Who wants to start a music festival? Lyte’s Stephen Vallimarescu already did
Jobs were scarce when Stephen Vallimarescu graduated from college in 2009. The last year of the Great Recession had brought with it a soaring unemployment rate that left few interesting or lucrative options for an ambitious live music fan with a political science degree from Connecuticut’s Trinity College.
“I went to a liberal arts college, with no media or business or entrepreneurship path,” he says. “While I majored in political science, I was definitely focused on pursuing a career in the music industry.”
Stephen had taken a few internships in the music industry throughout college, including roles at Capital Records and Beggars Group. Following college, moved to his hometown of Washington D.C., but had zero interest in working on Capitol Hill, or in politics at all.
He was intrigued by music and technology. Stephen had spent a few years working on music projects and at tech startups, “dipping my toes” in both worlds.
“I’ve always been interested in the intersection of music and tech,” he says. “I gravitated towards forward-thinking startups with high growth potential.”
The rest, as they say, is history.
Stephen is Lyte’s new Director of Partnerships. He comes to us from BandsInTown, where he was Director of Ticketing and Business Development. Stephen lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Here, he talks about consumer demand, lighting-speed growth and starting his own music festival.
Seriously, he started a festival. Read on.
Maggie: What do you like best about Lyte so far?
Stephen: It’s such a brilliant platform, not only for fans, but for the entire music ecosystem including venues, primary ticketing providers, and artists. Until now, when an event sold out, there was no real way to accurately gauge and quantify demand. The ability to return a ticket aligns with current fan needs, and ultimately ensures that shows are 100 percent full and priced to the market — delivering a new and meaningful revenue stream that was previously lost to the secondary market.
Maggie: It’s an awesome platform benefiting everyone involved. Why did you want to work here, though?
Stephen: Having worked in Business Development at both Songkick and Bandsintown, I had spent the previous five years in the concert-discovery lane of the music industry. I was ready for a new challenge. Lyte’s mission and culture truly resonated with what I was looking for next.
Lyte is really a win across the board for all the players involved, including promoters, artists, ticketing providers, and most importantly, fans. It solves the issue of the secondary market traditionally not serving in the best interests of these players. It also eliminates artificial tickets. Lyte is working to put an end to these issues, and fans are seeing it and embracing it.
Lyte’s exponential growth over the past year is beyond impressive, especially given the barrier to entry in the market. It’s certainly one of the main reasons I was initially drawn to the company. I am thrilled to now be a part of the team.
Maggie: You are no stranger to taking a leap. Tell us about that.
Stephen: I’m a co-partner in a music festival in Washington, DC. The idea started years ago and was an extension of a music discovery website we had been building called All Things Go. Initially, we leveraged the audience we built digitally to throw and promote smaller scale showcases throughout the city, hosting artists ranging from The 1975, to Glass Animals, to Haim at a really early stage in their careers. After a few years, in 2014, we took a big step and launched the festival property at unique space in the heart of downtown DC called Union Market. The festival doubled in size after year one, and today is the only multi-day festival in the city heading into its sixth year. This year’s festival will be October 11th and 12th.
Maggie: It’s one thing to start a new business — but a festival?
Stephen: It was a huge risk! It was like, ‘Pull up your bootstraps and and let’s see if we can do this.’ If a hurricane hits the weekend of your festival, you’re in a very tough place, to say the least.. With that being said, through the festival, I have gained a ton of insight into the full spectrum of event production, including understanding the dynamics surrounding ticketing and pricing.
Maggie: Why do you think it’s been so successful?
Stephen: For one thing, it’s a boutique festival. It’s unique in that capacity. The festival world is a really competitive space, and we tend to book new and emerging artists vs. the arena-level headliners that you see across many the larger scale festivals. Our aim is to focus on “what’s next” in music and try to help you find your new favorite artist.
In 2018, on one of the days of the festival, we featured all-female lineup that was curated in collaboration with Maggie Rogers. We looked around and found that most festivals are 75 percent men, 25 percent women. It really opened our eyes to the gap that exists in the festival space and we wanted to do our part to close it in collaboration with our artist partners.
Last year was one of my favorite lineups. We had Billie Eilish top the bill. Her accent in the past year is absolutely mind-blowing, and unprecedented in many ways.
Maggie: I have to ask: Any plans to have Lyte power All Things Go this fall?
Stephen (laughing): Well, the festival has to sell out first. Once it does, we will 100 percent use Lyte. The wheels are currently in motion to get everything prepared for that time.
That’s one of the things I love about Lyte. If you’re using the Lyte exchange, as a promoter, artist, or ticketing platform, it means things are going well for you. It’s like, ‘Hey, you just sold out. Now we can help ensure you are getting a packed house.’ Your fans are happy, your artists are happy, and the entire experience is amplified. That is great news for everyone.
About Lyte
Lyte makes it easier for fans to go to more live events. Founded in New York City and San Francisco by CEO Ant Taylor, our killer fan feature is returnability. In an industry where a “no refunds and no cancellations” policy is the standard, Lyte enables fans to return their event tickets, no questions asked, to the official point of purchase.
Lyte also provides a safe and official reservation booking system, offering fans who sign up a fair price for in-demand tickets. One hundred percent of the tickets bought and sold through Lyte are issued through our ticketing partners and delivered directly to fans. Lyte has delivered millions in fan savings — $1.8 million in 2018 alone. It’s only getting better from here, thanks to our growing partnerships with bands, venues, promoters, ticketers and festivals.
For the industry, we function as a full inventory management solution, including a private-label secondary market to optimize event yield for event producers. Visit lyte.com.
