Music festivals have become more popular and can be found virtually anywhere in the country – if you’re looking.

As their popularity grows, many bands have found a new way to reach fans and offset the high ticket prices charged at these events. They’re providing free live streams of their sets performed at the festival.

The Austin City Limits Music Festival is typically the last big music festival of the year. This year, ACL says bands such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jack White, the Black Keys and nearly one-third more of the 130 bands scheduled to play will be live streaming their sets on YouTube (News - Alert).

Six years ago, when they began live streams, it was next to impossible to get any of the bands to agree to be broadcasted for free.

Image via Shutterstock 

Officials at concert giants Lalapalooza and Bonnaroo said they have had similar success at the festivals this year. Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, held in the California dessert, produced the now famous hologram performance of deceased Tupac Shukur.

These once simple music festivals are now becoming technology proving grounds.

"It's never going to equal seeing it live. But it's cool that it engages more people,” said lead singer of the band Delta Spirit, Matt Velasquez. “We're a generation of content, aren't we? We love to fill up our days with as little space as possible."

Although there is no way to compare these live-streaming concerts to seeing a concert live, for fans who have been affected by the nation’s dismal economy and cannot afford tickets, this will offer them a little fun. Overseas fans who may not get the opportunity to see any of these artists will also be able to partake, without having to be physically present. 

This shift toward live-streaming concerts is yet another example of how much the world is changing and how much society now lives their lives online.