Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Urena.
Hi Brian, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Since I was a child, I’ve always had a fascination with business and the behind-the-scenes aspect of the entertainment industry. In the beginning, it was primarily focused on everything in the film world. My young-self studied all that I possibly could about movies from the actors, directors, film budgets, and even how various scenes were shot. It was my whole life until… I finally became old enough to attend my first Electronic Dance Music (EDM) event.
In 2015, I attended Life in Color Orlando at the Central Florida Fairgrounds. It was my first experience at a large-scale live event and I was in love. My focus shifted from the world of cinema to the realm of EDM and the Music Festival industry. From that point on, I began attending more electronic music events in the community and it was not long before my fascination with what goes on behind the scenes followed me into my new journey of exploration.
Fast-forward to 2017, I took interest in documenting my experiences at these events when I traveled up to Ohio for the inaugural year of Lost Lands Music Festival. It was my first out of state event and I felt like I should “vlog” my adventure, so I could take a look back on the trip in video form. I created a video called “Lost Lands Vlogumentary” when I returned and uploaded it to my YouTube channel that I named “WHOISBRIAN”. It started to gain traction as there were many people who wanted to see what the festival looked like. That one video racked up around 10,000 views in a few months and it motivated me to continue documenting my times at these festivals. This is how I got started in my YouTube career.
I kept vlogging myself at these events and uploading to my channel consistently over the next couple of years. My content gained a significant amount of traffic over this time across YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. This began to leading me into favorable opportunities. I started to get offers to attend events for free, film artists, and even occasionally work with the artists’ team, just because people enjoyed my videos.
My experiences throughout the years at these festivals combined with my sharp observations of the market while filming has now put me in a position where I have become involved behind the scenes in various aspects within the music industry. From artist merchandise sales to talent advising, I am venturing down a path I 0nly dreamed of as a kid; which is working in the entertainment industry.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
This journey has definitely not been on the smoothest road. With many music festivals costing upwards of $250 to $400 on just tickets for admission, you can imagine how expensive this hobby got. In 2019, I went “hard-mode” and decided to attend eight festivals on top of frequently going to shows in between all of this.
Obviously, the spending quickly added up, even with tickets being provided by the festivals for free. When you factored in travel expenses, lodging, food, and merch. I ended up putting myself in a deep hole of debt for sake the “building my portfolio” and getting content for my social media.
Then 2020 happened. We got two festivals in right before lockdown, and that put an indefinite hold on the entire industry. No one was sure when large-scale live events would make a return, and we definitely knew we were going to be one of the last activities to make a come back in the grand scheme of things. While there were no festivals that would go on for the next 13 months, this break gave me enough time to pay off my debts and fix the financial mess I made for myself in 2019.
Going into 2021, live events started to make a steady return and then it went light speed ahead. Every event organizer was putting on shows non-stop once the momentum started picking up. With those 13 months of recovery I had, I was able to now change my approach and tackle these events responsibly. Instead of borrowing money or impulse selling off some of my collectibles to fund these festival endeavors, I was in a position where I could prepay my tickets a year to two in advance, use credit card rewards on hotels or flights, and my festival food budget was looking healthy. I could finally eat more than one expensive meal a day at a festival.
The journey is not always going to be smooth, but knowing this is the path I would like to continue on; I am prepared for both the good and the bad that come with it.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
In the space, I am mostly known for my WHOISBRIAN YouTube channel. On there, you’ll find vlogs documenting my experiences at EDM music festivals, as well as artist performance highlights. So whether you’re interested in seeing what the inside of a particular festival has to offer or getting a taste of some of the finest electronic talents in the community, you will be able to consume both of those types of content on my channel and respective pages.
With the help of my supportive girlfriend, Jade, we’ve been able to be a team and capture tons of epic moments on the field. Jade has been there keeping lookout to make sure I don’t get tackled or knocked down by a mosh pit while filming and even help navigate the massive crowds of 20-40,000 people to find the best spots to get great shots. I definitely can attribute her to assisting in the channel’s success.
I am very proud of the work we have created for the channel over the past four years and the growth that has been seen. It makes me very happy that we’ve been able to build an audience of music lovers and festival go-ers. Over the years, some of my favorite stories that I’ve received have been that of local music producers who have made connections with some of their idols through the videos I’ve captured of them performing.
Working on this project and continuing to feed it, even during the hardest of times, has been very rewarding and has opened up many opportunities for me. Most recently, I was able to work alongside Jade for the world-renowned Canadian electronic music producer Deadmau5. We were brought on by his brand directors to help them build his “Mau5hop” pop-up stores in Miami, Florida and Denver, Colorado. It was a huge privilege to be able to work under an artist I’ve looked up to since I was a kid and learn the behind the scenes operations that goes into maintaining such a massive brand.
Something that I believe sets us apart from others is our attention to detail and the quality of the end-user experience. We always try to deliver high-quality work and exceed expectations. I think this is something that has left a lot of positive impressions on the people we’ve been fortunate enough to work alongside. If there is something I’ve noticed about finding work in the entertainment industry, it is that employers are just trying to find people that are responsible and can hold themselves accountable.
This WHOISBRIAN project has overall been the main source of exciting opportunities for me over the past few years. 2021 has been an incredible year for the brand, and we’ve seen an amazing jump in growth with live events making a comeback. We know the road ahead will be bumpy, but we are prepared.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Covid-19 has taught me to diversify more. My primary source of content was traveling and attending massive events with then of thousands of people. The pandemic put that to a complete halt. I had to find different types of content to produce and avenues to continue finding growth.
With my outside world being shut down, I found myself doing live reaction reviews of some of my peers’ music projects, attending “virtual festivals,” live-streaming, and collaborating a bit more with other creators. This was enough to get us through this unexpected storm.
Another lesson Covid-19 taught me was to take more breaks. I realized that it was okay to not upload a piece of content just for the sake of uploading. That it was more important to take a step back and relax and upload when I felt that a piece of content was that of actual quality. This is something that helped alleviate some of the general anxiety and pressure felt as a content creator.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whoisbrian/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whoisbrianmedia/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/whoisbriantho
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/whoisbrian
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/whoisbrian
