ABSTRACT
Festivals are an important expression of human activity that contribute much to our social and cultural life and are also 'big business'. Music festivals are fluid environments, subject to change and reinvention, so that, for example, 'participative arts, audience theatricality and themed environments are increasingly popular within what may be described as the "boutique" festival sector'. This chapter looks at those environments and considers the potential future changes in technology, demand and innovation that are likely to impact the staging and consumption of live performances at music festivals. Televising festival content and streaming of performances has gained in popularity, facilitated in part, by content produced for on-site screens. Music industry recognition of the growth of commercial livecasts was confirmed by Steve Strange: 'There have been exclusive shows that have been sold to cinemas where people go to the cinema to watch a show because they can't be there'.
