Why YouTube’s Coachella Livestream Became Must-See TV for Fans — And Essential for Artists

Thirteen years after launching, YouTube’s stageside view into Coachella has become an invaluable resource for fans, and a huge opportunity for artists. Alberto Montenegro of Rawayana performs at the Gobi Tent during the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at Empire Polo Club on April 12, 2025 in Indio, Calif. Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for Coachella To decorate their Coachella stage like a beach party in their seaside home region of La Guaira, Venezuela, Rawayana hauled in inflatable SUVs, palm trees and tiki huts — all designed to make the Grammy-winning band’s YouTube festival livestream last weekend more colorful and magnetic. “It’s a live TV broadcast,” says Carlos Framil, Rawayana’s co-manager. “They knew it was going to be livestreamed. It was a prominent part of the strategic planning.” The plan paid off. Rawayana’s streams, and ticket sales for its upcoming tour, spiked in the days after the first-weekend performance, narrated as part of YouTube’s new “Watch With” program by influencers Bryan and Eddy Skabeche. “We’re seeing it as a Coachella bump,” says Framil, of Miami-based Sound of Light. “And we’re attributing that to the livestream.” Trending on Billboard Coachella’s live YouTube feed, now in its 13th year, is the “gold
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