The live music industry, currently valued at around 10.43 billion dollars in 2018, is expected to reach to 11.99 billion in 2021. Music festivals are often accompanied by concession stands selling food, and drinks. With McDonalds introducing mobile order-ahead services, in other words a service by which a user orders food ahead of time on their devices, there plans for BottleRock to introduce a similar order-ahead service for their 2018 festival.
Using Apple Pay, festival goers will be able to use the festival’s app to identify a concession stand and place an order for drinks there. The customer can pick up the order at a specific window. It is Apple’s hope that their solution will allow lines using it will go much faster.
In 2017, all concession stands at BottleRock accepted Apple Pay via Square PoS (Point of Sale) terminals. There were specific “fast lanes” that were set up specifically for Apple Pay users, and it is reported that one in three transactions made at the 2017 BottleRock show was made through Apple Pay.
Some people, who have recollected their own personal experiences at festivals, highly value the expediency that mobile payments brings to the experience. Josh Costine of TechCrunch recalling having to forgo drinking in fear for losing his friends or missing out on a chance to hear his favorite song. There is also the notion that, the faster the line gets processed, the more drinks get turned over.
Costine predicts that, since Apple Pay has the potential to process lines faster, the service will see vendors enjoying more sales and festival goers enjoying more music. Not only will festival goers use the service to enjoy their time at a festival, but they can continue using the app after they return home for their day-to-day activities. He goes onto say that most music festival-related apps, like friend-finders and location-based alerts usually hinder the experience by being in the way, Apple Pay avoids this by only being something in the background, only complementing an experience that is already there.
The Bottom Line
Music Festivals are a major billion-dollar industry. Not only do musicians perform at music festivals, but food and drink vendors can sell to festival goers. Due to its proximity to Cupertino, Apple has been using BottleRock as a testing grounds for its mobile payment platform. The mobile payment order ahead service at BottleRock’s 2018 show will allow festival goers to use the service to order drinks in a timely, more convenient fashion. It is hoped that the service will process lines faster, allowing vendors to sell more drinks and festival goers to move through lines faster to get back to doing what is most important: enjoying the music.
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