Kaleb Guinnup Individual Article Review As discussed in class, a primary source is an original article written by a researcher that typically

utilizes firsthand interviews and thorough investigation. This article, entitled Rethinking Music Festivals as a Staged Event: Gaining Insights from Understanding Visitor Motivations and The Experiences They Seek, can be considered a primary source because it includes many firsthand details. Also adding to this articles credibility is that it was featured in the Journal of Convention and Event Tourism. The study from a Sweden music festival was the first to include the main market segments to determine the motivation to attend certain music festivals. By using tools such as cluster analysis, three different market segments were developed: local repeaters, the young party set, and local families. I think this was a good breakdown because it is broad enough to give a diverse explanation and report of motivation to attend such festival. However, in reference to their reasons for attending, they only were marginally ranged, being, socialization and enjoying the artists performance being the popular answer for all three clusters. The young party set did differentiate in terms of greater interest in partying versus the other clusters motivated by motives of excitement and novelty seeking. Comparing these results to the target festival at which the article focuses on shows varying results. The principle aim of study focused on select visitors who attended the Tamworth Country Music Festival, to determine their main motivations for attendance and what aspects of the event have differentiated it from others its type. Approximately, 1500 surveys were collected, a six-page questionnaire, over a five day period at the festival, with results showing that there was a significant difference among festival-goers.

Kaleb Guinnup The target population was any individual over 18 years of age who did not reside in the Tamworth region. I think that it would have been more effective by doing random testing versus the controlled study. By eliminating anyone from the Tamworth area, we are not getting a valued opinion from the local community and the impact it has on their own economy and what motivates locals to attend. According to the article, it was not ideal to do random surveys because of the timeframe and budget. I completely disagree with this because I think it would actually be easier to do at random versus checking age and region people are from. Also, you would have more voluntarily responses and willingness to participate if the controlled researcher is not turning anyone away. I think the results could be biased somewhat has researchers are choosing who they want to participate. Results prove that 59% were female and 60% between the ages of 45-64. Overall the article was very informal and targeting an interesting topic. Why do people go to music festivals? However, this can vary based on an individual basis. Everyone has their own specific reason and motivation to attend, however to the contrary, music interest being the conjoined reasons. The article and study was very lengthy and could have been better by shortening it and just entailing the specific information that the questions targeted. In the beginning of the article, their was excess information that had nothing to do with the motivation of festival-goers to the Tamworth Music festival. By ridding of this I think it would get more to the point. The data collection was sufficient and majority of it reliable. I only question the process of selecting respondents, this adding a small sample of bias. I think the cluster analysis might have been a more sufficient approach.

Kaleb Guinnup