So much for quitting while you’re ahead. As he prepares to put on the third edition of his three-day riverfront pop/rock festival Bunbury, founder Bill Donabedian is doubling down on his musical ambitions.
“It’s time to build the empire,” said Donabedian about his bid to break into the big time with the recent announcement of the three-day Buckle Up country festival. Taking place the weekend after Bunbury (July 11-13), Buckle Up uses the same footprint as its sister fest.
“It’s no time to be ridiculously risky,” he said. “There’s something about where the music industry is headed and we’re uniquely positioned. I’ve had a lot of industry people who’ve been in this for a long time saying they’re impressed with what we’ve done in a short period, so I think the time is right.”
With just four acts announced so far: legends Alabama, as well as new artists Eli Young Band, J.T. Hodges and The Lone Bellow, Donabedian said he decided to go country because he’s seen how the genre is crossing over more than ever at top 40 radio. Nicknamed “Bunbury’s cousin from the South,” Buckle Up (whose full lineup will be announced by late February), will include 80 acts, including traditional country performers, as well as folk, bluegrass, Americana and roots rock. Like Bunbury, it will unfold on six stages in the city’s 14-acre Sawyer Point riverfront park.
The event got its genesis with an offhand remark from Bunbury site manager Debbie Branscum during the inaugural festival in 2012. “We were busy enough and hadn’t even opened the gates,” recalled Donabedian. “I’m sweating bullets and she said, ‘You know, Bill, we could keep this setup for another week and do a country music festival.’ I thought she was insane.”
That idea stayed with him, though, and when she brought it up again during the 2013 event, Donabedian again thought the time was not right. But when he started thinking about the economies of scale that he stood to exploit, thanks to getting multiple uses out of monthly rentals for items like fencing, portable toilets, staging and other infrastructure, he began to think Branscum was onto something.
“It’s an underserved market and it’s only grown in popularity, so I said, ‘screw it,’ and I started working on it,” said Donabedian, the co-founder of the city’s long-running annual independent music festival MidPoint. He managed to convince his investors to get on board, and the initial results were promising, with 2,000 Facebook likes within 48 hours of announcing the inaugural Buckle Up (with no bands attached) and tickets already moving with just the first four acts announced.
Donabedian expects to sell around 40,000 tickets for Buckle Up, which would be on par with Bunbury’s first-year figures (that festival had reported attendance of 60,000 in 2013). One-day passes are on sale for $55 with three-day passes priced at $130, and VIP experiences including exclusive, up-close access to the main stage, going for $325. And, like Bunbury, Buckle Up will have a selection of food and drink, in-and-out privileges, a number of local vendors and a “distiller ranch” for mixed drinks.
Booking is once again being handled by promoter Nederlander Concerts, with booker Ian Bolender agreeing with Donabedian that the event is a natural fit for Cincinnati. “Even with all the country shows at [Live Nation amphitheater] Riverbend, there’s still plenty to do in this market,” he said. “We have a lot of experience in that area and I worked at a small venue [Newport, Kentucky’s now-shuttered Southgate House] that did a lot of bluegrass and up-and-coming Americana acts.”
From a booking perspective he said it’s a challenge to try to lock down talent for two festivals at once, but it’s a bonus that the production and infrastructure will already be in place from the preceding event. “By the time the country festival comes up everyone will be in the groove and it should be fairly easy,” Bolender said, adding that it helps that one of the local country stations, B105, has a very strong audience following.
“We found that the country audience is still in the 80s in terms of being radio fans,” said Donabedian. “So we’re spending much more on radio than we do for Bunbury.” While social media will, of course, play a role, he doesn’t expect it to be as hearty as the Bunbury online action. Donabedian also expects that, in keeping with the country vibe, there will be much more interaction between the fans and headliners, with more meet-and-greets and chances to hang with the acts.
While doubling up will, of course, cost Donabedian twice as much, he expects to save as much as 20 percent on Bunbury’s costs in 2014, thanks to the reuse of his infrastructure pieces. He’s spending more than ever on talent as well, with nearly half the budget for each $2-million fest taken up by artist fees. He did get a break this year in terms of scheduling when Bunbury’s competition, Louisville’s AC Entertainment-produced Forecastle Festival, moved one weekend back to the same dates as Buckle Up.
One place he won’t save any money is the rental of the space from the City of Cincinnati. The festival will move in on the 8th of July for setup of Bunbury, co-produce one of the city’s Party in the Park events in between, then move on to Buckle Up and be torn down, and out by the 21st. There will be some shuffling around of fencing and perimeters in between the shows to allow the public access to the park, but Donabedian said the city did not give him any kind of break for the double booking, whose cost he would also not disclose.
“I’m definitely paying double and it’s a lot, because there’s the fees for police and fire department duty, fees for building and inspections for the health department, not to mention the entertainment tax and the tax on tickets,” he said.
While the Goldenvoice-produced Coachella festival spun off a similar double-down effort last year (hosting most of the same bands two weekends in a row) and expanded to include the country-tinged Stagecoach fest on the same polo field grounds in 2007, Donabedian’s twofer is just unusual enough that he thinks it might make some waves.
“We think the country audience will travel more and we expect some fans from Louisville, Lexington, Indianapolis and Columbus,” he said, adding that he learned a lesson from reaching too far afield for attendees in the first year of Bunbury before realizing that he was better off drawing form a more local base for that show.
“If we do it right we’re hoping it’s the kind of thing where some people might come in and spend 10 days here and do both festivals,” he said of his best-case scenario.
Contacted for this story: Bill Donabedian, (877) 889 1809; Ian Bolender, (513) 421-4111