User:Syan32/Electronic dance music

Impact of COVID-19 on Music Festivals
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, cancellation of festivals, accompanied by the restrictions on social distancing has negatively impacted economic activity of festivals and the music industry. Festivals are required to have regulations on health and safety, as well as deal with crisis and risk management, since they are at high risk due to the mass of people that attend. As a result, it has become normal for festivals or performances to be streamed online.

During 2020, all large EDM music festivals were postponed or canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. On March 4th, 2020, Ultra Miami was the first electronic dance music festival to cancel an event since the event could not conform to the state’s capacity rules and county’s safety protocols and regulations. On April 21st, 2020, Electric Forest music festival in Rothbury, Michigan rescheduled their event on June 25th-27th, 2020 to June 2021 due to health concerns. On July 9th, 2020, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio decided that all sizeable events will be suspended through September 30th. As a result, Electric Zoo 2020, which takes place on Randall’s Island in New York City during Labor Day Weekend, fully canceled their 2020 event.

Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas (EDC), the biggest dance music festival in North America, was scheduled to happen on May 15th-17th, 2020. In April, EDC postponed their May event to October 2nd-4th, 2020, and later declared on August 2nd that EDC Las Vegas 2020 would be officially canceled. Instead, EDC CEO Pasquale Rotella announced the celebration of EDC’s 25th anniversary on May 21-23 2021. On April 9th 2021, EDC had not yet released their lineup and Covid-19 safety protocols for the event happening in May 2021. On April 20th, 2021, Rotella postponed the festival to October 22-24, 2021.

The cancellations of these events economically hurt the music industry and the companies that run these events. EDC 2020 originally sold out of the 200,000 tickets for their first event, but offered full returns for those who couldn’t make it to new dates. Electric Zoo included an incentive for customers to keep their ticket by providing an extra $50 for General Admission tickets and $100 for VIP tickets to spend on merchandise and food on festival grounds. Most music festival companies offered to rollover the ticket to their next event or give full refunds to those who could not attend, but ultimately lost a lot of customers due to the uncertainty of Covid-19.