All the rules Coachella performers must follow or risk losing millions of dollars
Topics: Coachella, Entertainment, Music
Ellie Kemp
Featured Image Credit: VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Coachella, Entertainment, Music
One of the biggest events of the music world - none other than Coachella - is well underway.
Last weekend, thousands of fans descended on the Empire Polo Club in Indio for the first half of the iconic festival.
The likes of Post Malone, Lady Gaga, Charli XCX, and Megan Thee Stallion kicked off the Coachella last weekend, with its second instalment continuing this week, running from Friday, April 18 until Sunday, April 20.
Missy Elliot, Sam Fender, Ed Sheeran, and Travis Scott are among those helming the second half of Coachella.
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And while it's likely most musicians' dream to headline such a festival, there are a certain few rules artists must follow - if they're lucky enough to make the line-up in the first place, that is.
Two rules in particular could see them either fined, or their Coachella fee docked - not an ideal situation, either way.
The first, known as the 'golden rule', could even see the event's organizers fined thousands of dollars.
It's all about curfews and licensing; there are no all-night raves here, at least not officially, as the festival has a noise curfew of 1am.
There are very strict rules around what happens if this is broken, with the festival receiving hefty fines if an artist goes over.
These are part of an agreement that the festival has with the city of Indio, where it's hosted.
In 2023, this agreement stated that the festival must pay a penalty of $20,000 for going past curfew by five minutes each day.
Then for every minute they go on after that, they have to pay a further $1,000.
You can see how this can quickly become rather expensive, for example when musician Frank Ocean went over by some 25 minutes.
So that's $20,000 for the first five minutes, and then another $20k for the other 20 minutes...
There's another major rule Coachella performers must follow too - and failing to do so could see their mega performance fee withheld.
Known as the 'radius rule,' it means artists cannot play any other North American festival from December 15 to May 1st - nor in the counties of 'Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Ventura, or San Diego from December 15 to May 1,' as per Santa Clarita Business Chronicle.
I guess, to an extent, it makes sense; Coachella wants to protect its exclusivity, and if their headliners were playing every other festival around, people might not pay to see them at Coachella.
However, it's reported that these conditions can be negotiated by artists' teams.
The radius clause can also prove contentious for other event organizers, however; in 2018, Oregon producer Soul’d Out sued affiliates of the Coachella Music Festival because several artists refused to perform at Soul’d Out’s festival due to the rule.
Soul’d Out claimed that the clause is an “illegal monopoly” due to its broadness, yet, according to Rolling Stone Magazine, affiliates of the festival defend the radius clause as policy protection against competitors 'unfairly free-riding on its creative choices in selecting its artist lineup.”
It's called the music business for a reason, I suppose!