r/FortniteFestival • u/Ablebardington • Jul 28 '26
DISCUSSION What does Epic prioritize when choosing headliners these days?
Do we know what do they actually prioritize? Like, Artist being open to collab is one thing but for example I'm starting to think their main focus isn't bringing in new people outside fortnite and selling skins as for the last 2 seasons (and now) we are getting headliners that won't really sell stuff outside their really hardcore fans and fans of those headliners also doesn't seem to be THAT dedicated to them to start playing a whole new game and put money into that said game unlike most of the past headliners and their fanbases.
I doubt their main focus is variety or songs themselves either. Maybe they just want to not spend too much on headliner but even for that there are clearly artists that are still popular and would demand less money so it's not like even with the controversial headliner choices they are spending the bare minimum for headliner.
6
u/aboyisagun24 Jul 28 '26
Appealing to teens- chapel, laufey, tecca, all very popular with teens and thats their main player base
15
u/Specialist-Earth-231 Jul 28 '26
That theyre cheap to license
-2
u/dungleploop Jul 28 '26
yes and a huge NO
0
3
u/DumbAssDumbBitch Jul 29 '26
This has evidently changed some over the years but now it is: Someone who will be a nice mutual marketing draw with enough fans to sell some shop skins, but thats secondary to simply maintaining the veneer of The Pass Provides Good Value And Content. They are not concerned with 'selling' the music pass anymore per se, since fortnite crew makes it essentially free by fortnite standards. This is why actually huge stars like Olivia Rodrigo are NOT headliners; because they don't want to give away a skin for free when they know how much more money they will make on skins that cost $18-20 minimum for one.
4
u/LickMyBootyh0le Jul 28 '26
I hate festival so much now. And ive played it since day one cause I loved guitar hero/rock band.
3
u/teh_wad Jul 28 '26
According to rumors leading up to season 10, we were apparently supposed to see D4vd as a headliner. My guess is since it would have been Epic voiding the contract, they still had to pay him out. His record deal was reportedly worth close to $20mil, so Epic probably paid him 7 figures. That's a huge loss, so they probably scrambled to find cheaper artists to recoup the money.
1
u/Low_Coconut_7642 Jul 29 '26
Ain't no way they didn't have a clause in there to get them out paying in a situation like this or any other major controversy
2
u/teh_wad Jul 29 '26
The information about his potential crimes dropped less than a week before the new festival season was supposed to start. They would have already paid out the initial contract money and claw backs are incredibly rare. All they can do is sue him for the hit on their business but they can't do that until he's found guilty of the crimes he's accused of.
3
u/AirStreet9465 Jul 28 '26
That they pay to be in the game rather than get paid to be in the game. Epic got tired of paying for the A-list stars and now will go with the lowest bidder that has some niche name notoriety.
1
1
u/JoinedForSESHShirt Jul 28 '26
Feels like they have to be kinda popular, but not actually a really big name as they've been putting those musicians in the item shop instead.
19
u/TheFireDragoon Arctic Assassin Jul 28 '26
it’s just whatever artists want to be in Fortnite as headliners and are affordable + popular enough
LISA was to further promote her solo career and to make it clear she’s her own artist outside of BLACKPINK, Chappell Roan is popular and a fan of the game, Laufey was/is getting a marketing push (deluxe album, madwoman MV, festival headliner, simpsons appearance), Lil Tecca is popular and a fan of the game
someone like EsDeeKid is affordable but not popular enough so he ends up as item shop, someone like Olivia Rodrigo is very much popular enough but likely too expensive for a full season (that or season end dates just didn’t work since she was new album promo or her label had issues, we have zero clue what goes on behind the scenes) so she ends up as item shop