Executive Profile: Breakaway’s Adam Lynn and Zach Ruben Graduate From NextGen To Major Music Fest Players

Pollstar’s annual Impact: NextGen feature is about finding the new class of leaders in the live entertainment industry, which can range from upstart artist manager to go-getter arena GM or sports executive – and everything in between.

For this year’s NextGen feature, Pollstar looks at a “graduate” from 2019’s class, Breakaway Music Festival co-founder Adam Lynn, who alongside partner Zach Ruben was already operating at a high level, and now continues to thrive as a rarity in the live industry – an enduring, independent and multi-city music festival brand that continues to grow.

It’s also a good opportunity to catch up with the two, who recently launched their own label and continue to diversify their operations while remaining committed to the core Breakaway Festival experience – 15,000-per-day capacity outdoor events featuring mostly top electronic music talent in under-served markets like its native Columbus, Grand Rapids, and newer markets like Minneapolis and Tampa.

“We’re at over 40 full-time employees, which is crazy,” says Lynn, who met Ruben while in college at the University of Michigan, relocating to Columbus to develop what would become Breakaway together. “When we go to a show now, we used to be the first ones there. We did everything, Zach was placing the stage and I’d take the end duty so he could fly back to be with his wife and kids. Now, we have this massive team and we’ve been able to hire great-caliber people, which has helped scale the brand, from sponsorship to festival production and brand partnerships.”

This year’s Breakaway Music Festival, taking place throughout the year in 12 different markets, include top EDM talent like Excision, John Summit, The Chainsmokers, Marshmello, Zedd, Louis The Child, Tiësto, Of The Trees and many others, offering something to excite multiple generations of dance music fans. That’s on top of dozens of Breakaway Presents hard-ticket bookings, a multi-day Las Vegas takeover at the Wynn, and private events including a special McDonald’s birthday party for popular purple mascot Grimace.

Lynn and Ruben, still barely on the other side of 35 years old, caught up with Pollstar to share their story and reflect on what has not always been a smooth ride to the club.

Pollstar: You were already doing big things when we first started covering Breakaway Festival, but merely surviving as a festival brand and overcoming COVID is no small feat.

Adam Lynn: There was a lot of trial and error on our end for many years. We’ve failed a few times before getting to this point and been on the brink of bankruptcy, making payroll on our credit cards before. It’s easy for people to see how big it’s gotten and the success that we’ve had, but it wasn’t without some really rainy days there on our end.

We’ve scaled the amount of markets we are in up to 12, and in the last year we’ve added a record label, Breakaway Projects. We’ve added a management business to our vertical offerings. Our allegiances and partnerships with brands and sponsors continues to grow, specifically with (presenting sponsor) Celsius, which has been a great partner of ours.
Obviously, some fundraising was really helpful on the scale side and in allowing us to afford bringing on some great-caliber people. We also think what sets us apart is our relationships with our brand partners, so it’s about not only investing heavily into the sales team, but also into the fulfillment team. It’s easy to sell a deal, but it’s just as important to renew a deal, and that’s become a real strength of the business.

There are other long-standing established festival properties and brands, and some that operate across multiple cities like Insomniac or Rolling Loud. Who do you consider peers or inspiration for what you’ve built?

Zach Ruben: For us, it’s always been first and foremost about passion, and we’ve always been passionate and interested in and fans of dance music. So staying with the trends, staying ahead of the trends, being part of the community and going to other events and watching the talent rise was an influence on how we curate and book our shows. That’s part of why we’ve been able to withstand the storms and continue to try to change with the times and be ahead of the curve where we can, especially in our secondary markets where we feel like we’re market leaders.

We’re fans of the industry, we’re fans of the music, we’re fans of the artists. That still drives so much of what we do and why we do it. There’s been no playbook. There are many we’ve looked up to over the years, some of the mega festivals like Bonnaroo, Electric Forest was a massive influence on us, showing how to really hone in on and outlining the importance of the fan experience.

We don’t have a bunch of trucks and buses on the road like a Warped Tour, and we’re not going weekend to weekend simultaneously, but we are a touring festival brand, so we are forging our own path.

It doesn’t hurt that the outdoor experience seems to remain popular overall, and a good fit for electronic dance music in particular.
Ruben: Music needs a dance floor, and that’s hard to get in stadiums, and definitely not in arenas. We’ve enjoyed going to the parking lots and outdoor spaces and building our own playground on a flat surface and we can use the stadium’s infrastructure for back of house operations, supporting the local government agencies like police and fire and medical staff.
But in 2024 and the last year, I’ve been noticing more successful indoor touring. Artists have definitely started to prioritize headline touring, the importance of building their history and fanbases.
That has definitely made it more challenging for us. That’s why for us it’s so important to stay in the tour club concept events because we can work on strategies with the artists.

The artist relationships go back quite a while now.
Lynn: It’s a really awesome thing to be a part of, to sit with them in the green room before their sets and talk about some of the war stories we’ve had together and remember that time in Mexico, or a random show we did in Iowa or Wisconsin. We welcome the opportunity to build those relationships with the new wave of artists. We got involved with Knock2 and ISOxo early, and seen an insane trajectory from them. John Summit, we booked him on our second stage in Ohio in 2019, and then he just headlined it last year.

If it’s not broke, don’t fix it, right? What’s next for Breakaway?
Lynn: It’s still about trying to fill a void and bring a unique, big experience to markets that might not necessarily get that, and make it affordable. The biggest challenge, when you look at the major festivals, the ticket price is pretty expensive, but most of these kids can afford that if they save up for a few months, but it’s really the travel expenses that add up. So it’s the fact we’re bringing this to people’s backyards, right? We’re bringing this massive festival experience an Uber away from where you live.

Ruben: We’ve added a lot of new markets this year. We’re seeing some sustained growth in Tampa and Minneapolis, which have really shone through as new additions in the last couple of years. Where we’re going is to continue to expand and find underserved, unsaturated domestic markets but also looking at international expansion, having more Breakaway branded popups at cultural moments throughout the year, such as the Super Bowl or Art Basel, maybe in parallel with major festivals like Coachella or Ultra.

It’s a competitive marketplace and not everyone appreciates outsiders encroaching on their turf – or anything that could resemble their turf.
Lynn: We’ve been very collaborative as we’ve scaled. An important factor here is we want to be well-liked amongst our peers. We know people have put in a lot of time and effort building these markets out and have been doing shows in these cities for a long time. Sometimes it’s with a promoter in the area or the venues, but the agent conversation can be easier if we have partners and get along well with others.