Summerfest: size but not visibility

Summerfest in Milwaukee bills itself as the "World's Largest Music Festival," yet gets relatively little national press. Acts this year included: Pearl Jam, Tom Petty with the Heartbreakers, Mary J. Blige, Ne-Yo, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Carrie Underwood, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Michael McDonald, Nickelback, Hoobastank, Elvis Costello, Alice Cooper, Ray Davies, Wilco, My Morning Jacket, Yellowcard, Common, Chris Brown, and Los Lonely Boys, and many others

The July 3, 2006 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had a good interview with Summerfest CEO Don Smiley talking about lack of recognition and also pricing issues. Here's an excerpt:

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Q.... A lot of national media still seem to overlook Summerfest when they do their wrap-ups on the summer music scene. The New York Times did a wrap-up of major music festivals and didn't mention Summerfest. Neither did Rolling Stone. Why don't you get the attention that the size of the festival might dictate?

A. I don't know. I think that's a mistake on the part of The New York Times and Rolling Stone in doing their research as to what's out there. Certainly when they look at the tour schedules of these bands, they see that they're stopping in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at Summerfest. Someone has to say, 'What is Summerfest?'

On the other hand, I think we're making progress in that we received exposure on The Travel Channel. We were on the E! Network. We're in USA Today. A big step is this Country Music Television exposure that we will get which is backed up by a Clear Channel radio promotion.

I don't know why a major publication like that could miss us. I think it's on them, but we will take the responsibility at the end of the day to pick up the phone and say, 'By the way, we have this small party going on here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that you might want to know about.'

Q.On the other hand, it's not like you need more people down here.

A. But the national recognition helps us with sponsors. It really does. When we take an edited version of this CMT series and we show that to a sponsor, it brings scale and importance to your event just like our amphitheater does. People think of Summerfest as large and important in large part because of what's in the amphitheater. Then things flow off of that. It's the same thing with exposure on CMT or in USA Today. So it's really not about bodies. It's about exposure and the significance of your event as it pertains to sponsors and who wants to be here and partner up with you.