Another partnership is through the D.C. Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment.
This is a competition that we actually launched back in 2015, but it was under a different name.
You have to be a DMV resident to apply.
Chloe Bailey performs during last year’s Broccoli City Festival in Washington, DC.Prince Williams/WireImage
We had Pac Div, we had Don Kennedy.
We had Kendrick Lamar as our opening act.
We had sustainability-focused vendors and folks from LA City Council come through and speak and mingle.
When we started, it was more about the vendors that would be there.
Its more than just coming to see the music how can you support every pillar of a city?
As that grew, people started asking us Yo, how do I do my own festival?
And they were like, Whats a deck?
And Im like, Damn, all right, lets go back to step one.
Weve had all sorts of speakers fromBozoma Saint Johnall the way to Coach K from QC.
During that time, as well, we realized that people cant necessarily afford festival tickets all the time.
Were not Coachella, this aint Governors Ball.
We could kind of gamify it in a sense.
That was the birth of WeChipN.
WeChip N is a platform that we created.
We[re producing] the Tems show [in] D.C. for her upcoming tour date.
How many people are you anticipating?
WeChipN isnt a Broccoli City exclusive.
Weve got a bunch of stuff that is always coming down the line.
We just did an integration with TicketMaster.
I couldnt immediately tell if any of the artists on the lineup are from the DMV.
Are they?Jermon Williams: Not on the main at the moment.
Last year it worked because Fat Trel, he had some new music out.
Brent Faiyaz, whos from here, he headlined.
Its a delicate balance for sure.
But the DMV is unlike any other place.
They want to check that that theyre represented.
I know that there are various theories out there, a lot of them, negative.
Folks feel like the DMV cant stick together.
I beg to differ.
I see folks moving and grooving.
I do think we have stars.
Such as, whats the kid from Woodbridge… Tommy.
Hes got the-
Oh, Tommy Richman?Jermon Williams: Tommy Richman.
Hes from Woodbridge, Virginia, right?
And hes got one of the biggest songs out right now.
Shaboozey is a star right now.
Hes from Northern Virginia, right?Exactly.
I think theres anxiety because we havent really hit on this massive scale like Atlanta did.
And its like, no, we need to pull together a coalition behind the folks who are in.
What youve seen post-COVID is an increase in talent fees that is ridiculous.
From a competition perspective, it has gotten so tight.
Who has the capital and the resources to be able to compete and still sell tickets to make money?
Live Nation has the resources to actually be able to book the talent.
The cost of the talent cost has to come down for this to become more competitive.
To me, its a natural lack of competition.
Yo Gunna, you cant bring all that shit, homie.
You know what I mean?
We aint too proud.
The parking, the walking, the need to sit down, just the whole thing of it.
Theres only so much AC that we can provide in a parking lot.
Theres only so much water that we can provide if people are not willing to drink and stay hydrated.
They really were looking for Beyonce, right, they were looking for a stadium show.
They were looking for infrastructure and real bathrooms and shade and VIP suites with air conditioning.
And really, they were saying, You know what?
We dont want to be in this fucking parking lot no more.
[But] we didnt want to turn Broccoli City Festival into a stadium show.
Thats really what weve done, taken the best of all worlds.
Its really going to be kind of an award-style setup, where its content driven.
Were going to have cameras backstage, Oh, Meg just arrived, you know what I mean?
Like, Shes heading to our dressing room.
That whole backstage [look that] you see at the Grammys, you see the red carpets.
What was it like getting artists buy-in for that?Marcus Allen: I mean, we pay good.
We dont nickel and dime.
Obviously, we got some pushback, but people were receptive to it.
I do think that being in the stadium helped that ask, you know what I mean?
Cause people were like, Oh, this is something different.
I think being in a new venue helped those asks for sure.
Brandon McEachern: Also just who we are as well.
We have relationships with Issa Rae.
We have relationships with AMP.
That helped us to be able to get close to them and touch them as well.
Marcus Allen: Yeah, she just coming to have fun.
I think its really for her.
Tell me about how Black women under 30 have been identified as the demographic you serve.
Why do you think it looks like that?Brandon McEachern: Our life is Black is women.
Marcus Allen: Everything is around Black women.
Brandon McEachern: I wouldnt even be dressed without [Black women], you know what I mean?
Considering my Queens in my dome.
I dont know, thats just us, who we are, and the attendees.
And obviously the data reflects it as well.
Its always queens around us, I feel like Black Panther, dude, you know what Im saying?
Shout out to our team too.
Jacqueline Auston, who is our chief of staff.
Jermon Williams: Carmen, who runs our social, excellent.
But like they said, a lot of it was leaning into the way things just naturally progressed.
We started seeing the data and [werent] running from it.
I think its so funny that that also doesnt necessarily translate to a woman-heavy lineup.
And they done came in, from a womans perspective like, Yall better not do that.
And be deadass standing on it.
If they feel that strongly, usually theres a lot of other people that feel the same way.
And we have definitely seen, in many cases, they have been completely right.
I think that over the years, its been kind of convoluted.
As Black people, we understand that thats not the case.
