The 23-year-old videographer and founder of Lyrical Lemonade shares a surname with one of the two most visible hip hop artists in his state – Chance Bennett – known to the masses as “Chance The Rapper. scJo5YOVwmĪ recent profile in Complex Magazine tells the story of a coming-of-age videographer and media entrepreneur: a suburban kid thriving in an urban environment. Linear Commerce and Lyrical Lemonade No Title And, as far as independent promotions are concerned, there may be no greater example than Cole Bennett’s booming operation.

What Petrozzi was describing was linear commerce as applied to his industry. But cool, indie, hypebeast-based fans instead of pseudo-bro, Portnoy sheep. I think what is doing is similar to Barstool Sports’ strategy. I’m all for the prosperity of the industry. He finished his thoughts with a provocative comparison: The revenue generated by content will eventually outweigh all other revenue streams in festivals. I think that’s the future in and around the live event space. Turning down $30 million for essentially an urban / hip hop-centric media company is insanely awesome to me. Here’s PSG’s Petrozzi on Lyrical Lemonade’s growth: The fledgling media company was more impressive than I originally believed. She loved the music, but she really admired the company’s unique approach to visual production. An avid consumer of Youtube, she knew all about Lyrical Lemonade and its college-aged founder. Just a few days prior to that whiteboard session, my oldest daughter suggested that there was something special happening in Chicago music. It was the same media group that I scribbled on a Pittsburgh whiteboard in May of 2018. When I mentioned the research for this brief, Petrozzi provided industry insight on a young, hungry media company that was primed for the mainstream. I know that PSG is (currently) outside of The Chernin Group’s investment thesis, but I believe this to be a worthwhile conversation between the two of you. I have watched grow into something special in the entertainment space, here in Columbus and abroad. In an email between the two companies’ principals, I concluded with:

Though they focus on traditional “indie” media, it was clear that the same type of model could work well in the festival business. Their portfolio includes: Barstool Sports, The Athletic, and The Action Network. This led me to introduce them to The Chernin Group‘s investment group. I’ve been such a fan of what his partners have built, and I recognized the linear commerce opportunity. And it’s one that an even younger entrepreneur would find perfect.ĭominic Petrozzi is the founder of The Number Fest and, now, a partner at Prime Social Group. By the time the festival’s weekend came about – each year – the once-obscure talent would be a household name. For a time, there was no festival that was more skilled at identifying talent that was primed to go mainstream. In the Midwest, there are few greater examples of lightning in a bottle than Ohio’s Prime Social Group (PSG), the ownership group behind The Number Fest and other top festivals. But for a merchandising company, it could be lightning in a bottle if executed appropriately.

Hip hop culture is not for the meek, the safe, or the politically timid. I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t worth the trouble. I’d spent several days assessing what could have been done differently. And just a few weeks prior, the first attempt had fallen short of expectations. However, I ended up scrapping the idea of brokering a deal between the two groups.Īs in most in edgy music scenes like hip hop or EDM, pairing the right product with a primed audience would require a risk tolerance and the willingness to go all-in on the partnership. But rarely do you find the operation with true, organic demand. Monetizing it is as simple as meeting supply with demand. Independent music operations yield tremendous power to influence the cultural zeitgeist. In that room, I was laying out another idea to partner with an indie music festival ownership group. In May of 2018, I was sitting in a conference room with a packed whiteboard of ideas and the math to justify them. Dad, have you watched the Lucid Dreams video? Oh my gosh. In this case, I am recalling a short conversation between my oldest daughter Alexis and me in the spring of 2018. To understand the future, listen to the kids.

Lyrical lemonade cans