Hard Day of the Dead reverses policy, will give media credentials

Reversing an earlier decision, the organizers behind the Hard Day of the Dead festival will now give members of the media credentials to cover the event.

In a statement, organizers said: “Due to interest and demand from media to cover the artists and performers at Hard, the organizers have revised their policy to now offer credentials to qualifying media.”

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The move backtracks on earlier statements from Hard (and its parent company, Live Nation) made on Monday night, when the festival confirmed that it was denying all requests for tickets and credentials to cover the festival.

The last-minute denial came in the wake of increased scrutiny from the media and from L.A. County officials regarding the festival after two drug-related deaths of teenagers at its summer installment. County supervisors had ordered a review of policies regarding dance music events on county property, including Hard’s home at the Pomona Fairplex.

Media outlets were welcome to purchase their own tickets and attend as fans, organizers said at the time, but professional photography equipment would still be prohibited. The move would have likely significantly reduced the number of outlets able to attend and report on the festival, particularly from smaller dance-music-focused publications.

The festival had previously agreed to several significant changes for Day of the Dead, including upping the age restrictions to 21 and older, and reducing capacity to 40,000 from a planned 65,000.

After a swift backlash from the electronic dance music community regarding the change in media credentialing, however, the festival’s latest move will return to its previous and longstanding policies regarding media coverage.

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