FestWorld Founder On Launching A Music Magazine In The Digital Age

Music magazines, as with most print publications, are dropping faster than fall leaves in a hurricane, and most of their online successors are left with only minimal resources. Into that landscape comes the launch of FestWorld magazine, the printed sister to online music festival site FestPop.

By Juliette Jagger from CelebrityAccess

In a climate where few print magazines, are surviving, and even less are launching, a magazine called FestWorld has announced its first edition will hit retail shelves this upcoming March.

Founded by digital media marketing entrepreneur Scotty Moore, who is best known as the mastermind behind festival travel website FestPop, the quarterly magazine is set to feature engaging and informative exclusive-to-print content related to every aspect of music festivals from travel and food to fashion, art, and, of course, music.

FestWorld, which is being endorsed by Kevin Lyman, founder of Warped Tour and FestWorld partner organization Full Energy, No Drugs, will be made available at airports and music festivals across the globe.

We caught up with Moore via email recently to chat a bit about what festival goers and music lovers alike can expect from the magazine when it launches in a few short months.

CA: Though music festival culture came of age during the 1960s, it has really hit its stride in the digital age. Talk about why that is.                       

Moore: The ’60s was a very communal culture inside and out of the music festival community. Fast forward to 2019 and we have too much cultural tribalism outside music festivals. I truly believe that’s why music festivals are even more popular today. Once we enter that utopian music festival community we all come together. We are all connected by the music, vibe and culture of that music festival. Everyone is looking out for one another. Music festivals are truly humanity at its best.

In 2019, most would argue that traditional print media has fallen by the wayside. Why is it the right time for the world’s first festival lifestyle print magazine and where do you see FestWorld fitting into the festival ethos of today?

I agree 100%. My philosophy is there are too many magazines out there for one subject that it’s hard to create value. For example, there are over 100 auto and fashion specialty magazines. FestWorld is the first and only global lifestyle magazine for music fest fans, so we are officially the RollingStone magazine for music festival fans and 100% endemic music festival relevant editorial. Moreover, based on solid empirical data, print advertising campaigns that include print + online have an improved persuasion metric of 10% and Print + TV campaigns have a 17% improved purchase intent. When you open a magazine it’s prime time. The consumers are 100% focused on the content in that magazine. Savvy marketers know the power of print. I was suspect as to whether the millennial generation enjoyed magazines but they do. Just like vinyl records are coming back, magazines are coming back, but the ones that will survive will bring value, purpose and a sense of community to their readers and enviable audience to their advertisers.

With more than 20 years of print and digital media advertising experience under your belt, you’re also the founder of FestPop.com, which is the first website dedicated to music festival discovery, as well as a full-service travel booking platform. I imagine FestPop has provided a rather enlightening, top-down view of the nuances of festival culture, not to mention festivalgoer’s demographics, musical preferences, likes, dislikes, habits etc.? Talk about that. Do you see the two interacting at all? 

Festpop is our travel arm so we will definitely integrate travel packages. Half the fun of any music festival is getting there with your friends. Yes, we know music festival DNA. We know the older you get the experience is the priority. The food has to be quality. No more portable toilets––flush toilets are mandatory. Ease of parking etc. In contrast, when you’re in your 20s you’re more line-up driven.

FestPop has long set itself apart from other festival discovery and travel booking sites by recognizing the importance of high quality, engaging editorial content. FestWorld Magazine seems like a natural progression from that. True? 

Very true. FestWorld is a medium to educate and encourage non-core music fest fans into experiencing a music festival for the first time regardless of your age, race, creed or culture. We are not for concertgoers. FestWorld Magazine is specifically for music festivals fans, which is a different breed than concertgoers. Concertgoers want to stay local. Music festival fans want to wanderlust and meet people from 100 countries.

Stepping outside of the digital model, how do you plan to engage festivalgoers and get them reading the magazine both leading up to events and during? 

Our first year we will be distributing copies at music festivals for free.

Will the magazine be targeted specifically toward larger festivals like Coachella, Lollapalooza, Download, Bestival etc. or will it also be made available at smaller more niche events? 

All of the above. For example, we are featuring a small boutique music festival.

According to FestWorld Magazine’s press release, the publication will have a guaranteed circulation of 350,000 and will be available in airports and music festivals across the globe. Which festivals has FestWorld partnered with thus far? 

The list is too long to share but one exciting distribution partner is with SixthMan Productions, a subsidiary of Norwegian Cruise line run autonomously by Anthony Diaz, CEO. Sixthman produces 17 music genre themed music festival cruises so we will have a copy of FestWorld in each cabin. I’m excited about this partnership because music festal cruise fans travel from all corners of the globe so, in essence, we’ve expanded our global distribution footprint by 17,000.

How many issues of FestWorld Magazine will you publish annually? 

4 times a year in 2019 and then monthly come 2020.

What’s the editorial plan? Will the issues be thematic and overarching or will you be doing full features on specific festivals?

Each issue of FestWorld Magazine will feature eight key editorial anchors (festival reviews, festival travel guides, festival artist interviews, festival producer interviews, festival fashion interviews, festival art, festival food, and festival gear/essentials), plus an editorial piece on the Opioid crisis with the goal of serving communities on the ground level by supporting treatment and recovery response efforts while simultaneously contributing to research and education.

The FestWorld Foundation has formed a strategic alliance with National Opioid Action Coalition (NOAC) and Kevin Lyman (Founder of WARPED Tour, Full Energy, No Drugs) to support this cause.

$2 FROM EVERY SUBSCRIPTION GOES TOWARDS HELPING TO END THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC, so I encourage your readers to subscribe: https://www.festworldmag.com/subscribe/

What sort of strategic partnerships do you foresee for FestWorld? I.e. How will FestWorld bridge the gap between traditional editorial, digital, and the live concert experience? 

Uniquely, FestWorld Magazine will not have a digital or iPad version. FestPop is our digital arm. The only way to access FestWorld Magazine content is by subscribing, buying an issue at an airport newsstand, or obtaining the magazine at a music festival.

FestWorld Magazine is scheduled to launch March 9, 2019.