2015年经济学人 户外音乐节正在改变音乐产业

Music festivals

Muddy tunes¹

How big outdoor concerts are changing the music industry

DOLLY PARTON, an American musician, is used to performing for big crowds. But after her set this year at Glastonbury,

Britain's largest music festival, she admitted to feeling nervous. Since that show, seen by 100,000 revellers and 2m television viewers,

her album “Blue Smoke” has hovered³ near the top of the album chart for eight weeks.

Ms Parton's resurgence⁴ hints at how festivals are reshaping Britain's music business.

The live music market is flourishing even as sales of recorded music have mouldered⁵.

Between 2012 and 2013 it grew by a quarter, according to the Performing Right Society for Music, an industry body.

Gig-goers now spend more than 1 billion (1.7 billion) a year on tickets and almost half that again on food, drink and the like.

Festivals make up a large chunk⁶ of this. In the early 1990s Britain had few of them, recalls Melvin Benn of Festival Republic, a promoter.

Around 450 will take place this year. The festival season, once limited to July and August, now stretches until early autumn.

On the first weekend of September four festivals battle it out.

One boost was a change to the licensing⁷ laws in 2005, recalls Jim Whewell of the Wilderness⁸ Festival, a music and performing arts event.

This made it easier to put on a show outdoors.

The recession helped too: Britons who could no longer afford foreign holidays found a weekend of camping in a muddy field more attractive.

And as fewer people buy recorded music, fans are splurging the money they save on live events, says Chris Carey, a consultant⁹.

Ageing crowds are another bonus. A survey in 2013 found that the average age of a reveller² at Glastonbury, excluding those under 18,

was 36 years old. Older people have more cash to spend on boozing, and their demands have helped make festivals safer and more pleasant.

Security at bigger festivals has grown much tighter. Toilets are slightly less gruesome (though punters must often pay an extra fee to use the cleanest ones).

Posh food and fancier drinks have replaced cheap hot dogs and watered-down beer. At Wilderness, middle-aged¹⁰ bacchanals quaff¹¹ champagne¹² or real ale and eat lobsters¹³.

All this is changing the way the music industry works.

Festivals are increasingly seen as a way to test whether big-name artists have enough fans to warrant arena¹⁴ tours, says Rebecca Kane of the 02,

a large venue¹⁵ in London. Newer names find them essential: Clean Bandit, a British band who brought out their first album this year,

are performing at around 20 festivals this summer.

And music executives are increasingly taking into account how successfully they think artists will perform at big outdoor gigs before deciding to sign them.

Some promoters complain festivals are getting harder to run. “Most people do it as a labour of love,” sighs one.

Increasingly bureaucratic¹⁶ paperwork is a pain, complains Sidharth Sharma of Shambala Festival, a smaller event,

while providing better food and drink is expensive. One big problem is that competition for headliners means the most popular bands,

many of whom are getting on in years, can command eye-watering fees. Few new acts have Dolly Parton's pulling power.

1 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 reveller   

n.摆设酒宴者，饮酒狂欢者

参考例句：

3 hovered   

鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• A hawk hovered over the hill. 一只鹰在小山的上空翱翔。
• A hawk hovered in the blue sky. 一只老鹰在蓝色的天空中翱翔。

4 resurgence   

n.再起，复活，再现

参考例句：

• A resurgence of his grief swept over Nim.悲痛又涌上了尼姆的心头。
• Police say drugs traffickers are behind the resurgence of violence.警方说毒贩是暴力活动重新抬头的罪魁祸首。

5 mouldered   

v.腐朽( moulder的过去式和过去分词 )；腐烂，崩塌

参考例句：

• The plans mouldered away in a forgotten corner of the office. 这些计划从未实施，像废纸一样被扔在办公室的角落里。 来自互联网

6 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

7 licensing   

v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A large part of state regulation consists of occupational licensing. 大部分州的管理涉及行业的特许批准。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• That licensing procedures for projects would move faster. 这样的工程批准程序一定会加快。 来自辞典例句

8 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

9 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

10 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

11 quaff   

v.一饮而尽；痛饮

参考例句：

• We quaffed wine last night.我们昨晚畅饮了一次酒。
• He's quaffed many a glass of champagne in his time.他年轻时曾经开怀畅饮过不少香槟美酒。

12 champagne   

n.香槟酒；微黄色

参考例句：

• There were two glasses of champagne on the tray.托盘里有两杯香槟酒。
• They sat there swilling champagne.他们坐在那里大喝香槟酒。

13 lobsters   

龙虾( lobster的名词复数 )； 龙虾肉

参考例句：

• I have no idea about how to prepare those cuttlefish and lobsters. 我对如何烹调那些乌贼和龙虾毫无概念。
• She sold me a couple of live lobsters. 她卖了几只活龙虾给我。

14 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

15 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

16 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。