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Basically two large conglomerates own the (north american)festival scene already. The local promoters operate as quasi-independent organizations under one or another of their umbrellas, LiveNation is actually Ticketmaster, SFX has the other half of the industry more or less. If I was a betting man I'd say the Livenation/ID-T/Beatport megacorp will swallow even more of it in the coming years, and prices will indeed rise. I'd wager the places you party in at Atlanta are under one of these mega umbrellas already, especially if they are the sort of places that are getting the international headliners.
I can't say this is an altogether negative development. Being seen as a legitimate style of music and not just an excuse to do drugs would be a positive change that megacorps can provide. But others have lamented about this too, the popularity seeks to divorce the music from the culture that bred it. People will know popular electro house without knowing kandi and hugs and phat pants and glowstrings and fuzzy leg warmers and the temporary autonomous zone. Maybe that is a good thing too, who knows. EDM has long been sucked into velvet ropes valets and VIP table service and giant price exclusive superclubs, aside from the festivals of course. I've made that 6 hour drive to ATL more than a few times.
I think our hope is in the smaller indie bars and clubs with the local artists playing. The megacorps will take the stigma out of dance music and make people realize that going to those places doesn't make you a sinner drug addict overdosing rape victim, hopefully. But that indie stuff is pretty much gone now, unless you specify indie in your event and music seeking, and then doing that would suck you into the hipster blogs and shit, and some would argue that the stuff there is just as corrupted and fabricated for commercial gain as the commercial dance world has become. Inevitably, if you want a crowd of significant size in this era (in north america), you pretty much have to welcome your new ticketmaster overlords (except for perhaps a few remaining historical festivals like starscape and such).
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