The process behind selecting a headliner for a music festival of any size is a delicate dance between catering to audience expectations and introducing fresh, unexpected talents. We sat down with an organizer of Gem & Jam Festival, Josh Pollack, to get a glimpse into their headliner selection strategy and how festival branding plays a pivotal role.
Gem & Jam Festival, set to rock the Pima County Fairgrounds from February 2 to 4, 2024, has unveiled a lineup that promises to captivate music lovers of all genres. Headliners like The Disco Biscuits, Of The Trees, Boogie T, Lettuce, Spafford, LP Giobbi, and Daily Bread are set to take the stage, promising an unforgettable musical experience.
But as we dive into headliner selection, you’ll discover that it’s not just about big names – it’s about creating a musical journey that keeps the crowd grooving from start to finish. So, let’s explore the factors that drive these choices and how they shape the festival’s unique identity.
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What criteria are most important when choosing a headliner?
We always start with a massive brainstorming wishlist of acts that we think will fit aesthetically with the event. It’s about a 50-50 split between acts that we think our crowd and community will be excited for, and the artists that we, as organizers, personally like.
How do you balance audience expectations with introducing new or unexpected headliners?
That part is challenging; introducing new or unexpected artists must be a healthy mix. I think we’re lucky in that our crowd is incredibly open-minded, enjoys many different musical genres, and can appreciate the diversity and eclecticness of our curation.
Some notable artists that come to mind are Billy Strings, who was part of the 2020 lineup and wasn’t even a headliner. We look at him now, and he has exploded and gone on to headline arena shows since then.
Another one of my favorites was booking Masego on the 2018 lineup, which few people knew about then. Still, he blew people away played such an incredible set, and has since achieved a considerable level of mainstream success on a global level.
There are many more similar artists and situations that I can mention here, but the last reference I’ll make is when we had UK drum ‘n bass legend LTJ Bukem on our 2015 lineup. That was an exceptional booking for us. While many people likely hadn’t heard of him when he took the stage, it worked well with the flow of the lineup that night. We like introducing new or different artists while balancing them with the rest of the lineup, ensuring it’s all cohesive.
Can you share how festival branding influences headliner selection?
We’ve built a bit of a niche with Gem and Jam, so the criteria is very much based on the vibe and ethos of the festival, which is steeped in Jam (obviously), all forms of electronic music, funk, and bluegrass.
While we always strive to mix up the lineup each year and keep things fresh and exciting, we know the community of fans who come to Gem and Jam have a confident expectation of what they can expect musically, so we do our best to stay true to our roots while taking some bookings risks and throwing in some wild cards to spice it up.
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What’s the impact of headliners on overall festival ticket sales?
Surely, headliners are a large part of the draw when considering which festivals they want to attend and where to spend their money. However, we really emphasize the middle and lower tiers, as the undercard acts are super important because they help build connective tissues down from the top-line headliners. We book the festival holistically, firstly laying out the schedule and ensuring that the energy on each stage is building in a certain way throughout each night.
We pay close attention to that, and the process is quite meticulous. Each stage is specifically geared towards a different style of music happening simultaneously and which acts are overlapping. We know our crowd is a big melting pot of music heads, so we’ll always have options for different styles that fans can choose from. The whole lineup is much more critical when we gauge our ticket sales impact than when we overly weigh on the headliners.
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Looking to the future, how do you see headliner selections evolving in the music festival scene?
I hope they get more diverse all around!
