Sources tell Billboard that Frank Ocean’s decision to cancel his second of two performances at Coachella this weekend will likely cost the festival several million dollars.
The festival will try to make up for these losses in part by finding new uses for the giant ice pad that was made for Ocean’s long-awaited performance.
A source close to the situation told Billboard that festival organizer Goldenvoice is trying to get the most out of the millions of dollars spent on building a giant ice pad that was supposed to hold over 100 skaters during Ocean’s set last Sunday night but was scrapped at the last minute after the artist hurt his ankle.
A source says that the ice pad can’t be used as a public ice rink, but the Goldenvoice team is working out how to use it in another show that hasn’t been decided yet. Sources say that Ocean was supposed to get paid $4 million for each of his two Coachella shows, for a total of $8 million.
Ocean won’t be playing the second weekend, so he will only get paid for the first weekend. Sources say that Goldenvoice will still have to pay Blink-182 $4 million for their one-hour replacement main set on Sunday.
They will also have to pay for the newly announced Skrillex, Four Tet, and Fred Again. trio for their closing set. Usually, festival organizers give artists a performance rate and take care of basic production needs like staging, sound, lighting, and video boards.
From their fee, the artists will pay for any extra production elements that are specific to their show, such as musicians, dancers, performers, and other major visual elements.
In Ocean’s case, though, the most expensive part of his show was the special ice pad, which was built by Goldenvoice and used a lot of energy. So, Goldenvoice planned to get that money back from Ocean’s performance fees.
However, reports say that Ocean’s production costs are more than the $4 million he made for the first weekend. That means Ocean didn’t make any money from his performance at Coachella, and the event will have to pay for the rest of the loss, which it is very unlikely ask Ocean to pay back.
Ocean also had to pay about $45,000 in curfew fines because he played 25 minutes after the midnight ban that the city of Indio, California, made everyone follow. But a person close to Ocean says that Goldenvoice is to blame for the fines.
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They say that Ocean’s set started an hour late because it took festival staff an extra 50 minutes to change the stage from Bjork’s set to Ocean’s set.
Even though the curfew fines added up to $133,000 over the weekend and millions of dollars were spent on an ice sheet that wasn’t used and on extra talent, Goldenvoice is still likely to make a profit from the event.
In a typical year, Coachella sells more than $115 million worth of tickets over both weekends and makes tens of millions more from food, drinks, and lodging. Friday, April 21, is the first day of the second weekend of Coachella in Indio.
