It was a killer lineup — that nobody will get to enjoy. This weekend, FYF Fest officially ended after 17 years.
This is an especially sucky development for Los Angelinos. But it’s probably best that FYF Fest pressed the self-destruct button early.
According to an announcement posted on FYF Fest’s website, this festival is officially done. The reason appears to be sluggish ticket sales, which is surprising given this year’s impressive lineup and easy-to-access Los Angeles location.
Here’s the official announcement, posted on fyffest.com.
After much consideration, we have made the difficult decision to cancel FYF Fest 2018.
Our team of many women and men have worked tirelessly on this event for many years but felt unable to present an experience on par with the expectations of our loyal fans and the Los Angeles music community this year.
We will be announcing some special local shows soon, featuring some of the amazing artists from the 2018 line up.
Ticket purchasers will automatically receive full refunds, including all service charges, beginning this Monday, May 7th, 2018. There is no action necessary on your end to receive a refund. You will receive an email notification from Festival Ticketing once your order is cancelled and refunded. Please allow 5 to 7 business days for the funds to appear in your bank account.For any questions or concerns regarding your refund, please contact Ticket Purchase Support at [email protected] or 855.278.6345. Ticket Purchase Support hours are Monday-Friday 9:00am – 5:00pm MST.
Hopefully, everything goes smoothly with ticket refunds and other cancellation details.
But we’re getting the feeling that FYF is pulling the plug with enough time to clean up the mess. That includes refunding tickets, terminating artist performance contracts, and even trying to wriggle its way out of its space rental agreement.
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For those in LA, the location of Exposition Park was unbelievably convenient. The Park is right next to USC, and easily accessed by train. Indeed, the installation of the Metro’s Expo line has made it a lot easier to arrive — without the typical concerns related to drinking, parking, and traffic.
Still, it looks like most Los Angelinos were spending their festival allowance on Coachella, despite its remote desert location. Of course, Coachella draws people from points far-and-wide, and may simply be draining the oxygen out of competing festivals like FYF.
Coachella also forces performing artists to sign extremely restrictive agreements that include promises not to perform within several thousand miles of the festival, over a multi-month period. That ‘radius clause’ has drawn lots of criticism, though Coachella has the power to demand those terms. All of which makes booking plum acts more complicated for a ‘nearby’ festival like FYF.
But this story goes far beyond Coachella. Overall, the festival market could be suffering from oversaturation, putting the squeeze on smaller plays like FYF. But a glut of mega-events may also be affecting superstar tours, including those of Taylor Swift and Jay-Z, with high-prices festivals considered a better bargain for music fans who demand variety.