Rise of the electronic music festivals in the last 10 years

"Once hotbeds of countercultural thinking, psychedelic encounters and free love, festivals underwent their own process of commodification [at the turn of the decade], turning into consumer experiences with clear price tags" - Resident Advisor says in an article about electronic festivals. "One effect of the collapse in record sales is that money shifted towards the live experience: gigs, clubs and festivals... In dance music, producers often found themselves launching DJ careers in order to support their studio graft", RA says, adding "some people in the industry whisper that festival culture is reaching saturation point, with too many events on offer and a consumer base whose disposable incomes are increasingly squeezed... We would be wise to direct ourselves back towards the radical roots of festival culture, back to the spirit of experimentation that first turned these outdoor gatherings into testing grounds for new ways of living in harmony with each other and the planet".