If the latest decision made by the organizers of HARD Day of the Dead was intended to reduce the amount of negative press surrounding the event, it’s safe to say that it thoroughly failed. HARD recently announced that it would not offer credentials to media partners seeking to cover the event, eliciting a tidal wave of backlash from the EDM blogosphere in the process.
While organizers cited impacts of the attendance cap on the festival’s bottom line for its decision, speculations that they wanted to limit coverage of the festival in light of the deaths of attendees Tracy Nguyen and Katie Dix at HARD Summer back in July have circulated in the electronic music community.
After bloggers spared no expense in reminding the world of said tragedies during their discourse over its connection to what they dubbed the “media blackout,” HARD revised its policies to grant press passes to “qualifying media” – although it remains to be seen which outlets will be selected.
Check back for further updates regarding HARD Day of the Dead as well as HARD’s ongoing dilemma with SoCal lawmakers, as we’ll be sure to post more updates as we get them.