BeachLife Festival Bucks High Ticket Price Trend

No two music festivals are identical — even if some lineups sure look similar — but one California beachside festival is bucking the trend in one surprising way.

“The idea was, everything’s going up in price, why don’t we be different?” said Allen Sanford, co-founder and talent buyer for BeachLife Festival, an annual music festival in Redondo Beach, California, taking place May 3-5. “Why don’t we lower our prices just a little bit so we can say we’re not doing that?”

Describing last year as an “apex” for the festival and the overall live music industry, Sanford said that, when planning for 2024, it became apparent that being as price sensitive and fan-friendly as possible would go a long way toward keeping BeachLife a long-term event.

“The industry in general I believe is a little softer than it was in 2023,” said Sanford, a restaurateur based in the South Bay area of Los Angeles county that includes Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Palos Verdes and other communities. BeachLife, which debuted in 2019, has a daily capacity of 11,000. “That’s anecdotal. The music business is funny because nobody really tells the truth, but I think there’s some fatigue on the consumer. We’re a long-term business. We really care and, if people can’t afford it one year, we’re going to lower prices a little bit. We’re still a business, but we thought it actually was a good business move.”

This year’s BeachLife is topped by Sting, Incubus and My Morning Jacket, with an eclectic lineup also featuring Trey Anastasio And Tab, Seal, Dirty Heads, City and Colour, ZZ Top, Devo, Courtney Barnett, Margo Price and many others on two main stages and two smaller stages on the beach’s Seaside Lagoon, which is largely free of any structures or businesses throughout the rest of the year.

“Lower prices” as a blanket term can be complicated, with multiple ticketing packages and upsell options ranging from an extra charge that allows reentry to the event, to private cabanas, stage-side private dining, artist hangs and private bars and restrooms. However, BeachLife’s $399 three-day general admission ticket is an example of “all in” pricing, meaning no fees added upon checkout. That makes this year cheaper than 2023’s three-day GA option, which was also $399, or $437 after fees, according to ticket price data provided by BeachLife.

Single-day GA options are also slightly cheaper this year, at $179 per day as opposed to last year’s $179 for Friday and Sunday and $199 for Saturday, each adding up to more than $200 after fees. It’s a modest price decrease but, considering year-over-year inflation in 2021 (4.7%), 2022 (8.0%) and 2023 (4.1%) as measured by the Consumer Price Index, it’s rare to see concert ticket prices go down. Pollstar’s 2023 year-end business analysis of the Top 100 tours saw average ticket prices increase a whopping 23.3%, from $106 to $130.

Lowering ticket prices — or at least not raising them — is challenging when the cost of talent seems to always be on the way up, too.

“It’s super tricky because artists are asking for more and more and more, and it’s a seller’s market right now because there’s so many festivals,” Sanford added. “I always tell people I wouldn’t even be in this business if I didn’t have a beautiful location on the water and something unique. Our talent budget didn’t go down, but we have to make it up in other areas by being smarter around our operations, smarter on how we build the festival better with man hours, things of that sort.”

The pricing strategy appears to have worked publicly at least, with both three-day general admission passes and “general admission plus,” which allows free reentry to the festival site through the day, sold out.

“Everything’s pretty solid. We’re small, we’re not selling 20,00 to 30,000 tickets, so it’s, it’s not as daunting to us as it is for these big guys because we’ve got less of a hill to climb,” said Sanford. “Sting, of course, has been unbelievable for us. He’s a global superstar in the city of Los Angeles. People tend to like that.”

With thoughtful attention toward logistical aspects, Sanford’s talent buying is similarly curated, as always dependent on who is available and within budget, but also with a mind toward finding a theme each day to go along with the festival’s overall alternative rock and pop leanings that give way to jammier, rootsy and reggae styles.

“We’ve tried some new strategies this year. We’ve tried to kind of turn on the hip, the cool kids in LA,” Sanford said, noting the Sunday lineup that includes Courtney Barnett, Margo Price and Fleet Foxes, followed by My Morning Jacket headlining.

Other deliberate programming includes “Brunch With Sugar Ray,” the ‘90s hit makers fronted by Mark McGrath. The noontime set has become a large draw, with McGrath serving as energetic MC and the only artist to perform at all five BeachLife events.

Another carefully curated slot is the 4:30 p.m. Sunday slot, which this year features ZZ Top.

“Every year that slot has been magical,” said Sanford, adding that the slot may be the final one of the night for fans who have to travel home to get back to work Monday morning. “On a Sunday, 4:30 is kind of like primetime. John Fogerty played that slot, Sheryl Crow played that slot. I think it’s consumer friendly.”

Sanford said there’s an uncanny consistency in the event’s fifth year in the percentage of attendees choosing general admission, VIP and the more premium Captain’s Ticket options.

“It’s almost down to the percent, so everything’s pretty established at this point,” he said. “There is some more last-minute buying, but other than that, there’s no crazy anomalies that have popped out this year.”

BeachLife is simultaneously a value proposition and luxury event, with reasonable GA prices and single-day passes to an event situated right on a well-known Los Angeles beach, catering to a local affluent community as well as attracting fans from afar.

Adding to his investment in the local community, Sanford and his partners have broken ground on the California Surf Club, a membership club located on the festival grounds that will operate year round as an indoor-outdoor space spanning about 15,000 square feet, with .

“During the festival, I don’t think it’ll be noticeable but we’ve had to cover up a lot of our construction, and then after the festival we go back to it,” he said.

The construction has led Sanford to postpone this year’s BeachLife Ranch, a similarly sized sister music festival taking place annually on the same site in September with a country, roots and Americana flavor. That event has featured artists such as Dierks Bentley, Brandi Carlile and Jack Johnson.

Sanford says while construction should be complete by then, “we can’t unschedule a 12,000-person event” if it’s not.

The festival site has been mostly untouched for 40 years, and Sanford thinks investing in additional infrastructure will pay off and add to the festival experience.

“Once it’s open, it’s basically a permanent structure — with a VIP hang, restaurant infrastructure,” said Sanford. “The more permanent stuff we build, the cooler the festival gets. It increases our deck sizes, it increases our backstage activations. It’s going to be amazing. But for this festival, there’s just a lot of cinder block and timber and construction going on.”