In recent years, the advent of mobile device applications (i.e. “apps”) has simplified nearly every aspect of living. Through said apps, one can now unlock their car, stream their favorite music, create an interactive grocery list, play a song on a virtual piano, and accept a credit card payment- all from their phone. It was only a matter of time before the mobile app platform technology was applied to help music festival attendees organize themselves and get the most of their $250 ticket.
I remember my first music festival like it was just yesterday. It was 2008 and I was headed to Manchester, TN with five of my closest friends for Bonnaroo- one of the nation’s largest annual summer music festivals. We were rookies; we didn’t know what we would need, what we wouldn’t need, what to expect once we got inside, or how to get around once we got there. Indeed, experience teaches a large majority of these tough questions, but it literally changes from one year to the next and from each event to the next. In the game of music festivals, there is always something you didn’t see coming.
It may seem counter-intuitive to be clinging to your mobile device while at a music festival (the best and most logical time to unplug and go off the grid), but once you see the tools and features these festi-apps provide you might think twice about powering down for a weekend.
Coachella
Although Coachella has already come and gone for 2011, the west coast music festival’s application is a common topic of conversation for music lovers who attend it every year and it’s rumored to be one of the best for events of this caliber. Features for the 2011 version included maps (parking, venue, and camping… and the ability to mark your parking spot on the map), wristband information, photos of posters from every Coachella, videos, news, enhanced artist information, iPad support, a forum browser, simplified friend finding, combined Coachooser (interactive scheduling) and lineup, and offline interactive map caching.
Bonnaroo
The Bonnaroo mobile app is all about helping festival attendees to proactively discover new music before they get to the festival. With more than 150 bands and artists performing over the course of the weekend, it’s foolish to think you can make wise decisions on the fly. The Bonnaroo app strives to make artist discovery as easy and convenient as browsing on your phone. Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, doted over the 2010 app’s live feed from Bonnaroo Radio, the Internet radio station for the festival that plays tracks from bands performing at the festival each year. Although not yet available, as the 2011 festival approaches, an update will be released to include a map of the grounds (a true necessity!) as well as live updates to the schedule.
Sasquatch!
The basic features from application to application seem to be the same (create a schedule, read about the bands, take pictures, update social media profiles, browse media and find your way around using the map) but Sasquatch! offers an interesting twist to photo taking: For any artist, take a picture from inside the app and have the caption automatically filled in with artist and stage info. Push the photo up to Facebook, Twitpic or both at the same time.
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