We had a short conversation with Mohammed M. (owner of sub:Merged) about the cancelled edition of their festival, and their future plans.
What happened? is the festival cancelled?
We had to make a tough decision, but the right decision in the best interest of the movement and everyone involved. We moved the date of the festival to 21/22/23 of September 2018. This year was tough, we had to change the date from July to September for health & safety reasons, which meant a whole new line up and everything in the process. We faced a wave of organised negative publicity, this caused us to lose our investors and sponsors, which forced us to reach out to new parties to make it happen this year, but the time is just too short now to deliver the full experience, so we decided to accept the losses that we had this year and have the time that we need to deliver the full experience next year.
Are you going to refund all the tickets for this year?
Yes we are fully refunding all the tickets.
What is going to be different in 2018?
We have learned very well from what happened this year. We already started the work now to give ourselves all the time we need. We will release the full line up later this year, and we will not put the tickets on sale until we have the full line up released and license confirmed.
Are you still going to give shares in the company to people who will buy tickets for next year?
Yes ofcourse, the whole concept will be exactly the same. Every ticket sold will get a normal share in the company, just like our own shares. So when someone buys a weekender ticket for an example which includes 3 events (a combo of 3 tickets), that means he/she will get 3 shares. The total of 100,000 shares, equals 10% of our company. The shares will last for as long as the company is in business, just like any equity investment and as the company grows, their share values will also grow, so they are 10% partners in the company.
What is the situation now with the city of Breda?
We are lucky enough to be working with the city of Breda, as they have been extremely helpful and accommodating to us from day one. Now we are working closely with them to deliver the best experience we can possibly do next year.
Why September 2018?
We believe that its the most suitable time for us for many reasons. Friday the 21st is the international day of peace, which fits perfect with our message. Also we want to still be the last festival of the season, as we want to celebrate the whole season with the techno community and end it with the Gathering every year to send a powerful message to the world…love, peace, unity and respect, that is the answer.
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