Issue 179 - February 2017 - Finding Your Way to Weekday Success

ISSUE 179 FEBRUARY 2017

Finding

YOUR

Way to Weekday Success

WWW.MOBILEBEAT.COM

PLUS: Decoding the Millennial Bride

DON’T MISS IT!

EVEN MORE FEATURED PRESENTERS INSIDE

PLAYLIST

Finding YOUR Way to Weekday Success

T H E W E E K DAY G A M E.................................................... 6

Full Time: Key to Unlocking Weekday Gigs?

By Rob Johnson F E AT U R E . . .................................................................... 8

The Singing Thing

By Steve Sharp W E D D I N G B E AT.......................................................... 10

Time on Your Side

ADVERTISERS

By Staci Nichols M B L V21 . . ..................................................................... 1 2

By the Numbers

By Matt Radicelli M B L V21 . . .....................................................................14

Paul Oakenfold

By Ryan Burger M B L V21 . . .....................................................................16

Sonny Ganguly of Wedding Wire

By Ryan Burger F E AT U R E . . .................................................................. 20

Decoding the Millennial Bride

By Matt Martindale P L AY S O M E T H I N G W E C AN DAN C E TO!........................ 26

Building Your Balance of Goodwill

By Jay Maxwell B R I L L I AN T D E D U C TI O N S............................................ 28

Fixing Business “Boo-Boos” - Part 1

By Mark E. Battersby D J S H O PP E R .. ............................................................. 30

What’s New at NAMM

By Dan Walsh and Ryan Burger

Blizzard Lighting

www.blizzardlighting.com

21

Customer Manager Pro

www.customermanagerpro.com

17

DigiGames

www.digigames.com

7

DJ Intelligence

www.djintelligence.com/mb

27

DJ Trivia

www.djtrivia.com

23

Electro-Voice

www.electrovoice.com

3

Famous Stages

www.famousstages.com

2

Frankenstand

www.frankenstand.com

35

Gitomer Learning Academy

www.jeffreygitomer.com

23

Innovative LED

www.innovativeledsales.com

19

JammText

http://jammtext.com

15

MBLV21 - Peavey DJ Takeover

www.mobilebeatlasvegas.com

37

Mobile Beat Cruise

www.mobilebeatcruise.com

29

Mojo Photobooth

www.mojophotobooth.com

15

Odyssey Innovative Designs

www.odysseygear.com

11

PSWCDT Book

www.mobilebeat.com/store

27

QSC

www.qsc.com

9

RCF

www.rcf-usa.com

5

Snapden

www.snapdenphotobooths.com

25

Speed Quizzing USA

www.speedquizzingusa.com

17

Stage Spot

www.stagespot.com

25

T E C H TA L K. . ............................................................... 32

A Primer on Digital Signal Processing

By Robert Lindquist I N S I D E T H E I N D U ST R Y............................................... 34

LA Photo Party

By Ryan Burger E YE C AN D Y.. ............................................................... 35

DJ Bands Light Up the Crowd

By Ryan Burger T H E L AST W O R D.. ....................................................... 36

Use Your Story to Connect

By Jason Weldon

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Publisher Ryan Burger Mobile Beat Editor-in-Chief Dan Walsh

Gear Editor Jake Feldman Circulation Manager Kitty Harr

Editorial Assistant / Writer Rebecca Burger Events Director Emeritus Michael Buonaccorso

TO ADVERTISE IN MOBILE BEAT OR EXHIBIT AT A MOBILE BEAT EVENT, CALL 515-986-3344 x300 OR EMAIL SALES@MOBILEBEAT.COM

THE WEEKDAY GAME

PRESENTED BY

How to Fill Your Calendar with Cash

Full Time: Key to Unlocking Weekday Gigs?

GOING FULL TIME TO GET THE MOST OUT OF WEEKDAY OPPORTUNITIES

By Rob Johnson

T

he theme of my article is always something regarding Midweek money. There is a LOT of money to be made during the week. Obviously you need to have the flexible schedule to be able to take on this type of work.

If you have a full time job it MIGHT be tough to book these shows. Will you have the time to do the events? Will you have the time to go out and find these events? If you do an event during the week at night, will you be able to make it to work the next morning? These are all things you need to consider. When I first started booking midweek money shows I had a full time job and had to work every morning. Once I started to see the potential earnings it was clear to me that my “hobby” would soon out-produce my “profession.” That’s when I decided to make my hobby into my profession. It was the best decision I ever made for my family.

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One of the reasons many people give for NOT going full-time is they have insurance and benefits with their full-time job. They have a good salary. They like their job. They like the guaranteed income. All of these might be great and valid reasons but they might also be barriers keeping you from expanding your potential. I have been self-employed for over 17 years now and I have great health insurance and benefits. I like my “job.”

I have a “guaranteed income”—I just have to work hard for myself to guarantee it. I also have the freedom and flexibility to do whatever I want, whenever I want.

I work hard. The harder I work the more money I make. I also play hard.

I travel and spend a lot of time with my three sons. I didn’t miss any of their sporting or school activities. You can’t put a price on that.

The biggest hurdle in going full-time and deciding to work on midweek events is taking that initial risk; “cutting the cord,” so to speak. I have talked to many individuals who just couldn’t see themselves taking the risk. These same people work 40 or more hours every week, generating income for someone else. I don’t work even close to 40 hours most weeks. I work smarter and more effi-

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ciently. I set goals as to how much I need to make and then I work hard enough to bring in that much (or likely more).

There are all kinds of opportunities out there to increase your bottom line with midweek money. Corporates, bars, nightclubs, schools, churches, hotels, resorts, restaurants, assisted living facilities, camps, after school programs, parks and recreation programs, malls and trade shows are just a few of the opportunities for extra work.

The work is there. The opportunities are there. If you are looking at making the move, or if you have already made the move and are looking for more ideas, contact me anytime. I have networked with thousands of performers over the years and can likely give you some valuable insight. I also love learning from others as everyone has new ideas and ways of doing things.

I will be doing a seminar on this in Las Vegas at Mobile Beat on Wednesday March 15th at 1 pm. It is sponsored by DigiGames and will have a focus on Trivia and GameShows but it will cover much more and even open it up to hear ideas from those in attendance. DigiGames will also be giving away the Grand Prize of a trip to the MBLV22 in 2018, AND a spot on the upcoming Mobile Beat DJ Cruise sponsored by DigiGames. (I will be the Entertainment Director on the cruise. It’s going to be a lot of fun!)

Let me know what you think. We can work together to make the industry the best it can be!

Rob Johnson has hosted trivia parties and game shows for over 17 years. He is the current spokesperson for DigiGames and uses their equipment exclusively. He has performed throughout the United States, Europe and the Caribbean. Rob is the owner of The Music Man, Inc. and performs comedy stage hypnosis shows as The Hypno Man. He has also presented his “Midweek Money” seminar at many conferences and conventions, including Mobile Beat, WEDJ, Wedding MBA and various ADJA events. If you would like Rob to speak at your local event or demonstrate DigiGames gear to your group, contact him at 701-710-1657 or rob@digigames.com. Don’t hesitate to contact Rob if you are looking for ways to increase your bottom line and put more money in your pocket.

FEATURE

The Singing Thing RECONSIDERING THE WEEKDAY CLASSIC: KARAOKE HOSTING

By Steve Sharp

I

had no intention of becoming a karaoke host. I've been in the D.J. business since before anyone really even thought of it as a business, and have done a lot of different things, along the way.

In 2004, I was brought in to do product rep work for Hercules brand of D.J. controllers, at a time when there were very few controllers in the marketplace.

Through this, I got familiar with Virtual D.J. One of the most remarkable things about Virtual D.J is that it plays not only almost all of the major types of audio files, but also almost all the major types of video files AND MP3+G karaoke files. With the combination of software and hardware, three different, formerly separate, types of DJ-based entertainment could now be done with the same gear (with the addition of video screens, when needed): audio, video and karaoke. So, my Hercules marketing pitch included suggesting that, when going to a computer-based DJ system, have at least a small library of karaoke files on your computer .”just in case.” having a singer might suddenly enhance a party. Having such capability this easily available would certainly belong in any DJ's toolbox to enhance a party.

Soon, I began to practice what I'd preached, and started assembling my own library of karaoke content. After attending many other karaoke shows, gleaning what I could from other hosts, and joining Facebook discussions about hosting, I landed my first weekly hosting job. I decided to try and differentiate my show from others as .”not your dad's karaoke.”

This bar attracted a younger crowd on other nights, so this made better sense. Sure, you can sing ”Sweet Caroline” if you want, but you can also do 2 Chainz if you'd rather, and, since it's a bar, swear if you want to.

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Since then, I've done various bar hosting jobs, some cool fill-in work (you don't get sick of the venue, and they don't get sick of you), and some GREAT corporate work as well. I also network with other DJs, marketing karaoke either as a stand-alone or add-on, as LOTS of DJs get asked about karaoke, but don't actually offer it. This can be a great market, if you commit to doing it.

KARAOKE CONSIDERATIONS If you're looking to expand into karaoke, here are some things you should understand.

Hosting karaoke is pretty different from DJing. If you're big on MCing and being alpha leader with an ego, hosting karaoke may not be for you. It's far bigger on interaction; great people skills are a MUST. At it’s best, you're in the presence of amazing singers and great moments. At it’s worst, it's drunken adult babysitting.

As a host, while your singing ability can be a plus, your opinion ABOUT your singing can be an issue. Some hosts seem to think that people come to hear THEM sing. I couldn't disagree more. The ”show” is about the patrons, NOT the host. I like to say ”Hey, do you remember that one karaoke host that went on to become a famous national singer?”...”No? Well, NEITHER DO I!” Strive to make sure your gear suits your venue and usage. Ever since the recent ”mic drop” trend, karaoke hosts have had to deal with people thinking they can actually DO that. Be prepared with mics that sound good, yet are resilient and affordable.

A singer's video monitor is a must, and possibly additional video monitors for an audience to follow along.

Singer's audio monitor? Possibly. It depends on how your room is laid out, how much work you're willing to do, and (frankly) how picky your singers are.

Which hosting software to use?

Depends on how you want to run your show. While there are many programs probably better designed for hosting karaoke, I've stuck with Virtual DJ because it simply works well for me in multiple

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scenarios. The good news is that there are a number of great karaoke choices for PC or Mac, most, if not all of which offer free demos.

Other apps that you'll want to know about: rippers that will take CD+G discs and turn them into computer-based MP3+G files, file managers, zipping and unzipping tools, and possibly ones to help you assemble songbooks.

Lighting? Some love it, some don't care—this one's up to you. Earlier, I talked about differentiating your show from others; lighting is one way to do that.

And what about the legality of karaoke materials? There are so many things to consider, they would easily fill an entire article. But the two primary legal methods for karaoke content are: streaming karaoke ”rental” services, and old-fashioned BUYING of CD+G karaoke discs and downloads. Very recent court actions have SEVERELY impacted the streaming services, who recently had to eliminate a lot of artists and songs from their selections. For this and other reasons, my choice has been to OWN the media I use.

Please don't be stupid. If you've somehow gotten your karaoke from a friend's hard drive, or a torrent, or bought it from ”some dude” or something like this, the reality is: You've stolen that content.

And you run the risk of getting busted for it. Be smarter than that. Be legal, at least to the SPIRIT of the law, if not the letter of it (which is subject to interpretation). Here's ONE thing that's not subject to interpretation: If you stole the karaoke tracks you're using, you're a pirate. “Pirate” is a huge bad word in the world of karaoke.

Run a fair rotation. Nothing seems to irk karaoke patrons worse than the appearance that ”the KJ's friends” get preferential treatment. Find a rotation system and rules that you like, explain them, maybe publish them at the front of your songbooks, and STICK to them.

And finally, have a love of MUSIC, and the wonder of what people and their voices can do!

WEDDING BEAT

Time on Your Side HOW TO DISCOUNT FOR OFFPEAK WEDDING DATES

By Staci Nichols

B

uses, movie theaters, hotels... What do they have in common? None of them charge the same price for a Saturday night as they do for a Tuesday morning. Buses have peak fares for rush hour travel.

Movie theaters offer matinees to encourage moviegoers to fill up seats during non-busy times. Hotels, the true masters of maximizing their “prime times,” charge more for short notice bookings, holidays, summer vacations, and weekends. If it works for these mega-industries, there must be something to it!

ECONOMICS 101 I'm a big fan of maximizing some Economics 101 principles to boost my income...just like the above examples. I believe in a healthy balance of “getting what I'm worth” and filling up my calendar. Last year, I turned away OVER 60 couples because I was already booked on their dates. For the most part, these couples were seeking out my services for the same 8 Saturdays in high season...the dates were not scattered all over the calendar.

The demand for these 8 days out of the 365 days I'm available is insane (this is known in Economics as “scarcity,” which drives demand)! If you understand the Law of Supply & Demand, then you know that when the demand for a certain calendar day goes up, the price should go up...otherwise you're leaving money on the table.

Now think about this: “50% of all weddings in 2015 occurred on only 25 days” (WeddingWire.com). Wow! According to the Los Angeles Times, only 4% of weddings are in January!

WeddingPaperDivas.com reports that over 30% of weddings are on non-Saturdays.

THREE WEDDING “SEASONS" Here in San Diego, my busiest months are April/May and September/October. I consider these months “high season.” June, July, and August are starting to feel pretty barren compared to when I started DJing almost a decade ago. I consider June, July, August, March, November, and December to be “mid-season.” And, of course, January and February remain “low season.”

Likewise, Saturdays are “high season,” Fridays/Sundays are “midseason,” and Monday-Thursday is “low season.” And, even further, DJ Staci Nichols is based in San Diego and specializes in spinning “country fusion,” Latin/Spanish, and mainstream music.

Her know-how has appeared in San Diego Style Weddings, Offbeat Bride, Wedding Planner Magazine, and Book More Brides. She offers consulting at WeddingBizConsultant.com or check out her DJ biz at SanDiegoDJStaci.com. IG/FB/ Pinterest/Twitter: SanDiegoDJStaci

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evenings are high season; mornings are low season. When I consider how to discount for offpeak dates, I actually ADD to my “normal” price for October dates and discount for any low seasonality.

DISCOUNTING BY SEASON Instead of offering discounts by percentage for offpeak dates, I offer flat rates. Why? Which one sounds like a bigger discount: save 5% or save $50? Regardless of the price tag, saving $50 sounds way better than saving 5%...BUT, if you do the math, the flat rate of $50 is typically less than 5% of our wedding rates (ex. $1,200 – 5% = $60. $1,800 – 5% = $90).

In my DJ business, I have experimented with a variety of offpeak discounts. At the moment, I offer the following: • • • • • • •

Friday/Sunday -$50 Monday-Thursday -$125 January -$200 February -$125 Mar-July-Aug-Nov-Dec -$50 October +$50 Holidays/holiday weekends are not discounted

I set a baseline price as well, so regardless of how many discounts/hours/which package/etc, my fee for DJing a wedding never drops below that number.

I was very happy with the additional offpeak weddings I booked last year, but I plan to be more aggressive towards January weddings in 2017. I want some of that 4%! If more than 70% of your weddings are on Saturdays, you definitely need to be more aggressive about offpeak discounting.

Sources: http://problog.weddingwire.com/index.php/ weddingwire/4-statistics-to-prepare-you-for-engagement-season/ http://articles.latimes.com/1999/feb/03/news/ss-4244 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/04/average-engagementlength_n_2411353.html

MBLV21

By the Numbers

By Matt Radicelli

Photo by Dale McDonald - digitalphotosbydale.com

“F

inancial statements and business metrics are the most exciting things EVER!,”... said no one. Ever. Except me.

Besides providing superior products and services than those of your competitors (coupled with stellar customer service I might add), I’d argue that understanding your company’s financials, metrics, and having a series of dashboards for your company is the most important (and most commonly overlooked) item you could do to improve your business this year.

Spoiler Alert: I’m not just talking about financial statements...I’m talking about measuring anything and everything that’s important to keeping your business healthy

and GROWING. Here are a few of my favorites that you could implement and gain immediate value: • Measuring inbound leads • Analyzing your cost per lead (yep, I said it) • Tracking sales conversion rates—for every sales person • Analyze gross margin percentage (AND per product/ service) • Measure net profit • Establish revenue and expense budgets My middle name is Louis, but I changed it to “Spreadsheets” when I was twelve. Super duper bonus items to measure are 12

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things like how much sleep I get every day, how many nights each week I have dinner with my kids, and how many calories I consume. Why? Because while the other items above are important to my business, the latter are important to me personally—and if I’m not in a good place, my business surely won’t be.

If you’re like most of the professionals in the production and DJ industry, you’re accustomed to the highs of instant gratification and the false confidences and swells of extreme positive cash flow. In simple terms, you’re able to “pay off” most investments you make in new gear with only a few uses. You justify or rationalize new toys and expenses for your business citing the idea that, “It would only take X more jobs to pay for itself,” etc.

Sound familiar?

When we start our businesses, it’s very simple math. Get paid (as much as you can). Pay people ( c o m p e t i t i v e l y, but try not to overpay). What’s left over is profit, right? So where’s that giant pile of cash you should have?!

Trouble is, as we grow, the math gets harder, and it’s nearly impossible to be simultaneously aware of all the metrics that keep us on track. Things can get blurry, messy, estimated, and finally so inaccurate that we’re hemorrhaging money AND time—because we assume things are fine or we’re scared to look under the hood.

So the time is now! If you’re a self-starter, build your own dashboard and start tracking. If you’re not quite ready and you’ll be at Mobile Beat Las Vegas in March, I’ll be presenting on how to read and understand simple financial statements, and how to build a dashboard, to get you started. I promise I’m not going to try to bust your bubble—I’m just going to help you test how strong your bubble is.

MORE INFO... CLICK HERE FOR A BIO AND A VIDEO MESSAGE ON HIS PRESENTATION FROM MATT

MBLV21

A Word with Paul Oakenfold

By Ryan Burger

P O: —and turning it into what it is today. Of course electronic music was there before that and clubs were also, but nothing like it is today. And that was the birth.

R B: And the DJ culture grew and grew and grew, to the point that in Las Vegas, when you drive around town (and when you come join us at Mobile Beat Las Vegas coming up in March), the billboards aren’t past music stars. It’s all DJs!

quick chat with an industry icon... who you can meet if you come to Mobile Beat Las Vegas, March 13-16, 2017, at the Tropicana...

P O: Yep. And when I started my residency in 2008 there were no DJs doing that. Planet Perfecto and myself, we were the first resident DJs to play every Saturday and turn it into what it is, and it’s great for Las Vegas.

Ryan Burger: We’re at Casa de Oakenfold, I guess we’ll call it. Do you have a name for your wonderful place?

After we were doing our residency, Pasquale (Rotella) went there with EDC; what an amazing event that is. And as you quite rightly said, all the DJs—a lot of the DJs have their residencies near. I think it’s wonderful for America to finally have this hub for electronic music like we do in Europe with Ibiza...

A

Paul Oakenfold: I do. Stamford Bridge Recording Studios. And this is where all these films you see, all these posters on the wall, are films that I’ve worked on, either scored or done cues for.

These are all the DJ awards I’ve won, and my soccer awards. And here is half of my record collection...

R B: Half your collection—everything from Woodstock, Beatles, Grace Jones; Madonna...

P O: Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force “Planet Rock” remixes. Love this track.

R B: So do you sometimes just sit back and put a piece of vinyl on and listen to it, just for relaxation?

P O: I do. And next year on tour I’m going to be playing full vinyl on CDJs. R B: ...Not just a timecode vinyl; an actual piece of vinyl with the bumps and the grooves?

P O: Oh, yeah. Next year is the 30-year anniversary of club culture as it’s known today. 1987 was that famed historic myself and three friends going to Ibiza— R B: Turning into what it is—

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R B: The DJ culture, when I was over

in the UK...it’s a lot more a part of the overall culture...I mean, there are kids in high school saying, “I want to be a DJ” when they grow up. They go out and get themselves a $300 controller and— P O: Exactly. Youth culture is DJ culture in Britain. We’ve grown up with it for nearly 30 years, so it’s a big deal in England. And hopefully America will be in the same situation 20-odd years down the line. Let’s see.

R B: [Talk about your] transition into being more of an artist, rather than playing other people’s music.

P O: I make music, so I’ve always played my own music. I remix other people’s music, so I’ve always used those components in with what I do; and overseas, a DJ playing other people’s stuff. Been good actually.

R B: Now the DJs are playing tracks you made, trying to get their own style on a track that you remixed of whichever artist, and working it into a party.

P O: Absolutely.

R B: Give us a little bit of a preview as to what we’re going to experience with you in Las Vegas with all the other DJs. P O: Well, I’m going to be sitting there with a lot of my colleagues, a lot of my peers and talking and trying to help explain, take questions from the floor, and just share that experience over the many years that I have with you...

R B: To wrap things up, one last question for you. DJ culture over the last 30 years, as you’re saying, has grown. Where do you see the next 10 years going?

P O: I think America’s really embraced it. It’s part of American culture now, which is great. I think we’re going to get the clubbers who go to the EDCs, who are going to dig deeper, are going to find more of their favorite DJ, understand more music than just the EDM, which is important. And hopefully we’re going to see more electronic music in movies like this.

R B: Okay. Fantastic. So come join us in Las Vegas!

MBLV21

Wedding Wire’s Sonny Ganguly

By Ryan Burger

M

obile Beat president and publisher Ryan Burger met with Sonny Ganguly, another featured presenter for the Mobile Beat Las Vegas event, happening in March. Here is some of their conversation, about his company, Wedding Wire, social media and marketing in general, and some specifics on his MBLV21 keynote.

Ryan Burger: Sonny, tell us a little bit about yourself, how you joined Wedding Wire and your history before that.

Sonny Ganguly: Yep. So we’ve been doing Wedding Wire now for 10 years; we’ve hit that milestone. I think all of us on the founding team of Wedding Wire, we came from different paths and technology and corporate America and somehow found ourselves thinking about weddings for the past 10 years.

It’s interesting. Tim, our CEO and co-founder with me, was getting married at the time and found it to be difficult—when we were first starting Wedding Wire there was no concept of a review site or marketplace that helps connect engaged couples with businesses. We always thought that there was a bridge we could make by building technology really to service the wedding industry.

You know, I still remember we went to early bridal shows and met with wedding professionals, and from there somehow we turned that into a business. Now, 10 years later, we operate in 15 countries and have over 800 employees in eight locations across the globe.

R B: Wow. So there’s a programming crew, there’s a support crew, there are people with social media connections, all that kind of stuff, right? The Internet has obviously gone crazy with brides planning weddings and you guys have been a very big part of this. Can you tell us about some of the early innovations that you guys were the first to bring out?

S G: There are a couple of things in terms of what we built and then there are things that were happening in the macro space that we were early investors and testers of. I think we grew the business in the time where social media started to take off.

When we first started it was when Facebook was just getting started and we saw Twitter just get started and Pinterest; and when we look at social and mobile growth we

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really invested in it from the early days. I’m a big believer in testing every channel to see what works well, and we were able to figure out which channels worked well for us.

In terms of really innovative [things] for consumers, what we built very early on was the [numbers] to find the best wedding professionals and reviews about those businesses.

We are now north of 3 million reviews, but it started very early on by thinking about individual markets.

A lot of companies focus on every single city. When we first launched we focused on one city, and then six cities; and how we could build an ecosystem that really serves both our consumers and wedding professionals.

So we’ve carried that through today on the consumer side, where we are a platform that makes it easy to find the best wedding professionals. We are a platform that makes it easy to get advice from other couples.

And then we have planning tools along the way to help the couple plan all the details.

You know, I think what’s interesting about weddings is that the average person spends more than $28,000, and typically it’s a first-time purchase so they don’t know what they’re doing. It’s almost like you are buying a car and you have to go to the car dealer today and you know nothing about a car and you must purchase a car. So how do we help you along in that process? That’s always what I’ve seen Wedding Wire helping with through the planning cycle for 13 to 16 months for consumers.

And we’ve definitely mobilized our business. We have the number one mobile app for consumers. So along the way it’s about being where our consumers are. We’re solving the same pain as we did 10 years ago, but in essence what we’ve done is we’ve evolved where we speak to our consumers.

And on the flip side of our business—working with wedding professionals—we’ve built a number of tools over the years to help market the business CRM system to help manage leads. We’ve built an education series called Wedding Wire EDU. One of my personal favorites is that we built a conference called Wedding Wire World, from nothing about five years ago to last year where we had nearly 1,800 people.

We’re constantly excited—it’s great being a technology company, but I much prefer to go in markets and get a chance to meet with wedding professionals across the country. And that’s why I look forward to coming to Vegas.

R B: We’re going to have a lot of fun there. Tell us a little bit about your presentation in Vegas.

MBLV21 “...what’s interesting about weddings is that the average person spends more than $28,000, and typically it’s a first-time purchase so they don’t know what they’re doing. It’s almost like you are buying a car and you have to go to the car dealer today and you know nothing about a car and you must purchase a car. So how do we help you along in that process? That’s always what I’ve seen Wedding Wire helping with...”

S G: So we’re going to talk about the “Marketing Mixtape.”

My entire career has been in marketing. I started my career at Kraft Foods and marketed a lot of big businesses, the largest one being Jell-O, which was almost a billion-dollar company. I then spent time at Wal-Mart doing marketing and retail strategy, and then now I’m doing weddings.

That may seem really different across the board, but the way that I look at it, the job stays the same but the tools have changed in the last two decades as I’ve been doing it. And so what we’re going to talk about at Mobile Beat involves three things. First, I’m going to outline the difference between “outbound” marketing and “inbound” marketing and how the world has changed very rapidly.

Outbound marketing is everything we already know, which includes things like print publications, PR, etc.—kind of yelling from the rooftop. Inbound marketing includes the newer things like SEO, social; and finding the right mix as a business owner is really important.

I’ll then go into three concepts of local, social, and mobile.

On local we’re going to talk a lot about what’s changing with

ment and maybe a little fear as well.

R B: Fear, okay. [On] your website...I see you list yourself as a “wannabe-DJ.” I see a lot of pictures of you with our event DJ, Jason Jani, out of PA. Are we going to suck you into being a DJ? S G: So I’m a retired DJ; let’s make that clear. And everybody who’s watching this, you are the professional and I want you to continue doing what you do. I used to DJ in college and then when I moved to New York I used to DJ at a couple of local places. My specialty used to be I’d take any Top 40 beats and put ‘80s on top, so put Justin Timberlake on Michael Jackson...It was mashups before mashups were cool. And I actually DJ’d one of our engineer’s and designer’s weddings, and then after that decided I was going to retire. I’m officially retired but I do have a review on Wedding Wire. So I do have one five-star review on Wedding Wire.

R B: From the guy that works with you, on his wedding.

S G: Yeah. I’m not sure that really counts.

R B: Yeah. The disclaimer down below should be listed as to, yes, he does work with me in the office.

Google’s algorithm and how to make sure that our businesses stay at the forefront as Google changes to a mobile-first index.

When it comes to social I’m going to talk about which social sites matter today and which ones don’t. Snapchat is on the rise and Twitter is on its way out. I will tell you which ones are a waste of time and which ones are worth investment.

And then when we talk about mobile we’re going to talk about how to make sure as a business owner that when we’re seeing the shift of consumers to mobile devices, how we can make sure that we’re converting them. So right now, Wedding Wire’s traffic is 65 percent mobile, and we need to make sure that we’re speaking to that consumer.

And then the third piece of what I’ll end with is really talking about technology and where it’s going. When I look at entertainers and DJs I see a lot of great uses of technology when it comes to 360-degree cameras, etc. We’ll talk about augmented reality, virtual reality, and this new concept of mixed reality with a couple of videos that will create excite-

S G: And the last thing I will say is now, I’m just Jason Jani’s groupie.

R B: You’re the head of his fan club; you’re totally—okay.

Got you.

S G: The letters come from me.

R B: Got you. Now, I’m hoping you can give people a couple of tidbits—first of all, how to use other social media to the maximum; and number two, how to use Wedding Wire specifically to the max.

S G: When it comes to social media I’m a big fan of Facebookplus-one, which means you must be on Facebook and we must maximize that; and then the “plus one” means that I want you to knock one more out of the park.

When I look at social media...I look at Facebook and CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

I think one of the things that a lot of businesses don’t know is that we actually have a whole team here...which their entire focus is to try and improve your profile, provide suggestions. So if you want to think about what photos to use or what words to use, we actually have consultants who’ll walk you through step-by-step.

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FEATURE

Decoding the Millennial Bride

By Matt Martindale

“I

ncredibly tech savvy and socially connected” is the best way to describe the millennial bride.

The world is changing, largely led by and influenced by millennials. Millennials are having an unprecedented impact on the tastes, attitudes and culture of the wedding industry. Millennials don’t like “boring.” They don’t like “ordinary” or “tradition.” They don’t like things that waste their time. And they don’t want to be expected to adhere to a process because that’s the way it’s always been done.

There are roughly 78 million Millennials, who are classified as being born 1977-1996. This is about 25 percent of the U.S. population. This surpasses Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) and has eclipsed Gen Xers (born 1965-1976) three times over!

The buying power of the Millennial is immense! It is also incredibly diversified. It accounts for about $1.3 trillion in spending annually.

According to statistics published by WeddingWire.com, 87 percent of Millennials have their smartphones on them at all times and spend an average of 4.5 hours per day on their smartphone. They crave content, and will spend 80 percent of their wedding planning time online. They expect convenience and instant gratification...so when the millennial bride makes an inquiry, she expects to hear back within 24 hours.

So, why are we talking about millennial brides? The results contained in “The State of the DJ Industry” report I prepared, based on data gathered by by Mobile Beat, were eye-opening

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Out of 1,291 completed surveys, 31 percent of DJs feel that the biggest concern facing the industry is “changing behavior patterns of the millennial bride,” and what appears to be “erratic buyer behavior” and “continual social media ‘interference’ that is setting unrealistic expectations.” In addition, 23 percent of survey respondents said that the growing trend of “DIY” at weddings is also of major concern. These concerns are uniquely connected when you understand the millennial bride.

So, all of this is really about “decoding” the millennial bride: finding out what she thinks, how she thinks, and why it matters.

DELAYED NUPTIALS The fact is, millennial brides are getting married later in life. In 1960, women generally married about the age of 20. Now, the average woman gets married at 30. This shift in age means that she has more control and influence, as well as stronger opinions on the vendors she is selecting. In many cases, this is because millennial couples are paying for some, or even all, of their own wedding expenses. According to the “Real Wedding Study” published by The Knot, the average 2017 couple will spend $35,329 on their wedding day.

THE EARLIEST “DIGITAL NATIVES” Millennials were brought up during the age of digital technology, not just learning to adapt to the use of the technology, like the generation before them. That means that Millennials expect information to be instantly and easily available. The millennial bride believes that technology saves time and improves efficiency for

FEATURE everything. However, what she does not know is that her tech solution shifts the “burden of responsibility” to vendors, leaving them to interpret her vision for her wedding. Her search starts with a mass email inquiry, a date, a first name only, and her email address with “How much do you charge?” in the note section. As a result, there is a lot of unnecessary confusion and frustration down the road for her, and for wedding vendors. The reality is, a phone call or better yet, a face to face appointment would be far more efficient and effective. It’s kind of like shopping for a haircut, but online. You may get the location, hours, a range in services and prices, but eventually, you have to make an appointment and take the commitment to communicate what you want directly with the stylist, barber, etc. face to face.

The millennial bride believes that she has “shopped” with the email, but we all know that selecting a service for a once in a lifetime celebration is very, very different than buying a product on Amazon. She doesn’t know what she doesn’t know. She has to make assumptions, including that all DJs, by their nature “just play music and make an occasional announcement.” Thus, deducing that price is the deciding factor.

According to WeddingWire.com research, what do Millennials look for when choosing a vendor? #1) Price #2) Reviews #3) Availability #4) Location and service area Interesting…price is more important to millennial brides instead of whether you are even available.

Anja Winikka, Director of Education and Industry Innovation at The Knot, says, “Millennials expect to find you on Google.

They expect to find results and click through to a mobile-friendly, (including click-to-call or click-to-chat) forum. Within five

Rocky Mountain Bridal Show (with approximately 2,300 brides over four shows), “Brides are a walking trend. In the past, trends were put out by magazines, but now, each bride really sets her own trend. She has so many images and inputs to feed on everywhere. She’s seeking input from social circles, and online, but in the end, all she really wants is acceptance.”

“Millennial brides face a lot of pressure in planning a wedding,” says Andy Whittaker, Director of Market Insights at WeddingWire.com. “They want a fun, memorable experience and want something different. Many Millennials know what they want but may not be able to actually articulate or communicate it clearly. First-time couples are not aware of the things that could go wrong, and as result, they have lots of fears and pressures that other couples didn’t really have. Millennial brides are also looking for validation.”

Samantha Crotty, National Social Media Manager at Perfect Wedding Guide puts it succinctly: “Couples want to showcase their day, and be known as the best of the best, always wanting to one up everyone else.”

Due to the ubiquitous nature of social media, the opportunity to connect socially is easier than ever before. Let’s face it, today’s millennial bride is very, very active on social media.

All three industry experts just said something brilliant. Did you catch it?

MILLENNIAL COUPLES SEEK AFFIRMATION

Millennials want constant feedback, acceptance, affirmation and validation, in part, because social media and technology has spawned an instant feedback loop. This direct loop is expected by the millennial couple, based on their position as the first digital native generation. Millennials want control over more things in their lives. In fact, in one article, 66 percent of millennials stated that “having control over the planning is very or extremely important to them.”

This phenomena for the millennial couple is Millennials were brought up during actually new to the wedding landscape. The millennial is operating under immense financial pressures, the age of digital technology, not just bride student loan debt, and economic uncertainty, yet is also learning to adapt, like the generation planning a wedding riddled with extremely high expeccast upon her through social media, friends and before them...The millennial bride be- tations family.

Does social media serve to isolate people rather lieves that technology saves time and than connect them? In his article “Why Social Makes Us improves efficiency for everything.

Even More Lonely,” Mordecai Hunter’s premise, and how it ties in to decoding the millennial bride is very relevant.

Hunter says, “The reason we struggle with insecurity is seconds, she will have already made a decision if she gets a vision because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s of how her wedding will look like with you.” highlight reel.” This pinpoints a major problem with social media: (A pause for dramatic effect here: Think about THAT—only that many people only share the good things in their lives on five seconds—that’s all you get to make a positive impression!) social media, inspiration boards, wedding forums, etc. This desire Winikka continues, “They expect wedding vendors to be for validation and acceptance turns into an odd, internal comgreat marketers, with superb customer service, high tech... petition to “one-up” your status as compared to others’ statuses. and they expect technology to always work. They expect an In Hunter’s words, it feeds the perpetual cycle of participating in immediate response when they inquire (always within a day), “the fear of becoming irrelevant.” It’s a fear you have to account and in the same manner they communicated with you.” for when dealing with millennial couples.

Millennial brides look for vendors that will add an aspect of A SHARED AND SHARABLE EXPERIENCE connection, or a “sense of belonging” to their wedding. They will A millennial bride wants to create a sense of community in a way seek out those who can create a custom, one-of-a-kind experithat matters to her. She wants this to express who they are as ence. Millennial brides really want a voice in determining what a couple and their vision, all in a way that supports a sense of they will do, and in choosing opportunities for guest interacindividualism. tion. Millennials crave experiences. They want a more personAccording to Barbie Howard, owner and producer of the 22

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FEATURE alized wedding celebration that is an expression of who they are.

Millennial brides want to create a WOW factor that is a shared experience (between them and guests.

One example: the huge trend in dinners shifting away from long lines and a buffet, or hours spent waiting for a plated dinner, to a family-style service— because it has a “sense of community and connectedness,” goes much faster, and often costs less.

MILLENNIAL WEDDING SHOPPERS: PRACTICAL MATTERS

is a sure to turn them off, create conflict and guarantee a “no sale.”

Even though the millennial bride is independent, she also realizes that older, experienced vendors have knowledge she doesn’t have or she hasn’t learned yet. She appreciates it when this knowledge is shared BUT you need to know that she won’t necessarily act on it as YOU desire. Just because you provide input from experience, it doesn’t mean that she will trust you to make their best interest a priority.

(Consider that only about one-third of Millennials believe people in general can be trusted, which is less than the 44 percent of older adults.)

Millennial brides will look to “escape” when having a bad experience in shopping for a vendor.

She will run when she encounters too much “I” in the conversation; somebody that causes them to feel overloaded; or a vendor that she thinks is overpaid for a sub-standard, common service.

Millennial brides know what good service truly is. They know they hold the power of your future in their hand via the almighty review. Don’t ever think you will succeed by hiding behind a low priced, sub-standard service or get by with mediocrity. They are way more knowledgeable and more savvy than Gen Xers. The millennial bride knows what a DJ is worth. She expects the top quality with excellent, prompt service and a low price.

Never tell a millennial couple what to do, but rather listen to their vision and be supportive of their independent thought.

Help them to understand what they don’t know and provide opportunities to learn from you.

THE INQUIRY For millennial brides, feedback and communication are critical to their vendor shopping experience. Translation: Answer the phone and respond to emails quickly. (This is, of course, a best practice for dealing with any potential client.)

Take the time to connect with them as people, and NOT just as a transaction. Find out what’s important to her, and why.

Reach out to her and suggest the next step, even if she sends an email. Reply via email and ask for an appointment. Show her you actually care about her wedding by how you treat her before she considers booking.

IN THE APPOINTMENT Millennial brides want to know their wedding matters. IT’S A BRAVE NEW MILLENNIAL WORLD Approach them with guidance and compassion, not command and control. Millennial brides are very quick to share their Millennials don’t see themselves as cogs in a giant wedding opinions and often willing to say what they think. Just listen. industry machine; they see themselves as informed particiDon’t argue or justify what you do. Rather, embrace this interac- pants and trend setters who will shape their world to become what they want it to be. Millennials are looking for acceptance, tion as an opportunity to learn. purpose and self-expression. They are looking for a highly perNever tell a millennial couple what to do, but rather listen to sonalized wedding. They want to determine who, where and how their vision and be supportive of their independent thought. Help they define their day for a comprehensive entertainment experithem to understand what they don’t know and provide opportu- ence. The balance for us as vendors is to provide millennial brides nities to learn from you. Approach them as relevant “marketing with enough control, yet not allow them to change every aspect partners” who really want to participate in marketing. Trust me, it of our work to the point where we become irrelevant. will be immensely rewarding if you view this as “market research” Millennials ARE open to vendor suggestions. The millennial in the field. You’ll learn a lot! Appeal to their desire to continually bride is actively searching for ideas. Lots and lots of ideas. In the learn, while avoiding things that waste their time or create roadend, all she wants is a great, memorable, dare I say “epic” party. blocks to their independent thought or freedom of expression.

You, as the professional, have to determine if you will connect Let them control (or think they can control) as much as possible. her to create the shared and shareable WOW with lots of lights, From the distance, millennial brides may appear to be sound and production; or will you use creativity and simplicity to “needy,” but they aren’t. They are independent and focused on construct a unique experience that others can’t copy and techimproving their overall guest experiences. They want to creativenology cannot duplicate. Are you flexible enough to adapt? ly engage guests and bring them into their world. They want to tell an engaging, unique story (Matt’s Note: A lot of the in a fun, memorable way. That Matt Martindale has been a professional research I compiled during means they expect creativity DJ and MC since 1989, performing at more writing this article didn’t fit well and flexibility from vendors than 1,400 wedding receptions since then. into a magazine article, and in too.

Along with running his award-winning, any case would have made this Millennial brides don’t multi-DJ company, Amoré DJ Entertainment a ten-page “white paper” that appreciate being told that a (www.amoredjentertainment.com), he has wouldn’t fit this format. If you accumulated extensive entertainment experience task needs to be done a particwant to know more, email me including training in audio production, sound ular way because it has always at Matt@MattMartindale.com) engineering, lighting and design, improv comedy, been done that way. Acting voice over artistry, magic, and much more. superior or being arrogant

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Sonny Ganguly • CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18

Pinterest as great platforms...the best thing that I can say is our business is getting older; our customers stay the same age. That means that we must continue to iterate on social media and be where our consumers are going to be.

That simply means that platforms like Twitter, which may have been really valuable five years ago to get to consumers, are less valuable today. I always like to focus on the four social networks: Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Snapchat. Our entire consumer social strategy is focused on those four. We really do not use any other platforms significantly beyond that.

The reason for that is Facebook is the biggest, is the best at driving action back to your site. Pinterest has the best demographic of females at that ripe age range; so in terms of reaching the right demographic is the best. Instagram has the highest engagement amongst 18 to 29-year-olds, so your next customer is really engaged on Instagram. Then if I think about your next set of customers, they’re spending a lot of time on Snapchat right now. The majority of all photos shared in the world today are on platforms like Snapchat and Instagram—globally.

So again, it’s difficult to do all of those well, but I always suggest doing Facebook really well and knocking out of the park one more out of those other three. If I think about your customer today [in 2016] they’re likely very heavy on Facebook. Your next year’s customer in 2017 is going to be a very heavy Instagram user. And the 2019 user is going to be very heavy on Snapchat. So we need to make sure that we’re building our presence where our customer’s going to be. And we’ll go through that in detail in my presentation in Vegas.

So then in terms of Wedding Wire and getting the most out of Wedding Wire, we have a great online platform that allows our businesses to get online very quickly, create an amazing profile; start to get reviews.

And I think one of the things that a lot of businesses don’t know is that we actually have a whole team here called our customer success team, which their entire focus is to try and improve your profile, provide suggestions. So if you want to think about what photos to use or what words to use, we actually have consultants who’ll walk you through step-by-step.

The second thing is we are fully dedicated to education.

We do monthly webinars. We do a lot of white papers and articles. My favorite series that we do is called “Wedding Insights.” We actually take a ton of our research that our market research team does, we put it into a digestable three or four pages around different topics, and you can get that all at WeddingInsights.com.

But ultimately what we care about is not just about connecting with businesses but making sure that we provide a lot of value along the way. We do it between a mix of education and also a team of real people here to help you along the way.

R B: Fantastic. If [readers] want to check out anything on you, they can just check out SonnyGanguly.com. Otherwise, WeddingWire.com would be a great way. Or even better, meet the man in person in Las Vegas, coming up this March.

S G: Looking forward to it.

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25

PLAY SOMETHING WE CAN DANCE TO!

Building Your Balance... of Goodwill

By Jay Maxwell

T

here are two bank accounts in any business. One account is measured in dollars and the other is measured in goodwill. Both of these have deposits and withdrawals, and a healthy account in each case must

A Wealth of Current Dancefloor Favorites

have more deposits than withdrawals. If a company neglects to keep an eye on either of these accounts, trouble will follow. However, while it is easy to confirm the balance in a checking account, a company’s goodwill account is often more difficult to measure.

19

EX’S & OH’S

ELLE KING

20

HEATHENS

TWENTY ONE PILOTS

21

CHEAP THRILLS

SIA

22

SCARS TO YOUR BEAUTIFUL

ALESSIA CARA

SONG

ARTIST

23

DON’T LET ME DOWN

CHAINSMOKERS

1

CAN’T STOP THE FEELING

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE

24

SHAPE OF YOU

ED SHEERAN

2

24K MAGIC

BRUNO MARS

25

INTO YOU

ARIANA GRANDE

3

JUJU ON THAT BEAT

JAY HILFIGERR

26

MY WAY

CALVIN HARRIS

4

STRESSED OUT

TWENTY ONE PILOTS

27

ALL TIME LOW

JON BELLION

5

HIT THE QUAN

IHEARTMEMPHIS

28

COLD WATER

MAJOR LAZER

6

SHAKE IT OFF

TAYLOR SWIFT

29

FRESH EYES

ANDY GRAMMER

7

ONE DANCE

DRAKE

30

MAMA SAID

LUKAS GRAHAM

8

UPTOWN FUNK

MARK RONSON / BRUNO MARS

31

ME TOO

MEGHAN TRAINOR

9

MY HOUSE

FLO RIDA

32

WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE

ADELE

10

CHEERLEADER

OMI

33

WHAT DO YOU MEAN

JUSTIN BIEBER

11

RIDE

TWENTY ONE PILOTS

34

KILL EM WITH KINDNESS

SELENA GOMEZ

12

THIS IS WHAT YOU CAME FOR

CALVIN HARRIS / RIHANNA

35

GREATEST

SAI

13

JUST LIKE FIRE

PINK

36

ONE CALL AWAY

CHARLIE PUTH

14

SORRY

JUSTIN BIEBER

37

SOUND

THE 1975

15

CAKE BY THE OCEAN

DNCE

38

LOVE ON THE BRAIN

RIHANNA

16

SIDE TO SIDE

ARIANA GRANDE

39

DON’T WANNA KNOW

MAROON 5

17

LET ME LOVE YOU

DJ SNAKE / JUSTIN BIEBER

40

HEY BROTHER

AVICCI

18

CLOSER

CHAINSMOKERS

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A friend of mine recently told me he knew of a disc jockey company in our area that only catered to high-end clientele.

He said this company works almost exclusively in the resort areas, and the owner would never lower his standards to risk being seen DJing someone’s event at a county park or church reception hall. I replied to my friend with just two words, “How sad.” It is easy to forget that the main purpose of a disc jockey’s job is to serve others. The reward a disc jockey receives for his services is not just pecuniary. Of course his work helps him make a living and keep a healthy balance in his checking account, but the focus must ultimately be on why he chose this particular career, regardless if it is a full-time or part-time occupation.

The reward of bringing enjoyment to people—the excitement of seeing people having a fantastic time dancing to the music he is playing—that is the real reason for spinning tunes. The reward received is one that extends far beyond padding the DJ’s financial bank account. The reward of goodwill can be gladly offered to the DJ by people regardless of whether they took a taxi to the event or had a chauffeur drive them to the party in a limousine. Often, it is the less well off financially who pay the DJ more by offering their gratitude. In turn, this payment builds up the company’s goodwill account.

There are many ways to build goodwill. Often, charity work comes to mind as a way to make deposits in a goodwill account.

Though this is true and can be accomplished by DJing church events, neighborhood socials, and fundraisers, building goodwill does not have to equate to providing the service for free. One of the main ways to build goodwill is to go beyond the expectations of the client and to exhibit a positive attitude while providing the service. Making deposits in the goodwill account might be as simple as sending the same DJ to entertain at a school event for the entire year so he gets to know the students and what they want to hear. (Which, of course, also involves keeping up with today’s newest music. See this issue’s list.) Other ways include meeting at a location most convenient to client for a consultation, or providing services for a group at a discounted price if their budget does not allow them to afford the normal rate.

There is an intersection between the two accounts. Although a DJ’s actions of goodwill must always be well-intentioned and not with an ulterior motive in mind, the typical result of establishing goodwill is that it results in increased customer loyalty and more word-of-mouth advertising. Naturally, more buzz about a company’s outstanding service, including its goodwill, adds value to the company in many ways, including financially.

The value of goodwill is always important and is enhanced each time a DJ responds positively when he hears someone shout, “Play Something We Can Dance To!”

Mobile Beat’s resident musicologist since 1992 (issue #11), Jay Maxwell runs the multi-talent entertainment company, Jay Maxwell’s Music

by Request, LLC, in Charleston, South Carolina.

He is also a professor of Business at Charleston Southern University. His passion for detail and continuous research of clients’ requests can be found not only in this column, but also in his annually updated music guide, Play Something We Can Dance To.

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27

BRILLIANT DEDUCTIONS

Fixing Business “Boo-Boos” PART 1 OF 2

By Mark E. Battersby

E

very mobile entertainment operation faces an ever-increasing amount of red-tape, rules, regulations, fees, and taxes that they must contend with. Just on the federal level, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there are 3,348 federal regulations in the pipeline, with nearly 1/3 impacting small businesses directly.

At the same time that new rules are proliferating, enforcement on every level is becoming more aggressive, more issuefocused—with even more, costly results.

It doesn’t take an experienced business owner to know that mistakes are inevitable. Fortunately, a combination of strategies and unique tax write-offs can help any DJ, VJ or KJ avoid potential pitfalls and make many of the changes necessary to grow their operation’s profitability. Consider the “heart” of many mobile entertainment businesses: their tax bills.

Correcting or amending an already-filed income tax return because of errors, omissions, mistakes, overlooked deductions or changes in our tax laws is actually encouraged by the IRS. Although it should come as no surprise that few taxpayers amend their returns to report formerly overlooked, additional income, some changes can mean substantial tax savings.

Generally, a mobile entertainment business—or its owner— can change their mind about previously reported income and deductions within three years from the time the return was filed, or within two years from the time the tax was fully paid, whichever is later. If the refund claim involves the deductibility of bad debts or worthless securities, the period is seven years.

Individuals, sole proprietors, etc., use Form 1040X, Amended Individual Tax Return. An incorporated mobile entertainment business that filed Form 1120 uses Form 1120X, Amended U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return, to file an amended return, while S corporations and partnerships check a box on the Form 1120S or Form 1065.

Uncle Sam, in the form of the IRS, demands each DJ, VJ and KJ and every mobile entertainment business that is required to pay taxes guess their income for the coming year—and pay an estimated tax bill by making installment payments over the course of the year. Unfortunately, after the tax bill for the year

Mark E. Battersby is a freelance writer based in the Philadelphia area. His features, columns and reports have appeared in leading trade magazines and professional journals since the early 1980s.

When not actually writing, Mark spends most of his time digging for exciting tax and financial strategies to write about.

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has been estimated and payments computed, changes in income, adjustments or deductions may make it necessary to refigure the estimated tax installment.

Should an incorporated mobile entertainment business figure and deposit its estimated tax only to find that its tax liability for the year will be greater or less than originally estimated, refiguring any remaining estimated payment installments will be necessary, especially if an overpayment might result. Of course, an immediate catchup payment should be made to reduce any penalty that might result from underpaying either earlier or remaining installments.

Behind every tax computation is an accounting method.

There is no “right” accounting method for all businesses. Both cash accounting and accrual accounting have their pros and cons. The cash basis method of accounting recognizes revenues when money comes into the business and recognizes expenses when money is paid out. Cash basis doesn’t recognize accounts receivable or payable. Only when a bill is paid does an operation using the cash method of accounting recognize an expense.

Unfortunately, once an accounting method has been selected, the approval of the IRS is required before changing that method—even where the change is demanded by the IRS. The IRS’s Form 3115, Application for Change in Accounting Method, is used to request a change in either an overall accounting method or the accounting treatment of any item. There are some instances when an incorporated mobile entertainment business can obtain automatic consent from the IRS to change to certain accounting methods but professional assistance may be required.

Changing circumstances, changes in the tax laws and even the success of your company might prompt a reassessment of the form your business operates under. It makes sense to ensure you are using the best entity to provide your business—and yourself—with the most benefits and consistently lowest tax bill.

Choosing among the various entities can result in significant differences in federal income tax treatment, but there is a lot more to choosing the right structure for a mobile entertainment business than taxes. Not only will the decision to change the mobile entertainment business’ entity have an impact on how much is paid in taxes, it will also affect the amount of paperwork required for the business and the personal liability faced by the principals.

But, there are more strategies for coping those onerous rules and regulations as you’ll see next time.

DJ SHOPPER

What’s New at NAMM

By Dan Walsh and Ryan Burger

E

ach January brings the joy of seeing the year’s new gear presented by manufacturers at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA. Here are some DJ-centric highlights from among the thousands of products on view. Also keep in mind that most of what you see below will be available for up-close and personal inspection at our upcoming Mobile Beat Las Vegas 21 event in March!

SOUND REINFORCEMENT Cerwin-Vega showed three new sets of speakers they are debuting this spring, the CXE, CVX and CVXL, featuring great styling and a price as low as $399 for a single full-range cabinet. (We were able to see these speakers in a live DJ environment outside of the NAMM floor and were impressed. Props to DJ Spark and DJ Insanne.)

Along with new line array speakers for the touring and install markets, Italian speaker maker RCF demo’d the updated ART 708-A MK II active two-way speaker, rated 800W peak / 400W RMS, with digital amplifier and DSP processing. www.rcf.it

DJ PERFORMANCE

www.cerwin-vega.com

While we all wait for the next generation of the K Series top speakers, QSC offered the K Cardioid Sub, which uses cardioid technology to make the sub more directional— great for helping mobile DJs keep the bass on the dancefloor where it belongs.

We got to see the Roland DJ 808 controller (reviewed in MB 177, Dec 2016) in the hands of someone who knew the unit. Look for more inroads by Roland into DJ performance with controllers and mixers in the near future.

www.qsc.com

www.roland.com

Sennheiser launched the XS Wireless 1, a series aimed at budget-conscious users, including vocal, headworn and lavalier sets of interest to DJs

The amazing Pioneer DJ booth was populated with updates to almost all their major units. The one brand new product of interest to recording DJs was their new TORAIZ AS-1 Analog Synthesizer, apparently meant to partner with the previously released TORAIZ SP-16 sequencer/sampler.

https://en-us.sennheiser.com/

While Shure’s biggest NAMM announcement was the install-oriented GLX-D Digital Wireless System, they also celebrated the 50th anniversary of their iconic SM-58—still the live sound industry’s go-to mic. www.shure.com 30

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www.pioneerdj.com

In the well-guarded inMusic booth was the new SC5000 Prime Professional Media Player from the Denon DJ brand, along with its accompanying X1800

mixer. Features of the SC5000 include: a large 7” HD display with multi-touch gestures (kind of like an iPad built into the mixer); an 8” rugged metal jog wheel with HD central display and a customizable RGB colored rim; 24-bit/96kHz digital audio outputs; 8 multifunction trigger pads for cues, loops, slices and rolls; (3) USB and (1) SD input for music playback; and dual-layer playback with individual audio outputs. A LAN output can link to up to four players. Serato and Traktor support are planned for the near future. Don’t miss your chance to see this potential game-changer in person at MBLV21! www.denondj.com

Hercules showed off updated DJUCED 40 3.5 software (provided free with their controllers) featuring GUI improvements, improved jogwheel latency. www.hercules.com/us/

A small but powerful piece of DJ tech, the world’s first wireless, portable fader from Mixfader, is a Bluetoothbased unit for controlling performance on iPads and other devices (via timecode vinyl and MIDI). www.themixfader.com

Reloop showed the new four-channel RMX-90 DVS mixer, whose name indicates its mission of full integration with Serato DJ, including a built-in DVS soundcard that unlocks the full version of Serato DJ. www.reloop.com

LIGHTING Going beyond the dazzling lighting products populating the Blizzard Lighting booth, the company debuted their innovative Drop™ power drop boxes, designed for safe, reliable and simple power connections, providing heavy duty wiring and cases to help users make their lights look their best, while being a safe as possible. www.blizzardlighting.com

Chauvet DJ brought out a large selection of exciting effects, including the FXarray Q5, a quad-color LED wash light featuring an array of RGB+UV LEDs for washes and effects; and the Helicopter Q6, a multi-effect effect light with adjustable RGBW beams, a round SMD strobe and a red/green pattern laser on a rotating base. On the cutting edge, they also revealed a system in development called Sound Switch, which links Serato DJ with DMX lights, providing an exciting new way to sync lights and music. www.chauvetdj.com

While the ADJ Group of Companies continues to expand into all realms of lighting, they offered a new series aimed squarely at their original core clients, mobile entertainers. The ADJ Boom Box FX1 and FX2 4-in-1 FX LED Lights with Lasers give DJs the power to cover the room with a classic derby effect, project gobos, color wash the dance floor ,and dazzle with lasers, all from individual units. ADJ also showed a very cool and useful tool, the POW-R BAR65, combining six surge-protected AC sockets and a four-port USB 3.0 hub in a sturdy metal unit. www.adj.com

Gemini DJ revealed the SDJ-4000, an impressive entry to the standalone media controller arena. It features fully standalone operation, connections for two USB drives, dual mic inputs with independent mixing and EQ, and a four-channel mixer section to hook up analog sources.

“Hall E” is part of the NAMM show where one can always find the truly unique, truly new item, always in a no-frills 10’x10’ space.

This time we found Stomplight showing a mini-foot-pedal light system for guitarists that DJs could easily use to add excitement to their booths and dancefloors. http://stomplight-international-llc. myshopify.com/

www. geminisound.com

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31

TECH TALK

A Primer on Digital Signal Processing YOU’VE SEEN THE ABBREVIATION; HERE’S A QUICK EXPLANATION OF “DSP”

By Robert Lindquist

I

n the days of analog, loudspeaker cabinets contained two or three drivers, some baffles and a “carpet” covering. The amplifiers were mounted in a separate rack or built into the mixer, and the signal went straight from the outputs on the amp(s) to the inputs on the speakers. Signal processing was accomplished using separate, rackmounted EQs, compressor/limiters and other processing devices injected into the signal chain prior to the main amplification.

It’s not like that anymore—at least not for most DJs. Coincident with the advent of powered speakers, Digital Signal Processing (DSP) has taken over the task of EQing or “tuning” loudspeakers to provide sonic near-perfection in any particular set of applications.

WHAT IS DSP? What a word processor is to a typewriter is what Digital Signal Processing is to analog sound. Whether you are typing on a typewriter or keyboard makes no difference— the method of input is the same. With a word processor, however, instead of the input being displayed as a direct result of a mechanical event producing an image on paper, the word processor creates a digital image from that mechanical event: an alpha-numeric character that is programmable. As a result, we can then apply effects (such as different font sizes and styles), change sizes, colors, etc.

Similarly, the DSP in your powered speakers takes an analog signal and converts (encodes) it to digital (1’s and 0’s). From there, the signal can be manipulated in any number of ways. In the case of loudspeakers, this gives the designers a full plate of possibilities.

The accompanying images, from Mackie’s SRM series, show how DSP speeds up the process of dialing in the sound for any particular venue. By using the “Speaker Mode” selector (image #1) the user can quickly set the EQ and other parameters on the SRM650 2-way top box simply by 32

selecting the application. So that the tops cross over properly, a selector on the SRM1850 sub (image #2) provides the user the choice of using a preset or experimenting to get the best sound for the room.

For another example, the built-in DSP on the Bose F1 changes the EQ to match the position of the flexible array (see MB 177, Dec. 2016, p.28).

While DSP tunes a loudspeaker and optimizes its efficiency, it does not totally negate the need for additional processing. Every room is different and while the speaker’s DSP may be programmed to sound its best, you may have other issues to contend with. For example, every structure has a resonant frequency— a point (or points) in the frequency spectrum where rumble or low-end feedback can be most disturbing—especially if it gets into a open mic during a best man’s toast. By using the low-cut (same as highpass) switch on your subs or mixer, or dialing back the bass on that mic channel, you should be able to minimize this low-end distortion and bring clarity back to the sound— unless, of course, the issue is alcohol driven, in which case the problem is not your system, but the inebriated sound source on the mic.

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WHAT IS GOOD SOUND? A large part of being a DJ is understanding what sounds good and how to get the best sound for every venue. I have always been of the opinion that to be a successful mobile DJ, you simply need to know what to say, how to say it, what to play, and how to make sound good and loud. Great sound starts with intelligibility and explosive bass. With that as your starting point, you’ll have the kind of sound that penetrates the dance floor in any venue. And the more you know about speaker design and DSP, it will not only help you provide your

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audiences with exceptional sound, but will also help you get the best bang for your buck when assembling your system.

(Editor’s Note: For those of you who have a taste for the technical details, the Wikipedia entry “digital signal processing” is well written and well referenced.)

After a 20-year broadcast radio career, Robert Lindquist built a successful mobile DJ business, and by the late '80s he had also written his first book, Spinnin', a DJ how-to. In 1990, he became the founding publisher of Mobile Beat. With the Live2Play Network (www.L2pnet.com), aimed at the live sound realm, he has pioneered online publishing. Along with being a broadcaster, publisher and Internet pioneer, he's also a sax player, writer, gear reviewer and one of the regulars behind the board at his local church.

mobilebeatcruise

INSIDE THE INDUSTRY

Innovating in the Visual Arena LA PHOTO PARTY HELPS DJS PICTURE SUCCESS

By Ryan Burger

W

ith the release of the first ever Virtual Reality Photo Booth, LA Photo Party has once again proven itself as an innovator in the photo marketing and entertainment space. And during a recent visit to their new headquarters in Glendale, California, I got to see firsthand how the company’s exponential growth has resulted in a product line of photo booth hardware and software perfect for any DJ looking to use their photo booth operation to open the door to more high-paying corporate clients.

LA Photo Party launched in 2007 and quickly began developing new photo concepts for parties and events. “I quickly realized that the industry hadn’t changed much in decades and was ready for innovation,” owner Brian Miller said.

Miller’s timing couldn’t have been better. He introduced the first technology for easily bringing high-quality photo shoots to parties with instant printing and social media uploading. In 2011, Miller decided to turn his business model on its head and release a social media sharing solution—Photo Party Upload—to other photo booth owners.

The introduction of Photo Party 34

Upload allowed any photo booth, anywhere in the world, to send photos wirelessly to a tablet that guests could use to upload to their personal social media pages, linking the party to the rest of the world and establishing LA Photo Party as a trendsetter and innovator in an industry that was on the precipice of unprecedented growth.

“The Photo Party Upload user base quickly grew,” reported Miller. “We now have well over 2,500 users of Photo Party Upload. These photo booth owners rely on our technology because we use all of the hardware and software that we sell at our own high-end corporate events.

In a sense, we are our own guinea pigs.

The products we make have to meet the demands of our own high-end corporate clients.” And Miller isn’t kidding when he says his clients expect the best. LA Photo Party regularly works with the most recognizable global brands to creative custom photo experiences at their events, including Viacom, Sony, Target, Macy’s Nintendo, and more.

Building on the release of Photo Party Upload, LA Photo Party moved into photo booth fabrication and won the Photo Booth Network’s Best Photo Booth Design of 2016 with their newest photo

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booth, the INFINITE. This booth features the first-ever bounce card lighting system for a photo booth, lighting a complete 10 foot green screen without any external light sources. In addition, it has responsive LED lights that are programmable from within the built-in software. Perhaps most impressive is the INFINITE’s three-camera system, which allows for photos, videos, slow-motion videos, green screen, light painting, morphing, and more...all from the same photo booth at the same party.

I was impressed with the way Miller practiced what he preached. Miller explained that “our success is linked to your success” He wants to help DJ companies and photo booth owners grow with the LA Photo Party software and photo booths. The tech support office was busy with four representatives actively assisting callers while I was visiting. Upstairs, in the marketing department, workers give one-on-one demos to customers interested in purchasing Photo Booth Upload. Walking through the production warehouse, workers rock out to music while wiring INFINITE booths; the pride they take in their work showed in the final product; the units were striking, lined up one after the other with their pulsating LED borders.

The last stop on my tour was the LA Photo Party testing room where an INFINITE with a 3D lens extended out the center camera hole focused on the green screen wall. “Ready for your Virtual Reality Photo Booth Experience?” Miller asked. I said “Let’s do it!” The new Virtual Reality feature used a 3D lens to insert me into a 360-degree 3D winter wonderland that I was able to view instantly on a virtual reality headset, and then share to Facebook.

Don’t miss LA Photo Party at MBLV21, coming up this March!

www.laphotoparty.com Brian Miller (R) with the author

EYE CANDY

Plug the People into Your Lighting DJ BANDS MAKE THE CROWD INTO A FUN, NEW VISUAL ELEMENT

By Ryan Burger

D

ue to make its DJ industry debut at MBLV21's Peavey DJ Takeover, the primary product from DJBands.com is designed to add excitement to your events by making the audience be part of the light show. Although this brief review will give you a good overview of DJ Bands, this definitely something you have to see in person to fully undertand. So be in Las Vegas for the product roll out!

While similar technology has been seen in the past, Geoff Carlisle of Jamm Entertainment has been working with manufacturers in China for the last nine months to get just the right product ready for the DJs in North America to use at their events.

Adding the audience to your light show is simple: You put LED lightup wristbands on your party guests, and control them wirelessly from a laptop with a radio transmitter. From there you can trigger them by the beat of the music, divide them into groups by colors, and pick people for contests...in short, have a lot of fun with them through this cool new technology.

Interested DJs are looking at an investment of $2,500 to $5,000 to be able to handle crowds of 100-250 people. You can then resell the service to your clients at least $400-$500 for each event. Since the wristbands are rechargeable part of the plan is to collect them at the end of the event; be prepared to get only 90% of them back each time, however.

While we were one of the first companies to try this new lighting hardware out, we were able to figure it out pretty easily. DJ Bands.com will generate documentation for people getting into the system, and they are producing videos on how to use them at events.

Also be on the lookout for other products based on the same technology, like little light sabers, and balls that light up in a similar way. But we feel the bands

are the best way to really involve guests at your event.

While this company is new to marketing a product to DJs, the prinicipals have run a DJ company since the 1980s, and Geoff goes way back in his connections within the DJ industry, having spoken at the very first MBLV event back in 1997.

Check them out at DJBands.com and see them at MBLV next month!

www.djbands.com

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35

THE LAST WORD

Telling a story can help bridge the gap between “trust me” and getting a contract.

Use Your Story to Connect

By Jason Weldon

S

tories should be one of the many tools in your sales arsenal.

Actually, the powerful story is probably one of the most overlooked tools. Why would anyone ever want to hear your story? It doesn’t really matter why: They do. And they will buy from you because of it.

Many of us in the entertainment industry are constantly trying to show value to our prospects—that one thing that would get a prospect to choose you over another company. Many times we over-think what our value is or do a horrible job of expressing it to the prospect. We over-think the very basic concept that our prospects want to hear, which is a great story about how you got to be where you are today. And they want to hear this because, ultimately, if you have a good story, they want to be a part of it!

Tell them how you got started in your business. Tell them about the early years and what made you get into doing what you do. Be honest. Give them all the details too, not just the good ones.

I am going to bet that some of the value propositions that you hold dear to your mission statement might be something along the lines of “a personalized service” or “a smaller, more family-like company.” Maybe it is “listening to client’s needs” or maybe just being “affordable.”

All of these are hard to tell a client. They can’t see if you really are what you say you are until after they have done business with you. So you need to get them to believe you. And we all know how much we want to trust someone after they say the words “Just trust me.” That doesn’t always leave you with a confident feeling, especially if you have never done business with them.

Telling a story can help bridge the gap between “trust me” and getting a contract.

Stories help build trust because a prospect can align their feelings with your value. A prospect wants to hear stories of success and if your story is a good one, the story, in and of itself, will be enough to get them to want to be part of it.

If your story is still starting out, don’t worry about it. Be honest and tell them as much as you can. You never know what a prospect is going to look for in a story, so if yours is short, make it impactful!

I think a good story should include the following things: • What made you get into the business you are in?

• When was there an “a-ha” moment about the direction you would take?

• Describe two or three growth points the company has had.

• Talk about some trials and tribulations. People like to hear about good and bad things.

• Bring up two or three points of pride that you have in your company.

• Talk about the future plans of the company.

This should be enough to help you tell a great story that future customers will buy into; one that will make them want to support everything about you!

Jason Weldon is a wedding business consultant who specializes in small to medium-sized companies that want to grow their business. His objective is to help guide people through organizing their thoughts and laying the groundwork for a better, more successful start-up. He currently lives in Philadelphia and is also the president of Synergetic Sound and Lighting, Inc. and DJ and A/V company.

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