If there's one thing that the United States definitely needs more of, it's music festivals, and yesterday, it was announced that we would be getting another one. Next week, British DJ and entrepreneur Rob Da Bank will be signing a distribution deal to bring the UK's annual Bestival to other countries in Europe and the United States.
Though it would be nice to think that Rob Da Bank (born Robert Gorham) is signing this deal simply for the love of music, his reasons are actually much more pragmatic. "The deal has been a long time coming," he told The Telegraph. "I've never been in this industry for the money but now I'm 40 with three small kids, it's time to get business minded."
"We've made a real impression on the festival market and pioneered a lot of ideas," he goes on to say. "People think Bestival pours multi-millions into my bank account every year and it doesn't...That's not a sob story but now it's time to knuckle down a bit. My twenties and thirties were a total laugh but now I have to be responsible."
Rob Da Bank founded Bestival 10 years ago, and it has gone on to be considered one of the UK's best festivals (one of its "bestivals," if you will, womp womp), winning Best Major Festival at the UK Festival Awards in both 2010 and 2012, according to Consequence of Sound. Bestival bring over 50,000 each year to the Isle of Wight, and this year's festival (which runs Sept. 4-7) will feature performances from OutKast, Beck, Disclosure, Sam Smith, and Jenny Lewis, among others.
