PurposeThe aim of this paper is to test a new proposal of a model to analyze emotional outcomes in relation to the key factors constituting the experience of a music festival.Design/methodology/approachThis article first examines how emotions and intangible impacts are conceptualized and analyzed by different disciplines; secondly, this article exposes the relevance of musical emotions and the contextual elements in the generation of the music festival experience; the article then proposes a new model to assess the emotional impacts of music festivals, named the Emotional Impact of Music Festivals (EIMF). Finally, this article shows the test of the model through quantitative and qualitative analysis.FindingsThe findings reveal that perceived emotions in the music festival context should be based on the definition of musical emotions. At the same time, the model combines the different sources of emotions taken from validated tools in multiple academic disciplines. The new proposal enables the emotional outcome of the music festival experience to be identified and helps to understand the weight of the experience's main elements.Practical implicationsThe new proposed model facilitates the research on music festivals and illuminates the key role of music when organizing festivals to enhance attendee experience. Finally, this model reveals the main elements required to obtain an intense emotional outcome in these types of events.Originality/valueThe study expands the different scales and model proposals in live events and combines existent musical emotion models from the psychological perspective with theoretical models from the intangible impact evaluation. This study shows a genuine test for a theoretical model that can be further developed. Finally, this study shows how the new tool EIMF can help music festival organizers to understand the weight of the constituting factors of festival experience and the results in applied studies.
