Did Tomorrowland just discover a new formula for compensating artists on the festival’s imaginary island of Pāpiliōnem?
Since the coronavirus pandemic began shuttering much of the world’s live music scene in March, many in the industry have wondered how much revenue digital livestream festivals could generate and what kind of paydays artists and headliners would earn.
Last weekend’s Tomorrowland: Around the World festival was one of the first major festivals to go digital and put an astounding $10 million on the line in artist payments and production costs for a massive online event. The two-day electronic dance music festival, which founders of the Belgian event say took over three months with a team of more than 200 workers, featured a fantastical computer-generated world with big-name DJs like Tiësto and David Guetta performing pre-recorded sets filmed in green screen studios on four continents.