The Person:
Ryan Midden
The Project:
Ben & Jerry's Fair Trade Music Festival
Location:
Boston, MA
Profiles: Ryan Midden | Ben & Jerry’s Fair Trade Music Festival
Written by Mike Harmon Posted in: Profiles on January 12, 2012
Ryan Midden wanted to find a cool way to give back to the local community and the Boston music scene. But how? By throwing a music festival!
But where? Smack dab in the middle of the Prudential Center's front door, of course!
In this episode of IAtv, Mike sat down with long-time friend and manager of the Boston Ben & Jerry's franchise, Ryan Midden, to talk about the progression of the Ben & Jerry's Fair Trade Music Festival over the last three years. Ryan lets us in on how he was able to transform his idea of bringing a music festival to the heart of Boston's Back Bay into a reality. After three years, the event has evolved from two local bands playing for free food to a full-on music festival with corporate sponsors and national touring acts.
Check out a video from the 2011 Festival below!
Quick Tips
- Looking to start a music festival like Ryan did? Start by finding a venue that suits your means. Ryan and his company, Ben & Jerry's, got in touch with their own landlord about hosting the festival in a non-traditional venue setting on their own property. By doing this, they by-passed the pressures of local venues and promoters and were able to have the festival free to the public.
- Tying in the local community can help bring promotional value to the musicians. As Ben & Jerry's has a history of working with musicians, Ryan and the Boston franchise decided to take that to the local level by offering Signature Band Smoothie flavors for a number of bands in Boston. This helped build a relationship between the artists performing in the festival and Ben & Jerry's as a sponsor.
- Producing and Marketing a music festival is not easy, and you may want to try putting on a few shows before reaching out for sponsorships. After proving that he could do it on his own, Ryan looked to the Ben & Jerry's Global Corporation to sign on as an official sponsor. This offered opportunities in budgeting, marketing, and of course, more free ice cream!!
- Selecting a name and building a theme around your festival can help it take shape. By building a theme about community development and the fair trade movement, the Boston Fair Trade Music Festival was able to attract the attention of national touring acts and gained exposure through their networks
VIDEO: Ben & Jerry's Taste of Bonnaroo Tour: Ben Kweller (Boston, MA)
