gathers in one place and consists of new ideas for non-musical artistic activity” [www.opener.pl/pl/news/Alter_Space]. And the range is impressive: from street theatres, performances, fire and fashion shows through outdoor exhibitions and documentaries as well as 2 Owner and cofounder of Alter Art copmpany – organisation that runs festivals like Open’er, Coke Life Music Festival and Burn Selector.
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Zarządzanie Kulturą, tom 6 (2013), nr 3 / Culture Management, vol. 6 (2013), no. 3 animated cinematography. And next to the coffee place, placed here for a reason, is to be used not only for an intellectual discussions but also as a jamming scene. And maybe these coffee places will become the ‘garages’ of this generation, playing the role of starting point for future music legends? Another non-musical activity on festival site is, according to Ziółkowski: “not 4 jugglers […] but a regular theatre with tribune, seats for 500 people, with decorations – and the best polish actors” [Ziółkowski 2012, p.5]. In 2012 for tickets for play Angels in America directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski, crowds were queuing from very early hours (especially early, taking into consideration how long the festival and party last) and even 5 hours queuing did not provide a guarantee for getting a ticket. In 2013 demand increased even more. For the newest play directed by Warlikowski the number of people was five times higher than number of tickets, which disappeared within half an hour and during the online process of booking servers got suspended [Pawłowski 2013]. The huge interest in theatre, as well as the difficult 6 hour play about the topic of homosexuality, which is a very controversial subject in Polish society, should be enough to silence the critics of the festival. If there are still opponents who say that the theatre was just another publicity stunt and that the audience demand for play tickets was just another example of the festival touting itself – and for all of those opponents of mass events, show off, consumptionism, consumerism, McDonaldization and others, I have two words: Krysztof Penderecki. Where else would these tens of thousands of people have the chance to listen to classical music, and the most outstanding Polish composer of our times? What better defends the argument of the transformational role that the festival plays, than raising the cultural sophistication of attendees? What will play a bigger part in bringing people closer to classical music than whisper marketing [Gałuszka 2009, p. 150] and personal contemplation of live music? From another festival, Przystanek Woodstock this time, I will use examples from the Academy of Beautiful Arts (where you can listen live and even discuss with authorities of science, art and politics) and concert by Gooral – young contemporary DJ, who performs a mixture of electronic music with ethno and folk (mountaineer lyric and vocal), that was inspired by Jurek Owsiak, at the Woodstock festival performed with the Singing and Dancing Band Mazowsze. Especially within the context of a culture crisis, or generation gap in perceiving art, examples of Penderecki and Gooral concerts (Penderecki performed with Jonny Greenwood – musician of famous top band form 90s. Radiohead), during discussions on the subject of education crisis, are not similar procedures of bringing people closer to more sophisticated art, as they require focus and are not an instructive way of reaching the recipient – and his transformation? Cultural competencies are a result of phase learning! Not as pink Ray Ban brand glasses? It is not possible to fairly discuss phenomenon without critics. Aside of a multiple mistakes organisational nature, organizers are working, year by year streamlining and eliminating shortcomings, with focus on constant development, expansion of their offer- both musical and nonmusical and passing onto attendants higher and higher cultural competencies. Amongst the most common accusations are vandalism, alcohol abuse, drugs, and loosening of morals. This is unavoidable for these kind of mass events. However comparing Open’er with Przystanek Woodstock, the first one presents way better. Theft is a marginal issue. 3 This cannot be said about Woodstock – where the majority of guests has some bad experiences and record-holders have been robbed even times!4 3 Regarding interview with campsite security of 2012 edition, there was not a single thievery accident reported. 4 Conversation with participant of Przystanek Woodstock in year 2013.
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Zarządzanie Kulturą, tom 6 (2013), nr 3 / Culture Management, vol. 6 (2013), no. 3 Open’er is often accused of being trendy, especially in the context, ‘banana youth’, ‘gimbus’, Ray Ban glasses, Hunter rubber shoes, Converse shoes and iPhones – for everyone following up with current trends, necessary ‘must haves’. Accusations are very fair and the amount of some brands is more common at the festival than anywhere else. One of the first criticise the fashion was Walter Benjamin in his Marketplaces [Tiedemann 2005, p. 8, 16] and more and more estheticians and sociologists agreeing with him. But how do we separate ‘show offers’ from intellectual and cultural non-consumption focus elites? Still experience economy or already transformation? The thing that does not allows unambiguously define the music festival as an experience or transformation economy ‘service’ is the arbitrariness of the experience. Our experience is not decided in advance. Is it going to be a pleasant experience or will it significantly change our lives? Will it inspire unique nature, inspire us to creativity, slow down the rat race for the purpose of such an amazing experience? Will it change us? To grade transformation and experience of the festival, the idea and intention of organizers is crucial – Mikołaj Ziółkowski says that polish performers and festival participants “are important innovators on national level of Poland, as well as Europe”, he calls them with the name of the ‘elites’. In the creative sector he sees hope for Poland’s future: “we will never be a provider of low cost labour, we may not become World Football champions either. […] we can be strong in creative sector […] For the next few years Poland may come into being thanks to culture. If for the moment government do not see and do not act on it – we will realise that” [Ziółkowski 2012, p.4-5]. Literature Alter Space [electr. doc.]. Year missing. Available: http://opener.pl/pl/news/Alter_Space [access: 23.1.2012] Benjamin W.: Dzieło sztuki w dobie reprodukcji technicznej. [The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.] Polish translation: Sikorski J., Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, 1996. Gałuszka P.: Biznes muzyczny. Ekonomiczne i marketingowe aspekty fonografii. [Music business. Economy and marketing aspects of phonography.] Warszawa: Placet, 2009. Historia.[History.] [electr. doc.]. Year missing. Available: http://opener.pl/pl/O-festiwalu/Historia [access: 23.1.2012] Kostera M.: Zarządzanie na rynku doznań. [w:] Tejże (red.) Nowe kierunki w zarządzaniu. Podręcznik akademicki. [New directions in management, Academic textbook, examples of changes that market undergo.] Warszawa: WAiP, 2008. Malinowska A.: III Sektor na Open’erze. [Third sector at Open’er.] [electr. doc.]. 7.07.2010. Available: http://wiadomosci.ngo.pl/x/571031;jsessionid=68289BF8F5821FECEF735FA383C19C4F [access: 23.1.2012] Pawłowski R.: Rock and teatr. Romana Pawłowskiego wrażenia z Open’era. Wyborcza.pl [Rock and theatre. Roman’s Pawlowski impressions from Open’er. Wyborcza Newspaper Online. [[electr. doc.]. 8.07.2013. Available: http://wyborcza.pl/1,75475,14240906,Rock_and_teatr Romana_ Pawlowskiego_wrazenia_z_Open_era.html [access: 11.9.13] Tiedemann R.: Wprowadzenie. W: Walter Benjamin: Pasaże. [Passages.] Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2005. THR Staff: The Top 25 Concert Tours of 2011: THR Year in Review. [electr. doc.]. 19.12.2011 Available: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/top-tours-2011-u2-sade-272359 [access:14.09.2013] Ziółkowski M.: Festiwal ma intrygować, a czasami wkurzać. [Festival supposed to intrigue, and sometimes piss off.] Rozm. Przepr. Mindykowski Marcin, Echo Miasta, Trójmiasto, 5.07.2012. 5
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O tym, jak Jan sprzedał winnicę, czyli dlaczego Heineken Open’er Festival nie jest tylko doznaniem Słowa kluczowe: transformacja, doznanie, festiwal muzyczny, kultura, kulturotwórczość. Streszczenie: Rozwój Internetu i wielkie zmiany w szeroko rozumianym biznesie muzycznym zaowocowały ewolucją festiwali muzycznych. Znajomość zjawiska i reguł, jakim podlegają festiwale, są podstawą do skutecznego prowadzenia działalności i jego naukowej analizy. Niniejszy tekst stawia sobie za cel opisanie zjawiska festiwalu i próbę odpowiedzi na pytanie, czy Heineken Open’er Festival jest zjawiskiem z obszaru rynku doznań, czy już transformacji? Aleksandra Jackiewicz – studentka II roku SUM na kierunku zarządzanie kulturą i mediami w Instytucie Kultury Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego. Jej zainteresowania badawcze koncentrują się wokół tematyki ekonomii doświadczeń i transformacji, festiwali muzycznych i biznesu koncertowego, badań nad tłumem, antropologii kulturowej i multikulturowości, sektora kreatywnego, zjawiska flash mobu, etyki, zarządzania w turystyce i zarządzania kulturą. Menedżer i podróżniczka.
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