Budweiser announced today it is dropping its sponsorship of JAY-Z’s music festival. The “Made In America” music festival that celebrates all things JAY-Z is held annually on Labor Day weekend in Philadelphia.
The lineup for the 2018 music festival includes Nicki Minaj, Post Malone, Meek Mill, Diplo, Zedd, Ty Dollar $ign, Miguel, Fat Joe, and more.
After the much-publicized Spotify decision to ban misogynistic, violent rap music from its music lists, Budweiser similarly declined to support JAY-Z or rap music in favor of sponsoring a country music festival instead.
There’s a good reason for the pullout according to Breitbart.com: Budweiser, which “used to spend millions of dollars staging and promoting the fest,” realized that country music attendees drink more Budweiser beer.
Budweiser realized that fans are moving away from rap music in search of feel good music that uplifts the soul and spirt.
“We are realizing that music is being consumed in many different ways today and we want to keep up with trends and how consumers are behaving today,” said Budweiser Vice President Ricardo Marques in a statement.
According to Ad Age, Marques discovered through research that “fans at country music events spend more on beer than at similarly sized events featuring other genres.”
Budweiser’s decision left JAY-Z and his organizers scrambling to find another festival sponsor with deep pockets.
JAY-Z, who is currently on tour in Europe with his wife Beyonce, doesn’t have the cash to pay all the festival’s expenses out of pocket.
In May, Jay-Z reportedly convinced rapper Meek Mill to back out of a meeting with President Donald Trump — after receiving a call from former President Obama.
