Joel Rosenman, John Roberts, Artie Kornfield, and Michael Lang created Woodstock. The original plan for Woodstock was to build a recording studio in the town of Woodstock. Woodstock had become a rock center when musician Bob Dylan and a rock group called The Band settled there. Bob Dylan did not appear at the festival, which was held nowhere near Woodstock (Woodstock Remembered). To promote the idea of the studio the four partners of the music festival decided to stage a concert, which they officially called the Woodstock Festival and Art Fair. The partners rented a field from a local dairy farmer, Max Yasgur, who owned land about 48 miles from Woodstock.