There’s not a festival around that’s doing it like ONE MusicFest.

The festival space may be filled with a line-up of people who look like us, but it’s rare that we are the ones with ownership of the events that are taking place.

As one of the only Black-owned live music events across the nation, co-founder and chief marketing officer of the event, J. Carter has managed to find massive success thanks to partnerships with global brands like adidas, BMW, Heineken, and more.

Although he’s succeeding in the festival space, Carter tells Black Tech Green Money’s Will Lucas some of the challenges that come with being one of the only Black entrepreneurs in the industry.

“I first had the concept and idea back in ’08 and so the first thing that I do is look for mentorship,” Carter explained. “As the owner of two clubs, with one that’s more of a live music venue, entering the festival space was a different monster and I needed to figure out how to maneuver through it all and I couldn’t really find anybody that looked like us in that space.”

From there, Carter found that networking across was the best way to push his vision forward.

“It’s the old, old adage of times. Instead of looking above, you have to look lateral and so that’s what I did. I just kind of linked up with people around me who shared my vision and embraced my idea and we pushed forward attempting to make as much noise as we could until the big boys noticed.”

As ONE MusicFest prepares to return to Atlanta for its 11th year in October, J. Carter joined Black Tech Green Money to discuss venture capital for entertainment, AR&VR for live events, and how to keep pressing forward when it seems that those wins are far and few.

Listen to the full episode of AfroTech’s Black Tech Green Money with host Will Lucas below:

One Music Fest

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