Russell Faibisch (born July 7, 1977) is an American music festival producer and concert promoter. He is the co-founder of the

Ultra Music Festival Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is an annual outdoor electronic music Music festival, festival that takes place in March in Miami, Florida. The festival was founded in 1999 by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes. It was first held on Miami Beach, but bes ...

, an outdoor electronic music festival in Miami, and creator of the Ultra Worldwide brand. He is

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

, President, and

Executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

of the Ultra organization, and is also the chairman of the board, upon which and Adam Russakoff serve. Currently, Faibisch presides over an international chain of branded

music festival A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...

concert A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

s, and events, which include editions spanning across

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Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

, and

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, plus globally syndicated radio broadcasts, an online

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channel, music films, and premieres. In April 2016, Ultra Music Festival won the

DJ Mag ''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lati ...

award for "World's Number 1 Festival," which was voted on by over 500,000 fans worldwide. In 2008, Ultra was also given the DJ Award for "International Dance Music Festival"." In 2014, Faibisch was ranked #6 on

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

's "Most Important People in EDM List." Later that year,

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

named Faibisch and business partner Adam Russakoff on the "EDM Power Players - Executives List. In 2016 and 2017, both Faibisch and Russakoff were again named on ''Billboard''s annual "Power List of DJs and Executives." In 2017, Magnetic Magazine named Faibisch the "Industry Person of the Year."

Early life and education

Russell Faibisch was born in

Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The municipality is located on natural and human-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean ...

and majored in business at

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...

Career

Creation of Ultra

In 1997, Faibisch created the Ultra brand in relation to event productions when he formed ''Ultra Productions'', and began producing electronic music warehouse events and rave parties in Miami, including Amoeba in 1998 and Magical Maydaze. Both events were co-produced with then business associate, Ray Navarro. After placing an ad in a local music magazine for one of his events, Faibisch met Alex Omes, publisher of D'VOX magazine. Faibisch and Omes quickly became friends and business partners, together co-founding the Ultra Music Festival. Ultra Music Festival paved the way and built the modern dance festival foundation. Since its founding, Ultra Music Festival has grown into one of the world's largest electronic dance music festivals. An estimated 400,000 people attended Ultra Music Festival over the course of two weekends in 2013, the highest number of attendees to date. The international festival, founded by Faibisch and Omes, has taken place every March since its inception in 1999 at Collins Park, Miami. The festival celebrated its nineteenth anniversary from 24–26 March 2017 by bringing over 165,000 people to the sold out event at Bayfront Park located in

downtown Miami Downtown Miami is the urban city center of Miami, Florida, United States. The city's greater downtown region consists of the Central Business District, Brickell, the Historic District, Government Center, the Arts & Entertainment District, and ...

. Ultra Music Festival returns to Bayfront Park for its twentieth anniversary, 23–25 March 2018.

Expansion

The Ultra and Ultra Worldwide brands represent the world's biggest and most successful remaining independent electronic music festival brand. The Ultra Worldwide brand, created by Faibisch, has established festivals and events in twenty countries internationally across five continents—including

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, Bali,

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, Chile, Croatia,

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Bolivia, Colombia, Hong Kong, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and of course Miami. In 2017 Ultra Mexico first edition in Mexico took place in Foro Pegaso located 30min away from Mexico City. The biggest stage of Ultra history took place here with headliners like Dash Berlin,

Alesso Alessandro Renato Rodolfo Lindblad (born 7 July 1991), better known by his stage name Alesso (), is a Swedish DJ and record producer. He has worked with numerous artists, including Tove Lo, Theo Hutchcraft, Ryan Tedder, Hailee Steinfeld, Ca ...

, Armin van Buuren,

Afrojack Nick Leonardus van de Wall (; born 9 September 1987), known professionally as Afrojack (stylized in all caps), is a Dutch DJ, record producer and remixer. In 2007, he founded the record label Wall Recordings; his debut album ''Forget the World ( ...

and

Martin Garrix Martijn Gerard Garritsen (; born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Martin Garrix (or Ytram and GRX), is a Dutch Republic, Dutch DJ and record producer who was ranked number one on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years—20 ...

among others. Additionally, Faibisch and the Ultra brands pioneered the live stream experience, ''Ultra Live'', where the festival is brought online to over 20 million viewers globally and the audio broadcasting platform ''UMF Radio'', which was winner of Mixcloud's 2015 "Best EDM Radio Show" and is now syndicated to

FM Radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...

in over 93 countries. In 2012, Faibisch and Ultra Worldwide also launched ''UMF Films'', a collaboration with Amsterdam-based film company Final Kid, which has gone on to produce many of Ultra's after movies—including a feature-length

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

exploring the rise of dance music, entitled "Can U Feel It" which premiered on 21 March 2012 at the Klipsch Amphitheater in Bayfront Park. "Can U Feel It" was also released in select theaters across the United States for one night only, on 22 March 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faibisch, Russell American music promoters Florida International University alumni People from Miami Beach, Florida American chief executives Music festival founders Living people 1977 births

Early life and education

Career

Creation of Ultra

Expansion

See also

References