In its second year as a two-weekend event with identical lineups, Coachella posted the largest gross in Billboard Boxscore history ($67.2 million) and fine-tuned its strategy to keep bands working in between their two weekend plays. In Austin, the Austin City Limits Music Festival, produced by C3 Presents, will also go for a double for the first time, Oct. 4-6 and Oct. 11-13 at the city’s Zilker Park. But C3 is upping the ante — C3 talent bookers shrewdly turned shows by ACL bands (and others) in the market for 10 days into branded events. These Official Late Night Shows take the ACL brand beyond Austin, to venues in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.
In all, there will be 60 additional shows from ACL acts like Wilco, Queens of the Stone Age, Eric Church, Franz Ferdinand, Vampire Weekend and the National. C3 is creating special events in cool rooms not only for fans who want more after ACL ends at 10 p.m., but for those fans who might not even be in Austin.
Given that ACL, in a city park, ends relatively early, C3 has been presenting late-night shows since it launched in 2002. Expanding to two weekends led producers to not only take those shows out of the market to maximize the bands’ week but also brand them. These are markets and venues where C3 frequently presents shows, so the step to book and brand these concerts was relatively seamless. For the venues, these shows provide quality content — always a concern when festivals are booking 80 bands and have radius clauses that can make booking a challenge.
Still, C3 is cognizant that the market can get saturated, even in a state as big as Texas. Every band playing ACL isn’t booked elsewhere that week. “We try to be selective,” C3 promoter Amy Morrison says. “We try not to do too much in these markets. We can’t continue to tap out Texas. [During South by Southwest], Dallas and Houston get bombarded, and it cannibalizes ticket sales if you have too much.”
Also worth noting: One challenge with the festival business model is that most of them work year-round for one make-or-break weekend. C3 now gets 10 days of diversified revenue with ACL.
The Official Late Night Shows follow two maxims that fuel the growth of festivals in general for Americans: exclusivity and discovery. These shows are underplays for bigger bands in smaller venues than they would normally play (like Wilco at Stubb’s in Austin, or QOTSA at the Verizon Theatre near Dallas), compelling pairings (HAIM and MS MR at Antone’s in Austin) or hot developing acts (Reign Wolf at Emo’s in Austin, Jake Bugg at the Kessler Theater in Dallas). The shows are “doing very well,” Morrison says, and a look at the C3 website shows several sellouts.
ACL’s decision to double down this year was, just like Coachella producer Goldenvoice, a simple matter of answering demand. The event had reached that holy grail of selling out before a lineup is announced several years ago, and has become entrenched in its home state of Texas and beyond. With 2013 headliners Wilco, Kings of Leon, Muse, Depeche Mode and Lionel Richie, ACL’s first weekend is sold out, and the second is headed that way, according to Morrison. If the Official Late Night Shows work as well as ACL itself has, it will be the best kind of brand extension: one that both answers and creates demand.