Music festivals, and particularly Coachella, have given major artists, including Beyoncé and Billie Eilish, the opportunity to debut historic performances and orient entire album cycles around them. They have also served as a key element of smaller artists’ plans to make a living, and a way to perform their work for new, wider audiences. “Financially, an album release tour will carry you through the year,” the musician Caleb Caudle told Rolling Stone on Wednesday. “You’re using that tour to catapult the rest of your year and build the momentum. Routing our tour into SXSW, that’s by design.”
