IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW LAURA GILLIGAN OCTOBER 13, 2016 PAGE 1
INTRODUCTION Austin City Limits is a mixed-genre music festival in Austin, Texas that runs two consecutive weekends in the fall every year. This year, 2016, Austin City Limits celebrated its 15th year running since it was created in 2002. It is held at Zilker Park just south of downtown Austin. Each year it attracts more and more attendees and now the attendance at ACL exceeds 75,000 people per day (Pauly). Austin City Limits brings in many local Austin food vendors and artists to bring in the culture of Austin into the festival. Although it is a music festival, attendees come to the festival for more reasons other than just the live music performances. It is a social gathering. It is a festival to experience with your friends. Austin City Limits to its younger audience is a care-free weekend full of music, friends, and memories. To some attendees, music festivals like Austin City Limits are also creative outlets. An outlet to express themselves through what they wear and the musicians they see at the festival.
TARGET MARKET: The main target market for Austin City Limits is attendees who are 18-34. In a survey asking how many people attended at least one live event in the past year, 71 percent of 18-24 year-olds stated they have been to at least one in the past year while that number was 74 percent of 25-34 year-olds. The musicians at the festival are generally younger and more up-to-date attracting a younger crowd. Austin City Limits markets to this younger, 18-34 year-old crowd primarily through social media and word of mouth. Austin City Limits has Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat accounts that people interested can follow. This younger crowd is more easily found on social media. Along with social media, there are many people who hear about the festival from their friends. An influencer in friend groups persuade their friends to go.
WHO IS MISSING: The attendees at Austin City Limits are mainly younger, but the festival is missing a main demographic group, people aged 50+, that would help sell more tickets. A Live Entertainment Mintel report by Bryant Harland states that “while younger consumers are the most likely to attend live events, 46% of those aged 65 and older reported attending at least one.” This older audience is one to market to since nearly half of the people this age group said they’ve at least attended one concert in the past year. The same report also states that “local venues have a considerable audience among older consumers.” Older people are less likely to travel long distances to experience an event including a live music festival. It would make sense for Austin City Limits to market to a target market that is people 50+ who live in Austin.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS: The purpose behind my research questions are to figure out how to better market ACL to an older crowd who may think that the festival is only for a younger audience. I think there is value in trying to market the festival to an older audience, 50+, especially since they have the means to buy a ticket or even a VIP ticket. • How can Austin City Limits attract an older crowd? • What aspects of Austin City Limits are most memorable and what can ACL and brands at ACL do with this information? PAGE 2
RESEARCH METHOD SAMPLE INFORMATION: Size: • One woman aged 50-59 Description: • Female • Upper middle class • Married with three kids aged 18+ at the time of the interview • Attended Austin City Limits seven times before • Lived in Austin for eight years and considers herself a local “Austinite” • Extroverted and adventurous • Enjoys being around crowds and people • Values spending time with friends more than listening to the bands at Austin City Limits
RESEARCH PROCEDURE: The in-depth interview was conducted in the comfort of the respondent’s living room couch. The respondent sat on the couch with her dog on her lap and a cappuccino in hand. The interview took place at 9:02 am and ended at 10:00 am on the morning of October 9, 2016. This interview was conducted the morning of the second day of the second weekend of Austin City Limits. At the time of the interview, the respondent had been to one day of the festival this year. Before the interview, I told the respondent the topic of the interview, Austin City Limits, while also instructing her to answer the questions as completely as possible. I talked through the discussion guide as shown in Appendix 2 which illustrates the interview goals and interview information. I informed the respondent that she will be recorded and that she is able to stop the interview at any time if she wanted to. I first asked her how she would describe herself to get her comfortable talking and talking about herself. Then I asked questions relating to Austin City Limits. The goal of this qualitative research method is to figure out how the older demographic, 50+ year-olds, experience Austin City Limits. Another goal of this qualitative research method is to figure out how Austin City Limits can better advertise to get that demographic to enjoy the festival. The qualitative method used was an in-depth interview. I included expressive techniques in the in-depth interview to have my respondent tell a story about her perfect day at Austin City Limits. It was effective to get her mind wandering and thinking more about ACL. The sampling method I used was non-probability, purposive sampling. Purposive sampling is selecting the sample or respondent based on characteristics that they posses. I knew I wanted my research and in-depth interview to focus on the older demographic of festival attendees who have been to Austin City Limits before. The respondent I interviewed matched both criteria, 50+ years old and had attended the festival before. She was also willing and able to be the subject of this in-depth interview. PAGE 3
RESEARCH FINDINGS & INSIGHTS The respondent was very excited when asked about Austin City Limits. She had many suggestions on how to improve the festival and what the festival is already doing a good job at. She was very passionate about she, as an older woman, can still have a good time among the younger crowd. The respondent stated “I can still enjoy the music on the edges with my umbrella up just sitting on my chair where I can see the screen and the stage and hear the music well,” (Appendix 1). This illustrates that the festival is set up in a way where attendees can experience the festival in whatever is the most comfortable for them. Attendees can be in the crowd or sit on the outskirts. The respondent stated that Austin City Limits music festival is unique because it offers a wide range of music genres and runs cleanly and efficiently. She stated that “they just do a really good job of making it feel clean with the trash pick-up, flushable port a-potties, having the food in the same place. That just makes it feel comfortable, it doesn’t make it feel messy or junky,” (Appendix 1).
OCTOPUS: Due to the fact that Austin City Limits offers many different music genres within the festival, the festival looks like an octopus in the respondent’s eyes. She explained that the festival has different “arms” or tentacles. Here the respondent said “each arm would also wave at different speeds that represents the different genres that ACL has. One would be really fast, one would be more mellow, one would be more artistic. Each arm would have a different style which represents the different genres like I said but also the different kinds of people who all come together for the festival,” (Appendix 1). She then explained that there is one main hub that brings everyone together, but within that hub are the smaller stages in which people make decisions and choose to go to different stages due to their tastes and preferences. She explains that “music is the body of the octopus bringing all these thousands of people together,” (Appendix 1). Even though there is one central hub, “there are all different kinds of music and different kinds of people who show up to the festival so I guess each different genre of music and different demographics of people just flow into the “arm” they identify with and appreciate the most,” (Appendix 1). The respondent noted that she would be interested in a VIP festival pass even if it is more expensive. In the interview, the respondent states “I definitely will look into the VIP tickets now. Even if it is 500 dollars, I am already paying 300 dollars, so really what’s the difference? It’s only a couple hundred more,” (Appendix 1). A spike in price for the VIP ticket would not scare her away from buying it if the VIP section allowed for more shade and space.
OLDER CROWD VS YOUNGER: A major theme in this interview was the respondent contrasting how she, as an older woman, experiences Austin City Limits in comparison to younger people who experience the music festival. The respondent kept on going back to the idea that “the younger kids they all want to be up front, dancing, jumping all smooched together. I don’t want to be smooched together with the crowd. I want my space, and I think that people my age are more that way too,” (Appendix 1). The older crowd has different wants as well. The respondent continued to bring up shade as a main issue for what older crowds want. She stated “We want to hang out in the shade. So we would rather hang out under a tree or bring our own shade as opposed to wanting to be up front by the stage,” (Appendix 1). The respondent believed that adding more shade to the PAGE 4
festival will attract more attendees in her age range. The major difference between an older crowd versus a younger crowd here is their activity preferences during the festival and their means to buy a ticket. The respondent believes that people her age have the means to buy a VIP ticket as opposed to the younger audience. She thought that it would be better to market the VIP passes to an older audience in order to sell more of them. Even though marketing VIP passes to an older audience would make sense, the older audience is harder to reach. Throughout the interview I noticed that the respondent does the same thing every year at Austin City Limits. She is used to routine she set in place many years ago when she started attending the festival. While talking about the interest in VIP passes the respondent states, “I’m sure they have that VIP area for people like me, but I am just so set in my ways of doing things that I just automatically just buy a general admission, three-day wristband each year,” (Appendix 1). The research concludes that Austin City Limits music festival does attract a large number of people who are 50+ years old. Austin City Limits attracts this diverse crowd by the different genres of music it provides and by running cleanly and efficiently. This older crowd experiences the festival differently than the younger, 18-34 crowd. The older crowd would rather sit in the shade with room around themselves while younger attendees generally like to be in the front of the stage in the crowd. The research also concludes that Austin City Limits is viewed as a central hub with many different “arms” that people can experience.
PAGE 5
CONCLUSION During the practice run in class, I was one of the seven people in my group who were the subjects of the focus group. It seemed to run smoothly and efficiently with questions flowing from the answers that were given. The moderator of the practice focus group did a great job of relating the new questions she wanted to ask back to the responses from the participants of the focus group. This is what I was trying to do with my in-depth interview. I had many general questions in mind that I wanted to ask my respondent. I had my general research goal in mind while I was asking questions, but I also listened to my respondent and generated questions from her responses to my previous questions asked. I found out that this was challenging to do, especially since it was my first time conducting an in-depth interview. I wanted to keep asking the questions that I already planned out instead of formulating questions from my respondent’s answers. I also kept holding myself back from talking more than I should. It felt similar to a conversation which is why I wanted to share my input. But, I didn’t share my input about this topic because I wanted to know the viewpoints of my respondent without her being influenced by what I thought.
WORKED WELL: Even though conducting this in-depth interview seemed more difficult to me; there were aspects of it that worked well for me. The comfortable environment we were in worked well for the success of the interview. We were both sitting on a couch in the respondent’s house. The respondent was very comfortable with her dog on her lap. The first question I asked was about herself and how she describes herself. This made her a little more comfortable talking to me rather than just diving into the questions about my topic of Austin City Limits. Even though she seemed a little more comfortable after I asked about herself, at first, my respondent seemed very rigid. It seemed like she was thinking very hard about her answers to make sure they were perfect. As the conversation and interview flowed, she became more comfortable with me and the subject at hand. Later in the interview the questions and responses flowed like a smoother conversation. Before the in-depth interview, I wrote down questions that I wanted to ask to direct the interview in a certain direction pertaining to my research questions and goals. I would repeat what my respondent said in her response to my question, then relate it to one of the questions I had already planned on asking. This made the interview flow more smoothly rather than just asking abrupt questions that didn’t relate to how she answered the questions before. Coming into the interview prepared as well as utilizing a comfortable environment during the interview contributed to the success of the interview.
NEED IMPROVEMENTS: Throughout the interview, I noticed some difficulties that I need to work on. I need to continue to practice day-to-day active listening. It’s interesting how different a conversation is than an in-depth interview. I kept on wanting to respond as a comment like I normally would in a conversation, but I had to stop myself from turning the interview into a conversation. I need to ask my why questions as well. I noticed that my respondent would say something that was interesting, but instead of asking why she thought that way, I went on to a different topic. I need to practice more active listening and asking more “why” questions would be beneficial to me in conducting another in-depth interview. PAGE 6
APPENDIX 1 VERBATIM TRANSCRIPT: LG: Laura Gilligan CS: Respondent LG: Thank you for agreeing to let me interview you today. We’re going to be talking about ACL, Austin City Limits. Feel free to answer the questions as honestly as possible and there are no right or wrong answers. Is it okay if I record this interview to make a transcript? CS: Of Course! LG: Great, thank you. Can you describe who you are to me? CS: I am an almost 60-year-old woman, with three children. I live in Austin, Texas and I’ve lived in Austin for around eight years. I am married to a professional who got a PhD degree and I have a college degree. LG: Okay, great. So, you’ve been to ACL how many times before? CS: I believe I’ve been to there seven times before. LG: So, you are familiar with ACL and kind of what goes on during the weekend. How would you describe it? CS: Wow! ACL is an amazing music festival in Austin, Texas. It is huge and it has gotten bigger over the seven years that I’ve been there. Or should I say, it’s grown exponentially over the seven years since I’ve been there. I think it’s grown because it started as a very family-friendly festival and It still is. It is very clean and it is run very efficiently. It caters to lots of different people due to the different genres of music. Again they run the festival very efficiently. I think that’s probably contributed to its success. LG: So you said it’s grown really fast. Do you think you see the same types of people at ACL now versus seven years ago? CS: That’s a good question. ACL has grown because they’ve added two weekends. Because when I first started going, they only had one weekend of ACL. Now they have two consecutive weekends of the festival. I think there are probably more of the college-aged students that attend now, you know. But there is still a large amount of people my age who go to ACL and all ages in between the two. Like, I’d say the thirtysomethings. It seems to me like there is a large amount of that age group at ACL. By and large, the biggest age group that attends the festival is probably twenties to thirties.
PAGE 7
LG: Are you saying that people aged twenty to thirty are the majority of the people who go to ACL? CS: Honestly, that would be my guess. From my observation, yes. LG: You are in a different age group range, so what do you do at ACL and how do you think it compares to what the twenty to thirty year-olds do at ACL? CS: Well I do experience ACL very differently than younger people do. The first time I went to Austin City Limits I went because I didn’t want my young daughter going alone. I wanted to see what it was all about and just to make sure a parent was there in cause anything happens. At that point I just moved from Los Angeles, where big events like this were more on the dangerous side for kids to go to alone. My older daughter said, “Mom, you’re going to hate it, you’re not going to like it at all.” But actually she was wrong because I actually really liked it. I found that I could just take my lawn chair, go hang out. I didn’t have to be standing up in the front smooched in a crowd full of people to enjoy the music. I can still enjoy the music on the edges with my umbrella up just sitting on my chair where I can see the screen and the stage and hear the music well. I go see the bands I think I might like and I just hang out on the edges. Whereas the younger kids they all want to be up front, dancing, jumping all smooched together. I don’t want to be smooched together with the crowd. I want my space, and I think that people my age are more that way too. We want to hang out in the shade. So we would rather hang out under a tree or bring our own shade as opposed to wanting to be up front by the stage. LG: Do you think an addition of shade at ACL will attract more people your age to come to the festival, or do you think it would just make the older people who already come to ACL more comfortable? CS: I definitely think they should add more shade. They promoted that they added more shade this year, but I didn’t see evidence of it. Like the gospel tent always has shade. It is a smaller stage thought. I think that’s the only stage that has a tent for its crowd, but I don’t see why they couldn’t have tents at least on the outskirts of the other stages. Even if the tents were along the chair section of the stages. It gets really hot, and there really are no trees around the stages for shade. LG: Do you think this is a main concern for you? CS: Well, I would say yes and no. It’s a concern for me; that’s why I bring my own umbrella. I noticed that there was a lot of people who even put up little shade tents and just camped out around the day. I guess we just bring our own knowing that there won’t be any provided. LG: Do you think you would pay more for a ticket if they had more shade available by the stages, if that was the deciding factor of what raised the prices of the tickets? CS: Probably not. I probably wouldn’t pay more for a ticket if they added more shade. It’s kind of expensive now already for a ticket. It’s almost a hundred dollars per day if you get the three-day wristband. This year, I didn’t even go to all three days. I used to go to all three days, but now probably I go either two days or even one and a half days. Maybe even one day would be enough for me. So honestly I would rather just bring my PAGE 8
own shade rather than paying more for a ticket to have more shade provided for me. This way I can just go wherever I want to and I can be shaded by my umbrella. With shade provided, who even knows if there will be room for me under the shade I want to be under if ACL put up different shade tents around the stages. LG: You said that shade was a little bit of a concern for you. Austin City Limits said that they addressed that by bringing in more shade even though you didn’t see how they did that. Was there anything that you noticed this year that improved from the previous years? CS: I did actually notice a couple things that really stood out to me. This year they had flushable port a-potties that had lights in them at night. This was a huge upgrade. They even were segmented between men and women and they had bathroom attendants cleaning the restrooms and helping direct people as to which stalls were vacant so there were barely any lines. That was a very nice upgrade. When you get that many people in a small space, and you’re having to wait forever on a bathroom stall to be open, and then the bathrooms are gross is not a great combination. They did have regular port-a-potties too. There was one section I went to that had regular port-a-potties and they were so disgusting. Again, I think they just do a really good job of making it feel clean with the trash pick-up, flushable port a-potties, having the food in the same place. That just makes it feel comfortable, it doesn’t make it feel messy or junky. LG: So, ACL does a good job of making it feel clean and safe? CS: I think the other thing is that yeah people get drunk at ACL, but it’s not like some of these music festivals that I’ve heard of where it’s just a big drunk fest where everyone is throwing up and passing out. It really isn’t like that. LG: From what I’ve heard from you, it seems like ACL is more of a family-friendly festival where you can go there and just hang out without having to get super drunk or feeling like everyone is super drunk around you. Is that true? CS: Yes, exactly. I know there are obviously people at ACL who do get drunk and do drugs to enjoy the music better. It is just nice because that is not everyone who goes to ACL. I feel very comfortable around the people at the festival. LG: Do you think this vibe is from how Austin City Limits started? Or do you think that they’ve worked up to this atmosphere by making changes throughout the years? CS: I think it’s a little bit of both. They’ve probably made improvements because the festival is 15 years old now and some of my friends have been all fifteen years. My friends said that at the first festival there was only like 500 people there or so, you know. And ACL didn’t really know how Austin would react to the festival or even embrace the festival, but obviously they have. I think that the festival producers have done a really good job of listening to their clients. There was actually a survey that was published that I took. It asked about demographics, it asked about what they do right. I think one of the things they do right is that they offer all this big genre of music so that any age group, whether you’re a kid or a teenager or a young professional or even an older person, can find a music group that they like and appreciate almost every hour of the festival. And it’s not just all Hard Rock, or Rap, or Folk, or Country. I mean, they offer a variety of PAGE 9
music which is a big attraction. And again, they run everything on schedule. So, it just feels organized and efficient. Even though there is a mass of a zillion people, it’s just done very efficiently. They do really listen to their clientele. And I’m sure it’s evolved; I’ve seen it evolve. LG: If someone didn’t want to come to ACL, how would you describe it to get them to come? I know you already described it as efficient and clean, but how would you describe it if someone is not willing to come? CS: I would say you should come try it out and you don’t need to be afraid of huge crowds. That yes there are crowds there but yes there is a way you can manage it and get around it. I have never felt like imposed upon or encroached upon because there are ways to experience the festival without having to get caught in the big throngs of people. I’ve never felt uncomfortable with the crowd. Now also, if you want to be in the crowd and have that vibe at the festival, you totally can get that experience and be in the crowd and the mosh pit of the crowd. But you don’t have to be in the crowd to have a good time. I think the other thing that I don’t really know. One of the things that has changed about the festival is parking around the venue. Thankfully, I got a parking pass from my friend who lives in a neighborhood very close by to the park. So we parked in front of her house and only had to walk about a mile away to the festival. If we didn’t have that I don’t know what we would’ve had to do. If we didn’t have parking, I’m not exactly sure how we would’ve gotten to the festival. I noticed a lot of buses and they obviously have a system with downtown, but I don’t know how that works moving that many people at one time. LG: Back to recommending ACL to someone who would be opposed to coming to the festival, you said that it’s easy to just not be in the crowd and to do your own thing without feeling too cramped? CS: Yes, and I think that’s the most important and greatest part about this festival in particular. LG: Moving on to something a little different. You described ACL as efficient, clean, family-friendly, and open to all ages because of the many different genres of music it combines. Now could you describe if ACL was a thing, what would it be? CS: It would be a big giant octopus with lots of arms, but each arm would be a different color. Each arm would also wave at different speeds that represents the different genres that ACL has. One would be really fast, one would be more mellow, one would be more artistic. Each arm would have a different style which represents the different genres like I said but also the different kinds of people who all come together for the festival. There are just lots of different arms to ACL. Besides the music they also have an big art market on display. The other thing that differentiates ACL is the food. They use all local Austin foods at the festival. That kind of makes it unique, and the food is actually good. It’s not just hot dogs and hamburgers; there’s also healthier foods there too. There are juices there too. It kind of helps to showcase Austin too, by Austin’s food. LG: It’s interesting that you say that ACL is an octopus. What made you think of an octopus out of all other things? CS: I think because it’s so spread out, but there’s a central hub. There are all these different sized stages PAGE 10
all around the park surrounding the edges of the park and I somehow see this octopus kinda flowing. The flowing of the octopus relates to the crowd flowing from one stage to another and just people going about their lives at the festival. Each arm flows independently, but is still attached to the body. Music is the body of the octopus bringing all these thousands of people together. But, like I said, there are all different kinds of music and different kinds of people who show up to the festival so I guess each different genre of music and different demographics of people just flow into the “arm” they identify with and appreciate the most. LG: I really like this octopus analogy to ACL. So what makes you come back every year to Austin City Limits? CS: I come because my kids are going. I come because it’s kind of an “Austin” event. I come to listen to the music and because I want to be current with the music. I come because it’s sort of fun to just enjoy being outside with the beautiful weather, enjoying the music. I used to come because it was social for me. I used to meet my friends there and stuff. This year was not really that way because this year my friends went to the first weekend and I went to the second weekend. It has been a change for me. Having it on one weekend, the whole community would come together and you would see all your friends because you were all there together at the same time. Now that most people and my friends go to week one, I go on week two, that it changed how I experience ACL. Kind of in a negative way. It has grown so big that if you don’t initially go with your friends, it is hard to meet up with them. It has grown out of just being an Austin, social thing where you saw all your friends and neighbors there. That makes it kind of a negative having the two weeks. LG: So, it’s less of a community thing for you? CS: Yes, it’s now more of a national festival where people descend upon Austin instead of just being a festival where people from Austin go. LG: Did you enjoy the festival more when more Austin people were there and more of your friends where there? CS: Yes, I definitely enjoyed it more when it was one weekend and where I could find my friends easily. For that reason. I could walk around and I would always be able to find somebody I knew and We’d be able to just listen to a show together and hang out with them. Maybe we’d go to the next stage with them, maybe not, but I’d know that I’d always be able to find somebody else. Now, that just doesn’t happen. It’s too big, and now there’s only a 50 percent chance of your friends being at the weekend you’re at. I do think people like to be at the first one. LG: When you met up with your friends would you go see a show with them, or would you go get food or drinks with them? CS: It depends. Sometimes we’d hang out at a show, sometimes we would go get food and it just depended what we wanted to do at the time. I also liked being with my friends to listen to music that they like and bands who I may not have heard of before. It’s kind of like kids too, you kind have to negotiate what show you want to go to at a certain time. For me, it’s was more about being with my friends and enjoying the music with them. It’s just different now that It’s hard to find my friends at ACL. PAGE 11
LG: Does being with your friends help you find new music? CS: Yes, definitely. Being with your friends at ACL definitely helps me find new bands and music that I actually really like. I don’t think I’ve heard of really any bands or musicians coming to ACL other than three: Willie Nelson, Mumford and Sons, and Asleep at the Wheel. And there was around sixty or seventy bands that play throughout the entire weekend. So, it definitely exposes me to new music. Also seeing where my daughter goes and sees exposes me to new music too. Every day of ACL before we leave the house, she tells me which bands I would like to listen to since she knows more of the bands than I do. So, getting that information from her really helps me as well. But seeing where my friends go is honestly better because my friends are my age and have similar tastes as me where as my kids have younger tastes in music like rap that I don’t really like. So I think ACL just kind of keeps me current with musical trends. LG: Where did you hear of the bands that you knew of before? CS: That’s a good question. Actually I heard Mumford and Sons at ACL a couple of years ago and I really enjoyed listening to them. I heard some of the music at ACL this year before ACL at my workout class the week before ACL. We had a cardio dance class that was to different songs from bands that were going to be at ACL the next week. That was fun to kind of scope out the different music coming. I heard music there. Some of it on the radio, some of it from my kids. Willie Nelson is an Austin staple, so I obviously knew about him. Some that I heard of at ACL before like Kendrick Lamar. LG: So really it’s ACL where you are finding new music to listen to? CS: Definitely. LG: Do you listen to the radio and have you heard those songs on the radio before? CS: I listen to the radio, but I typically listen to Country Western which really isn’t at ACL. So that’s why I’m not as familiar with the other genres because I tend to listen to only Country or actually Christian music as well. There is actually a gospel tent which I really enjoy. I find that very uplifting and I find it fun to hear contemporary, Christian artists in a different venue and I’m really glad they continue to offer that, to have Christian artists there. LG: Do you notice different types of people at that tent while you’re there listening to Christian music? CS: Definitely. It’s more people my age. Not exclusively, but definitely more normal people and more middle-aged people there. I think it goes back to the shade as well, because it seems like more older people like me are concerned about the shade. LG: What do you remember most about ACL? PAGE 12
CS: I think just as the sun goes down and seeing the sunset and all the people there enjoying the music as the lights from the stage flash with color as the sky turns dim. It’s so memorable because this is not a scene you see every day. Only at ACL, will you find so many people just moving about Zilker Park while the stages are lit up and the music is coming from all around you. It’s very cool. I also really liked hearing Mumford and Suns and hearing and singing along to the songs that I knew from them. Also, to just hear Mumford and Sons close the whole weekend. LG: Is there any specific food item that you’re excited to see come back at ACL every year? CS: Well I always get the chicken and avocado combo cone from Mighty Cone. I always get the juices. I was looking forward to the watermelon juices but they didn’t have it so I ended up drinking the kale and cucumber juice. I ended up buying four of those between the two days I was there at ACL. Two, twice a day. That was a big hit for me. I bought more kale juice than I did wine which is surprising to me. Let’s see, what else. I always like the SaltLick nachos. LG: Do you normally buy a lot of food and drinks at ACL? CS: Kind of. I normally buy lunch and dinner with maybe a snack in between. I don’t buy too much wine. I am not trying to get drunk here, but it is very nice just drinking a glass of wine while listening to music as the sun goes down. It’s fun to just sit and hang out with a glass of wine. LG: Is there anything else you want to say about ACL? CS: One thing I don’t like is the crossover between music. Sometimes at one stage you can hear the beat of another stage even a stage that is all the way across the park. It even happened with the bigger acts like Mumford and Sons who closed out the festival. Normally they only have one, big band playing to close out the festival, but this year they had two bands and the sound really crossed over. Especially when they were playing a mellow song and the other band was playing an upbeat song. I think they need to address this somehow but I’m not really sure what they could do to fix it. LG: If you were to describe the best ACL experience, how would you describe that day? CS: So, if I could design my own ACL? LG: Yes, describe that to me. CS: Okay, so I would arrive and be picked up in a limousine and would be dropped off right at the front of the festival so I wouldn’t have to walk up and down a big hill that I always have to walk when I park to go to ACL. I would have a VIP pass that would allow me to go backstage to any show I wanted to go to. It would allow me to have a private bathroom and to be able to sit in the shade, but also I would be able to go on the little section right next to the stage that only VIP people have access to. I think if I actually bought the ACL VIP ticket, it would be similar to that experience, but I just haven’t wanted to fork up the money for it. Maybe I should look into it though as I get older. PAGE 13
LG: Have you looked into what a VIP ticket is or have you considered it? CS: I really haven’t, but now that you mentioned it, it seems like a good idea now that I’m getting older and only wanting to go to one or two days of the festival instead of all three full days. That’s a good idea to look into it just to pick a day, buy a VIP pass for that day. That would probably give me what I want: shade, less crowds, private bathrooms. I’m sure they have that VIP area for people like me, but I am just so set in my ways of doing things that I just automatically just buy a general admission, three-day wristband each year. That’s a really good idea. LG: I know that Three-Day General Admission tickets and the One-Day General Admission tickets sell out really fast, but the VIP tickets do not sell out normally. Do you think marketing the VIP passes to an older demographic would help sell out the VIP tickets? CS: It’s interesting because people my age are going to be the ones with the means to be able to spend more money on a concert ticket for a VIP pass. It’s interesting though because some of my friends don’t want anything to do with ACL because they think it’s just for younger audiences only and they think that it’s just a crazy madhouse with younger people running around. There is a perception that ACL is for a younger crowd. I mean, I only went initially with my younger daughter to make sure it was okay for her and to make sure that she was safe and to better understand what it was. Then I was like, “oh this is cool.” I think they are missing out on a large audience in my age group that is honestly willing to pay more money for a concert in comparison to a younger person who doesn’t have the job yet to spend more money on a concert experience. I think ACL should market the VIP passes to an older audience if they want to sell out or sell more VIP tickets. I definitely will look into the VIP tickets now. Even if it is 500 dollars, I am already paying 300 dollars, so really what’s the difference? It’s only a couple hundred more. LG: In your opinion, what would be the best way to reach your demographic? CS: Maybe the newspaper, maybe Facebook. They could also have like a silver wristband and have a 50+ or senior citizen VIP special area where only they can go so it’s a tent more exclusive to us. Or they could do it through American Express. I noticed that there was no American Express tent, but American Express does put up tents at many different events. American Express also emails its users saying that they’ll be at so and so event, so that gets more people in the know about certain events. It’s like a member alert “here’s what you can have” kind of thing for a tent at different events. Maybe one of ACL’s sponsors could target more of an older audience. State Farm had a tent there this time. I don’t know if they want us old people there, but we generally do have the means to pay more money for something we want to go to. Assuming that ACL would want us to be there. LG: That sounds like a great way to target older people. Do you have anything else to say about targeting older people? CS: It was interesting on the survey from ACL, they asked what brands do you recall and why. I said Tito’s because Tito’s sponsored the gospel tent which is the stage I was at the most. They also gave away really nice drawstring backpacks from the Tito’s VIP lounge that I saw people wearing all around ACL. Tito’s also gave out bandannas with their logo. There was also Camelback hydration stations and other companies that PAGE 14
sponsored stages. I definitely think advertisers can do more with their brand at ACL to get their message across to have ACL attendees remember what their brand is all about. I mean this could attract more people, but maybe we don’t want anymore people coming to ACL and Austin. It attracts enough people already and maybe we don’t need anymore people coming here. LG: Have you seen the impact of ACL on Austin? Or is there even an impact on Austin during ACL? CS: Yeah, I think it’s fun to show around Austin and it’s fun to have people visit from time to time. It definitely feels a little bit busier, but during the day everyone is confined to the park, so it really doesn’t feel too crowded when you’re outside ACL just going about your day-to-day activities around town. LG: This is all so great. Thank you so much for letting me interview you. Do you have anything more to add? CS: I think that’s all I have to say. LG: Thanks again! If you have anything else that you want me to know, please feel free to email me at laura.gilligan@tcu.edu.
PAGE 15
APPENDIX 2 DISCUSSION GUIDE: Interview Goals: • Learn about how an older audience views Austin City Limits • Uncover what would bring more of the 50+ demographic to Austin City Limits • Learn what is enjoyable and not enjoyable at Austin City Limits for the 50+ demographic • Figure out different observations are made during Austin City Limits Interview Information: • This interview is academically interested for Wendy Macias’ undergraduate Research class at Texas Christian University. • This interview will run for about an hour long, but you can stop at any time if you don’t feel like responding anymore or if you feel uncomfortable. • This interview will be recorded so I can listen back to transcribe and analyze what is said.
PAGE 16
APPENDIX 3 QUESTIONS: 1. Can you describe yourself to me? 2. What is Austin City Limits to you? 3. What do you do at ACL? 4. Do you normally buy a lot of food and drinks there, or do you eat before you go? 5. What kind of people do you think go to ACL? 6. If ACL was a person, what would it look like/how would it dress? 7. If ACL was a certain thing, what would it be and why? 8. How would you describe ACL to someone who doesn’t know what it is? 9. To those who have been to ACL, what is different about it than other music festivals? 10. Why do you keep on coming to ACL even though the price continues to rise? 11. What aspect of ACL do you remember the most? 12. Why do you remember that aspect the most out of everything at Austin City Limits? 13. If you were to describe your perfect ACL experience, what would it look like? 14. Would you consider a VIP pass? 15. Why have you considered a VIP pass or why have you not considered buying one? 16. What is the best way to reach your demographic? 17. Have you seen an impact of Austin City Limits on the City of Austin? 18. Does being with your friends help you find new music? 19. Is there a specific food item that you’re excited to see at Austin City Limits every year? 20. What makes you come back to ACL every year?
PAGE 17
WORKS CITED Harland, Bryant. “Live Entertainment - US.” Dec. 2014. Mintel. Texas Christian University Library, Fort Worth, Texas. 12 Oct. 2016. Pauly, Brad. “6 Things You Need to Know About Austin City Limits.” Pauly Presley Realty. N.p., 25 Sept. 2015. Web. 12 Oct. 2016. <http://www.paulypresleyrealty.com/blog/6-things-you-need-to-know-about austin-city-limits.html>.
PAGE 18