Adding to its roster of festivals at one of the country's most pristine amphitheater settings, Live Nation has teamed with live music booster site JamBase to launch the inaugural "JamBase Live" Festival at the Gorge Amphitheater in George, Wash., on July 4 weekend.
The July 5-6 camping event will feature such headliners as former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Slightly Stoopid, and Rodrigo y Gabriela.
"I was trying to think of how we can appeal to the jam community because it's not a radio-driven thing," said Jeff Trisler, the longtime promoter of the Gorge and president of Live Nation Seattle. "Everyone goes to JamBase for information, so I made a cold call and ended up talking to marketing director Casey Shafer. He loved the idea and we were of a similar mind on just about everything, so we decided to go forward."
In fact, the speed-to-market was as fast as anything Trisler can remember in his career. From those first talks in early December to a signed deal memo in January, the talent booking in February and ticket on-sale in March, Trisler said the project has progressed with remarkable speed and ease. Early bird tickets for the show were available on March 16 and 17 at $60, then rose to $75 afterwards, with no single day passes available.
Shafer, who just signed on with JamBase in August after years of acquaintance with the site's founders, said his priority when joining up was to produce more events. "Jeff reached out and, at the time, I didn't anticipate it turning into what it did," said Shafer. "But everyone we approached was super receptive and we were so overwhelmed we decided to go all-out."
Among the other jam-band, fan-friendly acts on the bill are: Robert Randolph & The Family Band, G. Love & Special Sauce, STS9, Galactic with special guests ALO, as well as a local stage for regional acts. JamBase will limit capacity to 25,000 (full capacity at the venue is 27,500), with lawn terrace seating in addition to general and premiere camping options.
Live Nation is handling all the talent booking, but Trisler said he's been open to any suggestions from Shafer and has happily tapped into the strong relationships JamBase has with artists and managers. "Together we got a hit list of acts we thought were available and just about everyone was and they were all interested," he said. "Then we whittled it down, made offers and negotiated, and had a lineup within a few weeks."
Because JamBase has been supporting so many of the acts on the bill for over a decade with editorial, photo features and interviews, Shafer said it was easy to reach out to the artists, managers and agents to gauge their interest. "That's what made the difference between us and other festivals," he said, noting that with acts like Slightly Stoopid, all he had to do was call management – at the same time JamBase was prepping an editorial feature on the band — and a deal was done very quickly.
Shafer declined to discuss what kind of financial commitment JamBase has made, but he said there is "definitely some risk there," in addition to many man-hours to plan and promote the event.
Live Nation has already established a beachhead at the beloved Gorge venue with EDM fest Paradiso and country-focused Watershed festivals, but JamBase is aiming for a different crowd from those two gatherings.
Even so, Trisler said there are no unique challenges to hosting the crowds expected for JamBase.
But he also isn't treating the gathering in a "cookie cutter" fashion. The key is to focus on some basics, including a clean, accessible and safe campground as well as a second stage featuring talent in a similar genre, so that patrons will be able to hear music they like from the minute they walk in. There will also be a crafts village with products created by local artisans that will be of interest to festival attendees.
Trisler said he set aside more than $1 million for talent, operations and marketing for the first year of what he plans as an annual event. "It's a big number, but not huge and by doing it that way we're putting an emphasis on a fan-friendly ticket price," he said of the affordable early bird and reasonable two-day pass price points. He also chose to keep capacity a bit lower than full to give the audience room to dance and move around. "I don't believe the first year will be a sellout," he said. "But we hope to establish it and get the brand out there and build on it in years to come."
At the moment, there are no sponsors on board, but some could be added at a later date.
The JamBase site will play a huge part in the marketing plan for the event, with Trisler counting on them to help get the word out. In addition, he will do some radio buys with NPR and AAA stations in the area. The biggest driver, though, in what he estimated will be a $50,000 marketing push, will be social media, for which they will tap their local Live Nation database, which is capable of reaching the entire Western U.S. for fans.
"It's not about dollars spent," he said of the modest amount he's laying out for marketing. "It's about reaching out to the appropriate avenues that are cost-effective."
Shafer said JamBase will also hit its 225,000 monthly newsletter subscribers, and the festival will be front-and-center on the site for the next five months. With one million page views per month and 200,000 people on its mailing list, Shafer said JamBase will have "no problem" getting the word out.
Interviewed for this article: Jeff Trisler, (206) 802-3120; Casey Shafer, (800) 543-7000 x10