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While artist merchandise has long been a part of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival experience, there’s been a major shift in how the performers present and sell their wares.
The main merch tent, which houses hundreds of performer T-shirts, hoodies, bandanas, socks, posters, blankets, stickers, patches and more, had a steady line of at least 1,000-plus patrons at any given time throughout each festival day at the Empire Polo Club in Indio. However, specific artists have started to work with a wide variety of brands to create Coachella-exclusive merchandise that in most cases can only be purchased on the festival grounds.
Of course, that all comes with a higher cost.
Coachella headliner Harry Styles brought his beauty brand, Pleasing, to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio to debut new nail polish colors and offer fans free manicures in a colorful pop-up shop on site. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Contributing Photographer)
Giveon performs on the Coachella Stage during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Saturday, April 16, 2022. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Contributing Photographer)
Coachella headliner Harry Styles brought his beauty brand, Pleasing, to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio to debut new nail polish colors and offer fans free manicures in a colorful pop-up shop on site. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Contributing Photographer)
Giveon performs on the Coachella Stage during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Saturday, April 16, 2022. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Contributing Photographer)
Giveon performs on the Coachella Stage during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Saturday, April 16, 2022. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Contributing Photographer)
Giveon performs on the Coachella Stage during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Saturday, April 16, 2022. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Contributing Photographer)
Giveon performs on the Coachella Stage during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Saturday, April 16, 2022. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Contributing Photographer)
Giveon performs on the Coachella Stage during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Saturday, April 16, 2022. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Contributing Photographer)
Giveon performs on the Coachella Stage during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Saturday, April 16, 2022. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Contributing Photographer)
On top of having her own massive pop-up store near the main entrance, Saturday headliner Billie Eilish and singer-songwriter Conan Gray each worked with American Express to design and release limited-edition merch. Eilish created a reclaimed and upcycled black hoodie with her image on it for $100 and Gray contributed a watermelon-colored crewneck pullover with cactus embroidery for $70. Both were available via the Amex Artist Shop online where Eilish’s hoodie sold-out just 15 minutes after being released on April 15. The remainder of the stock was available on-site to American Express cardholders who waited in line to visit the American Express Lounge, which only made the items available on both Fridays of the festival.
“Of course, we got these hoodies; it’s Billie and she’s a queen,” George Chavez of Anaheim said. He did some snooping around online weeks before the festival to see if any of the headliners would partner with American Express since they had previously collaborated with 2019 headliner Ariana Grande. Though he and his friends stood in line for over an hour to purchase the hoodies, “I’m glad we got here and it’s absolutely worth it,” he said.
Friday headliner Harry Styles created several event-exclusive shirts, pullover sweaters and hoodies that ranged from $45-$75 for his Harry’s House pop-up near the main entrance of the festival. His beauty company, Pleasing, also had a bold and colorful nail polish bar experience that offered free manicures for fans and sold Coachella-specific bandanas for $20 and oversized hoodies for $110.
Through its GV BLACK x Coachella initiative, the festival partnered with six Black designers and brands from Southern California including Nicholas Mayfield, Kacey Lynch, Diana Boardley, Brownstone, Gavin Mathieu and Skid Row Fashion Week to sell festival-themed merch in The Boutique located in the Coachella Courtyard. Each designer came up with a variety of imagery and patterns for clothing items including shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, jean jackets and more that ran anywhere from $60-$300.
Fans watching from home could also buy additional exclusive merch from Eilish as well as performers Brockhampton and Flume who collaborated with YouTube, which is livestreaming both festival weekends. The goods were only available during the livestream on April 16. The same line of merch will be available again the following Saturday, April 23, during weekend two of the fest. The collection includes T-shirts for $35-$45, long-sleeved shirts for $45 and woven blankets for $80.
Virtual marketplace StockX partnered with Coachella artists to release 10 exclusive capsule collections, which became available to the global market on April 11 with prices ranging from $30-$140 per item. Some of the partnerships include Snoh Aalegra x Melody Ehsani, 88Rising x AMBUSH and Vince Staples x Brownstone. Instead of a physical store on-site, StockX set up an immersive art installation, which looked like three sets of stairs in between the Mohave and Gobi stages, where fans could scan a QR code to directly order the goods from the site.
Though spotting big brand names on tents on the festival grounds is nothing new, things have changed. Instead of pop-ups offering free swag, fans now line up for exclusive festival experiences or seek RSVP invites through the brand’s social channels and mailing lists. Companies like Heineken Lager Beer and Absolut Vodka have set up lounges for those 21-and-older to hang out, enjoy beverages and participate in their activations. Ray-Ban Sunglasses and Postmates had pop-ups that offered fans a variety of photo experiences and free festival-exclusive goodies while Frito-Lay made its festival debut with a chip tasting experience inside its Potatodomes in the festival campgrounds.
Branding and cross-marketing even took over the main Coachella Stage on Saturday as music collective 88rising, which represents a number of Asian-American artists and partners with Coachella event promoters Goldenvoice for Head in the Clouds Festival, had its own Head in the Clouds Forever showcase with performances by CL, Jackson Wang, Hikaru Utada, Milli, Bibi, Warren Hue, Niki and Rich Brian.
Prior to the festival, 88rising launched three exclusive NFT (non-fungible token) collections filled with digital collectibles and opportunities for in-person experiences on-site. Fans could own a part of the Head in the Clouds Forever performance featuring visuals by Curry Tian and participate in the festival’s first-ever NFT scavenger hunt.
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