Desperate Coachella fans have had to resort to payment plans to fund their increasingly exorbitant tickets.
More than 60 percent of this weekend’s revelers had used an installment plan, Billboard reports.
By paying a $41 fee, festival-goers were able to break up the cost of the $600 general admission fee into separate payments.
And since the cost of travel, accommodation and food and drink often add thousands onto the ticket price, an installment plan has become the only affordable option for the tens of thousands of young people who flock to the California desert each year.
For a $49.99 initial payment, festival-goers can secure their entry to the Palm Springs extravaganza, where this year the likes of Lady Gaga, Benson Boone and Green Day all performed.
‘Festivals are now marketing a cheap down payment as their main call to action,’ a source from the festival’s organizers told Billboard.
‘The messaging is $20 down gets you in the door, or $50 down gets you started. It’s no longer about the artists, or the festival lifestyle — the message is, ‘You can afford this if you act today’.’
Coachella’s information about its payment plans outlines this philosophy.
Desperate Coachella fans have had to resort to payment plans to fund their increasingly exorbitant tickets
For just a $49.99 initial payment, festival-goers can secure their entry to the Palm Springs extravaganza, where this year the likes of Lady Gaga , Benson Boone and Green Day all performed
Fans are encourage to, ‘explore other flexible payment options at checkout to view available payment schedules & pay for your order over time’.
In the last ten years, the cost of a Coachella ticket has soared by almost forty percent.
Meanwhile, the number of attendees using payment plans has soared from 18 percent in 2009 per The Cut, to current levels.
Similar payment options are offered by other festivals such as Lollapalooza, Electric Daisy Carnival and Rolling Loud.
In many cases, ticket holders will be paying off installments for several tickets at once.
The offerings differ to those from the likes of Klarna or Sezzle, which pay the ticket seller up front and offer credit to fans.
Instead, the likes of Ticketmaster and AXS make money by cashing in on the fee charged for the payment plan option, which in Coachella’s case is around eight percent of the ticket price.
Since the payments are interest free, a missed payment will result in a user being given 10 days to transfer the money before the order is cancelled.
General admission for Coachella started at $600, making an upfront payment out of reach for many
The payments are split across several months without any added interest
Fans are then issued credit for the festival which must be used within 12 months equivalent to the amount they had paid before they defaulted.
‘Most defaults happen after the initial deposit is made on the first payment — it’s very rare that a fan will default on tickets after two payments have been made, so the revenue from breakage is very low,’ one festival payment expert told Billboard.
‘All of the incentives for the promoter are that the fan pay off their ticket in full and attend the event so they can spend money on beer and parking and merchandise.’
The iconic music festival runs annually across two weekends.
It got off to a rocky start this year as revelers reported chaos in the car parks which led to up to 12 hours waits to enter the campsite.
DailyMail.com has contacted Coachella for comment.
