Jared Lyons, Co-Founder of Bounce Music Festival (Concert Service)
Jared Lyons a current Indiana University Senior founded Bounce Music Festival with Brandon Silverstien his freshman year of college. His company provides large-scale EDM events for a college-based audience. All bounce events have the highest levels of production and top trending artists performing. His festival company has got an extreme amount of publicity in the EDM music world. Currently Bounce is touring the nation for its fall tour with an expected Spring tour that will be one to remember.
1) What role, if any, does a business plan play in building and launching an arts company (as a business pursuit)?
We never had a set business plan, but we did look at other peoples to get an idea on what needed to be done. We really studied our competition to see what was trending and what was missing. We started our business very quietly until we were ready for out initial launch… But understand we still did plan and that was crucial to our success, just not in the form of a paper business plan.
2) What three pieces of advice would you give aspiring artist entrepreneurs about planning?
Stay true to your goals- If you set out to make a concert service, then do it. Never lose site of why you are doing what your doing and what your initial idea was. This is still something I have to remind my self all the time when planning new events.
Don’t forget to take the time and enjoy what your doing- I created something based around my personal interests, so to not enjoy the concerts I put on or everything else that comes with it, then what’s the point? I do my best to not only appreciate but also partake in the fan experience of my events.
No reason to give up till its actually over- Obviously your going to run into issues when starting a business. Just understand that things will go wrong and that is not a reason to just stop and quit. Do your best to plan ahead for problems, but if you cant, don’t let it break you down. Try and solve and push forward. Nothing is un-fixable if you didn’t break the law.
3) What do you believe are necessary qualities, if there are any, for artist entrepreneurs to possess or develop? An example might include a person speaking about focus, discipline, quality pitching skills, etc.
Qualities? I’m not sure on specific qualities needed to start and run A business, but you need to really believe in what your doing and more importantly, have faith in your business. With out that you will fail no question.
Interview by SMU student Nicholas Pappas
