If you’re one of the intrepid music fans who’s already splurged thousands of hard-earned dollars on tickets, flights, and accommodation to get to Coachella festival next weekend, you might want to stop reading now.
While the average joe either spent a small fortune on Coachella 2014 passes, or simply pining to attend the dual weekend music festival after tickets sold out in just three hours, there’s reports that a number of celebrities are not only getting to attend, but are getting thousands in sponsorship dollars for the privilege.
A number of American TV and movie stars are reportedly getting big bucks to be seen at the Indio, California as a living, breathing billboard, according to New York Daily News. Glee actress Lea Michele is getting $20k from Lacoste to sport the French fashion label while enjoying the likes of Outkast, Arcade Fire, and Muse, while Spring Breakers actress Vanessa Hudgens is being bankrolled with $15k from McDonald’s.
Additionally, both Lacoste and McDonald’s are hosting Coachella parties which the celebs will likely have to attend as part of their advertising deal festival experience, as Billboard points out, while an “LA-based denim company” says that other Coachella starring roles are going for as much as $50,000.
Apparently Aaron Paul, better known as Breaking Bad‘s Jesse Pinkman, is actually looking for a corporate Coachella sponsor (and with such a sweet deal, can you blame him?) asking for $15,000 and at least 2 VIP festival passes to attend. Maybe he should have just applied to this hilariously ridiculous online advertisement for a ‘Coachella Boyfriend’ instead.
Meanwhile Young Americans actress Kate Bosworth wants $30 grand to attend, and if that doesn’t make you grind your teeth, try this New York Daily sentence on for size: “Joe Jonas is seeking somewhere under $20,000, while British fashion blogger Louise Roe wants $5,000 and three tickets.”
It seems like a pretty obvious marketing practice, get the celeb amongst the festival punters and watch as the brand awareness rolls in along through a swell of celeb-tagged instagrams and tweets, plus the whole thing also says a lot for the commercialisation of the music festival in popular culture.
If you don’t happen to be a B-grade celebrity and still want to experience a slice of Coachella 2014, you’re in luck. The first weekend of the festival, on April 11th – 13th, is being streamed live on YouTube and the second, April 18th – 20th, is to be broadcast by Axs.Tv. Both streams promising live sets, artist interviews, behind the scenes footage, plus a few on-demand playbacks, and hopefully the Aussies that are playing Coachella 2014 – including Jagwar Ma, Flume, The Preatures, Courtney Barnett, and more – will get a look-in as well.
View the full Coachella 2014 Lineup here and the Tone Deaf Festival Guide to the US festival here
