Furor, debate and speculations surround the 7107 International Music Festival (7107 IMF) which unfolds on Feb. 22-23 at the Global Gateway Logistics City inside the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga.

In an e-mail interview with Super, 7107 IMF executive producer Tina Herrera dishes out the details and addresses rumors about the event, which is so far the biggest music festival to be held in the Philippines.

Set length

On Day 1, Kaskade and Alvaro will have a 75-minute set each; while Natives, Reid Stefan, Kid Ink, DJ Riddler and The Asteroids Galaxy Tour will play for 60 minutes each.

Day 2 will have the Red Hot Chili Peppers playing a full 90-minute set; Kendrick Lamar, Empire of the Sun and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus will each have 60 minutes; while Luciana and Scarlet Heroes will have 30 minutes each.

“We are just waiting for the approval of the US Festival management team before we can release the full schedule,” said Herrera.

Ticket prices

The two-day Weekend Pass costs P10,000 for General Admission (GA) and P25,000 for VIP. The GA Spinnr Day 1 Pass is priced at P5,500, while the GA Smart Day 2 Pass sells for P6,500. Smart Prepaid and Postpaid subscribers get 20 percent off on all passes, with the mechanics posted on the Smart website.

“Some were concerned about the high ticket prices, but we will have 12 hours of programming on two stages for two days, depending on the type of ticket they purchase,” Herrera said. “It is competitive and quite a steal, considering that [regular] concerts charge almost the same, if not more, for 90 minutes of music from one artist.”

Charity

There is a donation section online for those who want to contribute while buying tickets. According to Herrera, the donated portion, along with a percentage of all net profits from the event, will go directly to Supertyphoon “Yolanda” relief efforts through the EJ Litton Foundation.

“I have been involved in Yolanda relief, rebuilding and rehabilitation efforts even before the festival announcements began. We’ve already raised and contributed a considerable amount of cash, goods, services, trucks, boats, fuel, etc. I wanted our festival to contribute to the relief efforts as well,” said the producer.

Is the festival funded by or connected in any way to Janet Lim Napoles?

These rumors were created by competing third parties… Months have gone by and still there is not one proof of evidence of any type of Napoles investment to 7107.

Many fans of the artists you’ve allegedly posted teasers about (Kanye, Skrillex, Ellie Goulding) are mad. What was the real purpose of posting about those artists before the complete lineup was released?

Images of artists who have contributed to the music industry were posted prior to the official launch of 7107 IMF. These were artists’ photos with simple captions like “Yeezus save us,” or “Ovo,” or “What would Hova do”—which are their famous taglines. But it never stated that these artists are coming to the Philippines to perform at the festival. Some of artists posted include Tupac and Nirvana, so to assume that the artists we posted (prior to the launch) will all be performing at the festival is a bit farfetched, as some of them are already deceased. These posts took place before any festival dates, websites or ticket prices were released.

Once we had finalized details, we launched the site, announced artists in phases and began ticket sales. Those who were purchasing tickets knew exactly what they were buying because it is in the Phase 1 and Phase 2 lineups announced by our official accounts and on our website.

The Department of Tourism (DOT) has issued an official statement that it has no partnership with 7107, but we saw the letters from DOT expressing its support. What’s your reaction to that?

We are disappointed and shocked to see that this information would be twisted to make it appear that DOT didn’t support us at all. We were initially authorized and approved to include the seal along with the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” logo.  However, the assumption of DOT’s seal on the festival’s advertising materials led some people to assume that DOT is funding the project. To avoid confusion, it was requested that we remove the DOT seal with all future marketing collaterals. The request from DOT did not single out 7107 IMF, it was to clarify that DOT is not sponsoring the event.

People are asking how come you didn’t get a ticketing agency to handle ticket sales?

We do have one. It is Flavorus, one of the world’s most robust systems that does the ticketing for other worldwide festivals and events… We are also applying the RFID system (RFID bands allow you to keep it for the two days and digitally track the customer). The security functions on RFID bands are enhanced and prevent duplications.

Since 7107 IMF is a two-day event attracting an audience from over 20 countries, we needed to have a global ticketing system in place that can accommodate all our current and future requirements as the event grows.

So far, in the Philippines, there is no ticketing company that uses the RFID system, so using a local ticketing system will not work for us at this time.

Why adopt the “no refund” policy?

It is the norm for most globally created music festivals. We will judge refunds on a case-to-case basis; however, the general policy is no refunds.