Recording - May 2018 - 61

Continued from page 58
off the plane, and before we were on the shuttle
to get here, people were shaking our hands and
introducing themselves, assuming we were coming here. The TAXI Road Rally is a really unique
place, because I don't get the sense that you all
are necessarily competing. It feels very supportive and seems to be very collaborative, a lot of
synergy. Every person that has come up to our
booth has been really awesome, very warm.
You've done a great job, Michael. You guys are
amazing. [applause]
I lost my train of thought. Bring me back. What
was the point?

of our growing popularity has to do with the
fact that we are very liberal with our T-shirts,
and people wear them. So wear the T-shirts we
gave away! You know, we wrap some vehicle and
we go up and down highways and byways. It's
very much guerilla marketing, just grunt work,
out there hustling and spreading the word.
Because we happen to believe that even if you're
not a potential member on Gig Salad-
somebody that's getting gigs off of us-every
single one of you are potential event planners.
We're all getting married-we sometimes get
married twice or three times-everybody's
gonna have a birthday and an anniversary. It's
for all the things that we do, that's what we have.
So the next time you're thinking, "Hey, maybe
we should have, instead of spinning discs, we're
gonna..." Wow, that just dated me. Instead of

streaming the music, or instead of putting in an
eight-track, you're gonna call up a singing guitarist and have them play at the dinner party, or
the picnic that you're throwing, or the whatever.
We are trying more and more to be a lifestyle
company, where we're encouraging people to
bring more live entertainment into their lives
and events.
Well, I think it's a great concept. I'm really proud
that you guys are sponsors of the Rally. I probably
spent two hours on your site. When I first found
out about you guys and went on there and checked
the acts and stuff, I thought it was brilliant. So congratulations, you guys are doing a great job.
[applause]
Don't miss Part 3 in next month's TAXI Insider!

I wanted you to just explain how Gig Salad works,
because I love the fact that you flipped it. People
are already buying when they come to your site
and start looking for talent.
Mark: So we started off as strictly performers,
entertainers, and speakers-people who do
what they do on a stage. Then, later on, we
added other event-services providers, so we now
have photographers and bartenders. We have
600 categories on the site, and about 49% of
them are music- related. So those of you that do
perform-in addition to songwriting-if you're
out there and you are looking for the house concert or the coffee shop or the country club
brunch or happy hour, those sorts of things,
corporate events or weddings, on and on, it's a
great resource for you. You know, I didn't want
to come up here and shamelessly sell it; that's
not the point. But just know...
But, I asked you to because I think it's cool, Mark!
Mark: It is that difference between if you go out
and you want to treat a gig almost like a practice, and not have the studio thing. And in this
growing gig economy where we're out there trying to just put all the pieces together like was
mentioned-you do a little bit of this and do a
little bit of that. We want to give you the opportunity to do something more of what you love,
as opposed to just going out there hustling for
the buck. You can meanwhile be doing
something that you are passionate about and
talented at.
How do you bring in the "buyers"?
Mark: We've never had national campaigns for
marketing budgets. Every time somebody joins
our site, that's new content and it helps. That's
what the buyers are searching for. At this stage
today, we have about 115,000 members on our
site across the U.S. and Canada, and every
month, two or three thousand new people join.
And every time somebody joins and is a juggler
in Peoria, that hopefully is what somebody is
going to be looking for in due time. I think a lot
61

http://www.kiqproductions.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - May 2018