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Jason Felts
June 18, 2019
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. We start booking next year's literally a month after the current festival. Sometimes, acts may break a new hit single and want to go on tour, so we try to get them in quickly, but for the most part, we try and get them early on. Hopefully, we can get lucky with their touring plans. We were able to get Katy Perry during a break right in the middle of her tour, while we caught Dave Matthews right at the end of his North American tour. We work very carefully with artist management to make it all work - and now that we have three KAABOOs every year, we can essentially offer artists a mini-tour
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What has Woodstock wrought? It's been 50 years and judging by the sheer numbers, music festivals have never been more plentiful. Coachella, Lollapalooza, Stagecoach, Bonnaroo, Rock On the Range, Riot Fest, Summerfest, Louder Than Life and most recently, a slew of EDM extravaganzas ... just to name a few. And with their popularity comes more competitiveness and the challenge of standing out from the pack.
Enter KAABOO. Staged by Virgin Produced, KAABOO is geared for older, nontraditional festivalgoers who not only want to see the great music legends they grew up with, but to enjoy a first-class experience that includes gourmet food and beverages, art galleries, stand-up comedy, pool parties and even manicures and pedicures. Jason Felts explains how KAABOO has established itself from one fest to three in five short years - and where it goes from here.
What prompted you to transition from film and TV production to concert/lifestyle promotion?
I've always had a passion for live entertainment and production. The whole idea of delivering something that provides an escape for someone from their everyday life, excites me. The thing is, producing movies takes a long time from concept to actual exhibition and release. It can take years and years. I guess I have a short attention span and that, combined with thriving off of fast-paced results and fun, suits festival and concert promotion best. Add the fact that I'm a passionate fan of music -- live music, in particular -- made perfect sense for me to segue..
Rumor has it your parents turned you on to KAABOO. What about it appealed to you and made you want to get involved?
That's true. They lived in Del Mar, CA and called me about it in the summer of '15; I was already a music fest connoisseur, and they told me to come down to this new music festival that was being advertised as "a different kind of event." KAABOO was claiming that they were elevating the music fest experience and from the moment I walked in the doors on site, this rang true. I was in love with the brand and it so perfectly aligned with our Virgin brand and core focus on guest service and hospitality.
Working alongside KAABOO Founder and my partner Bryan Gordon has been a lot of work and a lot of fun. Executing the Founder's vision to grow ... and working with my partners in extending the brand experience into other locations ... has been exciting. After starting in Del Mar, we've added festivals in Texas (at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys) and in the Cayman Islands. We plan to announce more KAABOO locations this year.
You just mentioned that KAABOO's target demo is an adult, presumably more affluent clientele. Are you at all concerned that you'll price yourself out of the large majority of festival-goers, who are younger?
There's a ticket price path pass level for everybody. Those on more of a budget could grab a day pass for KAABOO Texas for $99 and enjoy all the music, art, comedy and culinary. On the Amplify (VIP) side, we range across three levels of passes all the way up to the exclusive "ULTIMATE HANG" pass at $20,000 for the weekend. Sales are capped for that experience, which offer superior hospitality, exclusive experiences and meet-and-greets, the best viewing and a tailored concierge program.
Speaking of elite offerings, KAABOO has gourmet cuisine on-site. Are you personally involved in choosing the chefs?
Sara Kotcher on our team works with us to curate that entire program in-house. The programming there is a combination of celebrity chefs (such as Michael Mina) and local chefs from the surrounding community to where KAABOO is being hosted. We do a significant amount of research for our Palate program so we can feature special, unique dishes of the area.
KAABOO is a multi-generational, multi-genre artist music festival. Is there a specific formula of how many artists of each genre or generation are booked for each event?
Programming on the music side is a combination of "bucket list" artists and today's hitmakers -the people you hear the on the radio. "Bucket list" acts can range from Sting, Aerosmith and Robert Plant to a lot of '90s bands such as Dave Matthews and Third Eye Blind -- bands people maybe didn't see back in the day, but always wanted to. Current artists can be anyone from Pitbull to BeBe Rexha.
There's no real science to it. Obviously artist availability comes into play. Plus, we're looking to steer away from artists who have been on too many festival lineups. Often times many of the artists seem to be cut and pasted from one festival to another.
On the comedy side, we take the same type of approach as we do with music - a mixture of household names, emerging comedians, and a couple of "bucket list" greats.
Do you have the same booking mentality in Texas as you do at Del Mar, or are there regional tastes to consider?
It's pretty much the same formula. Everybody seems to think that it if you're going to do a festival in Texas, you've got to book a lot of Country acts. Nothing could be further from the truth. Texas certainly has its fill of Country opportunities, but we're not going to change our programming based on the area. Sure, there will be different acts between the two festivals, but both will feature hitmakers and bucket acts.
With so many festivals both here and around the world, how far do you have to book ahead to get the big acts?
We start booking next year's literally a month after the current festival. Sometimes, acts may break a new hit single and want to go on tour, so we try to get them in quickly, but for the most part, we try and get them early on. Hopefully, we can get lucky with their touring plans. We were able to get Katy Perry during a break right in the middle of her tour, while we caught Dave Matthews right at the end of his North American tour. We work very carefully with artist management to make it all work - and now that we have three KAABOOs every year, we can essentially offer artists a mini-tour.
But you have to offer more than great music opportunities for the underserved adult demo to come in - and KAABOO was created as a response that that white space. On top of offering acts people always wanted to see but have never seen, KAABOO is also designed to hit all five senses. Music and comedy for hearing, food for taste, art work for the sense of visual, and for the sense of touch, indulgences such as massage, manicures and pedicures. There's also a Vegas-style pool club that impacts all five senses. KAABOO is very different from festivals that offer a lot of music, a little bit of food and a lot of beer in plastic cups. That's why it has grown from one to three festivals in five years, with two of them selling out.
How has the rise of streaming impacted the way you book the musical talent?
We certainly look at Spotify and Pollstar to see how the acts are doing through streaming and on the road, but we also survey past KAABOO attendees several times throughout the year to find out who they want to see - and we respond to that. I'll tell you that we got a lot of response to Duran Duran in Dal Mar and the Chainsmokers in the Caymans. A lot of people asked for the Black Eyes Peas, while Sting was a big request in Dallas. Our guests' feedback are very important to generate repeat business.
Where does radio fit in with KAABOO in terms of promotion or even potential "presents?"
For any given event, I do about 30 to 50 interviews with print and radio. I give these type of interviews every single day. Most of them are for Classic Rock stations, but for the Texas KAABOO, we set up radio interviews with stations in a variety of genres.
We're agnostic on radio side. We love working with iHeartMedia as much as we love Cumulus stations. We have the ability to appeal to all radio groups because we have such a multi-generational and genre appeal.
You mentioned earlier than you want to add more KAABOOs. Do you have a target number of fests you hope to hold in America - and if so, where geographic areas are you targeting?
We see a combination of domestic and international growth; I would say we'd like to at least double the size of what we are now. We're in the process of identifying underserved markets, much like Dallas/Ft. Worth, which have only had Country and, believe it or not, EDM fests there. A market with millions of people like Dallas is being underserved by that. As long we keep identifying underserved markets and world-class partners, we'll keep growing.
In terms of the size of each individual event, is bigger always better? Would you consider holding smaller, essentially "pop-up" KAABOOs?
Our event in the Caymans is smaller than the other two. It runs for only two days instead of three. We have been approached about doing smaller "pop-up" festivals, but to optimize our corporate partners and provide the ultimate concert experience for our fans, we plan on sticking with multi-day, multiple-stage KAABOOs.
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