One Music Fest is celebrating its 15th year of bringing urban culture and joy to Atlanta. The festival takes place on Saturday, Oct. 26–27.
The festival has evolved from its meager beginnings in King’s Plow parking lot, now hosting 100,000 plus attendees at Piedmont Park in Atlanta. BLACK ENTERPRISE spoke with One Music Fest Founder J. Carter to discuss 15 years of Black cultural excellence.
Carter’s passion for One Music Fest is palpable. His vision led him to financial loss for many years, yet he was undeterred. The visionary founder credits his wife with encouraging him to take the glass half-full approach and see the venture as a long-term investment.
He recalls, “It was my wife who said, ‘You can look at it as one of two ways: losing money or investing money.”
This advice and his belief in the marketability of Black culture paid off—the Harlem native invested in his dream, Atlanta, and hip-hop culture. Peep what Carter had to say about his 15-year journey and 2024 OMF.
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Congratulations on reaching the 15-year mark with One Music Fest. How are you feeling about it?
Excited. It doesn’t feel like 15 years. I’m super, super excited to release the lineup. One Music Fest hit a record 100,000-plus attendees at Piedmont Park last year.
Do you think you’ve reached a plateau, or do you think there’s more to climb as far as numbers are concerned?
I definitely think there are higher numbers, too, to achieve. But, we don’t solely base achievement on attendance. From day one, it’s been about how do we impact culture. How do we present Black culture in a different light to build a safe playground for us to celebrate each other, celebrate our music, celebrate our food, and celebrate our differences? Our motto and battle cry was and still is unity through music.
Are you concerned that more attendees will compromise the authenticity of the space? Or will more attendees aid in OMF’s evolution?
So, we can never be stagnant. I do believe we always need to evolve. A key thing we do is try to keep young energy around us. We like to incorporate how Gen Z or Gen Alpha moves into our growth and evolution. We want to thrive, right? Everybody deserves joy, right? So, what does your joy look like? I think we do a very good job of reaching back.
There’s a younger generation that’s progressive enough and gets it. My job is to be able to tap into and reach them. Ten years ago, we celebrated Nas’s 20th anniversary of Illmatic. Kendrick Lamar was a little bigger at that time, and yet he said Nas should headline. So, I do believe that there’s the younger generation that has a level of respect and understanding, and nostalgic stuff is cool to them. Young cats are buying vinyl now.
You’ve said that your first five years were unsuccessful. How did you get sponsors and investors to hop on board for a” failing venture?”
On the outside looking in, we weren’t failing. We were growing financially on the books. We were experiencing 80% to 100% growth. Attendance and sponsors were increasing as well.
The budgets we were given, however . . . there comes a point where you have to stop and say, you know what, I know my value. We stopped undercutting ourselves and said, ‘Nah, brands, this is how y’all gotta show up if you want to talk to the culture.’
What can we look forward to for OMF’s 15th year?
Women are just carrying the torch in politics, at the Olympics, especially Black women, when you look at what’s charting, women, even in hardcore hip-hop. So, as we were booking, there are a lot of incredible women on this lineup.
The 15th year is almost an ode to incredible women doing incredible work and music over the years. It’s a range of talent if you can even imagine, from a Cardi B to a Jill Scott, Glorilla to a Fantasia.
The city of Atlanta gets fed from this event. If you had to ballpark the amount of money they get from your event through tourism and commerce, what number would you imagine?
It could be around the $50 million mark. We bring in 5,000 people to work the event. When you think about vendors, food vendors, and tourism, 50% of our audience is not from the greater Atlanta area.
You’ve said OMF will never leave Atlanta. Are you standing on business about that statement?
1000%.
I don’t think One Music Fest could have happened in any other city. This is Atlanta. We’re standing on the shoulders of giants, bridge builders, and bricklayers who have done the work. I don’t know many places like Atlanta that give you the opportunity to be, to exist, to thrive. Where you can dream and go for that dream safely. Everything you need is about 2-3 calls away in Atlanta.
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One Music Fest’s tickets are in high demand. According to Carter, VIP sells out within the first two weeks of the event. So, if you are that person who likes plush seating and “white glove” treatment, grab those tickets ASAP.
Tickets are on sale at the official website.
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