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Coachella just pulled off one of the biggest business plays of the year, and we had to break it down. In this episode, we get into how Justin Bieber’s headline set, record merch sales, brand activations, and overall media frenzy turned the festival into an absolute machine. More importantly, we talk about what creators, brands, and business owners can actually learn from it when it comes to attention, hype, world building, and capitalizing on cultural moments.

Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro
0:31 - Recovering from Bieber fever
1:05 - Coachella inflation: $375 in 2013 vs. $625 GA now
1:49 - Why GA is not worth it anymore
2:24 - The security line chaos before Bieber day
3:25 - Bieber breaks Coachella records
4:15 - Skylark merch does $15M across both weekends
5:19 - Why Bieber could pull this off (5 years off the stage)
6:47 - Merch as world building: the Skylark activation
9:16 - Gap and Central Cee: the unlabeled collab play
11:26 - Artlist AI Studio ad read
12:27 - Why artists only play Coachella once
13:38 - The quadruple squeeze: album, tour, merch, Netflix doc
15:02 - Repurposing one performance into endless content
15:32 - 234 posts: Coachella left reach on the table
17:15 - The missing iPhone-in-the-crowd content
18:22 - Showcase the fans, not just the performers
20:13 - Why aren't they posting the hits
22:30 - The "dead crowd" narrative is overblown
23:08 - Coachella's biggest social miss
24:07 - Why 6 days of business means you squeeze harder
25:05 - Sales framework: catch people at peak emotion
25:58 - The YouTube integration was a paid play
26:55 - Mixed reviews on the Bieber set
28:49 - The nostalgia play every brand should steal
29:13 - Coachella's business model breakdown
30:02 - Brand sponsorships and the cost of activating
31:19 - Performing at Coachella as a resume stamp
31:40 - Gap's comeback moment
33:06 - Spider intermission
34:17 - 12.5% of revenue from brands (Lakers comparison)
36:01 - The $60K Coachella table story
37:16 - The offer stack: GA, VIP, Sahara, luxury camping
38:44 - Selling next year's tickets with no lineup announced
40:26 - Who else could headline like Bieber
41:18 - The 2012 bet on two weekends
42:44 - Haggling Uber drivers outside the festival
45:23 - The bedbug situation at World Mark Indio
48:18 - Going full Karen for a full refund
49:37 - Wrapping the business of Coachella
51:02 - Kostas retires from Coachella
52:09 - Filming a rocket launch in the Mojave
53:46 - Tim Cook stepping down at Apple
55:41 - Pod direction change: less guests, more solo
59:18 - Shifting focus back to photo/video creators
1:00:35 - Taking the pressure off growth
1:01:20 - Getting back to the roots of 505

If you liked this episode please send it to a friend and take a screenshot for your story! And as always, we'd love to hear from you guys on what you'd like to hear us talk about or potential guests we should have on.

DM US ON IG: (Our DM's are always open!) Bfiggy: https://www.instagram.com/bfiggy/ Kostas: https://www.instagram.com/kostasg95/