Coachella can look effortless from the outside, with influencers posting glamorous outfits and “Instagrammable” moments as if the festival just happened to them. But several creators and YouTube’s partnerships team described the work behind that look: weeks or months of planning, rapid outreach for brand access, and on-the-fly adjustments during the two weekends when global audiences watch and scroll.
Sam Mintesnot said she had checked off many of her pre-Coachella tasks, including booking travel and preparing a spreadsheet of video ideas, when she discovered that she did not have a festival ticket yet. She described posting across her social media platforms in hopes of landing a pass and said that she was looking to join brands at the annual festival in Indio that is sometimes labeled an “influencer Olympics.” Mintesnot said, “You never know what’s going to happen,” adding, “There’s so many opportunities out there.”
The creators’ behind-the-scenes planning, as described in the reporting, is also tied to brand deals and sponsored content schedules. Coachella’s brand events and freebies can generate material for creators, while creators also document what festival-goers see and do—from bathroom lines and food options to longer-form coverage. The social-media content may read as spontaneous, but creators said the “buzzing” planning tends to start well before the festival kicks off.
For Mintesnot, one turning point came just days before the festival began: she said she received an invitation from YouTube on Wednesday, two days before Coachella’s two-weekend run started on Friday. Coachella’s 25th edition this year drew sold-out crowds across both weekends, and YouTube serves as a global viewing option through a livestream that includes performances from headliners Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber and Karol G.
YouTube’s Matt McLernon, a senior manager of artist partnerships who has led YouTube’s relationship with Coachella, said the platform’s livestream approach gives the creator side visibility that expands the festival’s reach. McLernon said, “Seeing how much the creator side has breathed this whole additional life into it — what’s on the stage, the creators, the fans, the kind of intersection of all of them, of what happens from there — it’s really truly magical,” and added that YouTube has cameras pointed at the artists and also at the crowd.
Creators described different paths to earning money from their festival content. For fashion and beauty creators, the reporting said shopping tools built into platforms like TikTok and YouTube can support commission-based earnings tied to outfit and makeup trends. Magdaline Janet, a beauty YouTuber, said YouTube Shopping helped her become a full-time content creator and described Coachella as both a “beauty and fashion show along with music.”
Other creators said the financial payoff can also come from attending and producing content without a brand invitation. Sydney Morgan, known for special effects makeup, said she bought her own ticket and stayed in a rented home that she described as being selected for video. Morgan said she had the group traveling to Indio on Wednesday to devote a full day to content creation before the musical sets began, adding, “Me and my friends like to joke that Coachella’s our favorite holiday.”
Morgan said creators also plan editorial structures for what they will film, including both a long-form video and shorter clips. Louis Levanti, an entertainment news host and content creator, said creators need a willingness to adapt even when they start with a plan. Levanti compared his festival content process to newsroom work, saying, “It’s important to tell the story from your lens as quickly but as accurately and efficiently as possible,” and he added, “I do really think of it as a newsroom.”
Levanti also said that, beyond producing content during the festival, he uses the event to build relationships with other brands for future opportunities. He said some brand deals come with restrictions on what creators can post and what brands they can work with, but he described one advantage of working with YouTube at this year’s festival: “It’s a great opportunity where there’s no constraints or stress on me to make content, which makes it easier for me to do that while also appealing to more brands.”
Across the festival experience, creators said the constant is demand for content—from buildup to real-time coverage and afterward—because audiences want ongoing updates. Morgan said she and other creators try to meet that expectation by publishing what they described as good festival content while also enjoying the event itself, saying, “We want to feed the audience, keep ’em fed, give them good content and have fun while doing it.”