Finding A Groove In Festivals: Q’s With Amazon Music’s Kirdis Postelle

Amazon Music made big strides in the live music space last year with a successful second season of Amazon Music Live, City Sessions and the livestreaming of major festivals such as Dreamville, Stagecoach, Head in the Clouds and Primavera Sound. Prime Video and Twitch have solidified themselves as entertainment hubs for music fans and leaders in the festival livestreaming space with their programming, but Amazon isn’t resting on its laurels.

On top of giving fans access to music events via livestreams again in 2024, the tech giant made a giant leap by entering the festival circuit as a major sponsor of Vive Latino, a Mexico City staple that celebrates the culture and the beloved rock en español genre. Amazon Music helped create a festive, inclusive atmosphere with fans from multiple generations able to have listening parties as well as purchase exclusive merch and vinyl at Amazon stations.

“There are many festivals, but this one is special because it goes hand-in-hand with what Amazon is as a brand,” Paul Forat, head of Amazon Music in Mexico, told Pollstar at Vive Latino. “It has an enormous interest in culture and connecting fans with artists in a particular way. [Vive Latino] is more than a music festival; it’s a celebration of culture. … All we want to do is elevate it and get it closer to fans in different ways.”

Amazon Music confirmed that the livestream was the company’s most-watched music event, making its partnership with OCESA Mexico a major success, one that it will build on moving forward. Pollstar caught up with Amazon Music’s Global Head of Content and Artist Marketing Kirdis Postelle to chat about building relationships with fans and artists as well as the company’s plans for 2024 and beyond.

Pollstar: What can you tell me about this year and what Amazon Music has accomplished so far?
Kirdis Postelle: We started livestreaming during the pandemic as a way to keep customers and fans connected, and that philosophy hasn’t changed. We just want to keep creating amazing experiences and content for fans. With Vive Latino, we got truly global viewership. Those artists have fans around the world, and the same with J. Cole and the artists who performed at Dreamville, are global artists, and their fans want to see them. It also gives developing artists on the lineups a chance to perform for global audiences and potentially be discovered. We just want to keep our artists and their fans and our customers connected in the best way we can.

What was your takeaway from the success of Vive Latino?
I couldn’t be more proud of this festival. It’s the most viewed festival we’ve ever done. It was the first time that so many different Amazon business units came together to support a festival. Growing up in music, going to festivals and being part of the music industry for so long, I was still wowed and amazed by the enormity that we saw there. There were 3-year-olds with their parents and their parents were there with their parents. … I just didn’t expect it, and I’m just grateful that we were able to be a part of that.

What does it mean for Amazon Music moving forward?
What we’re really focused on from a music service and livestreaming standpoint is around fandom. For me, it’s about keeping artists connected to their fans and helping artists grow their fanbase. In 2024, we will team up with more festivals around the world than we ever have in the past. We’re going to be developing more of our own livestream IPs like Amazon Music Live and City Sessions. We just want to keep growing our audience, so we continue to help artists grow. I come from an artist marketing background … and I’ve centered the livestreaming business around artists, but as Amazon Music grows and as I grow, more and more I believe that it really is about fandom.

In a way, with your artist-centered background, you can also win over fans by winning over the artist.
We had a presentation not too long ago on our music business, and [Amazon Music General Manager] Ryan Redington put up a picture of the Beatles in the ’60s and Taylor Swift. When you look at that, you see that fandom doesn’t change. If anything, it just grows, and fans will go where their artist goes. If we can deliver outsized impact for the artist in a way that resonates with them, they will bring their fans.

The company has some special programming like Amazon Music Live and City Sessions. What other programming can we expect in the future?
We had an amazing Amazon Music Live season last year, and we are coming back again this year. I’m really proud of the work that we did with AML last season. We just did an amazing Black Crowes City Sessions livestream, and we’re expanding that series and developing that format.

You have the Stagecoach livestream coming up. What’s the strategy behind the genres and festivals you choose to work with?
It’s about providing fans with experiences and content and just meeting them where they are. … With the success of Beyoncé in the country music space, there are all these new country music fans who we’re going to be able to reach and wouldn’t have considered a country music festival before. They’ll be able to see some of the artists they’ve discovered through Beyoncé on our livestream. We want to be able to deliver to fans and customers, no matter where they are or what genre they love.

Some of the fans and customers that we have won’t ever be able to get to a festival, but with Twitch, you get the chat experience, you can talk to other fans, and for some folks, that’s as close as they get to coming to a festival, and we’re proving that experience for them. Honest to God, that’s all I care about, being able to deliver for fans and artists in a way that is meaningful to them, their careers and their fandom.

I’m fascinated by Amazon Music’s strategy with the livestreams, programs and the recent sponsorship of Vive Latino. What is the ultimate goal? What would be considered a successful 2024 for Amazon Music?
For me, it’s just growing our livestreaming audience and reaching more fans. For example, for Amazon Music Live, if I can double my audience and continue to diversify the audience for livestreaming for this season, that’s what success would look like for us. The more I can grow the audience, the more we can deliver for artists, the more we can diversify our audience through types of livestreams and the more we can develop our own IP. That’s what success will look like for me in 2024.

See ¡Vive Latino, Viva México! OCESA’s Festival Emblematic Of The Nation’s Cultural Shift