Kelly Gray and Andrew Parsons founded RealMusic Events. Like many entrepreneurs, they set up in their town, in this case Austin, Texas. They began as promoters, putting acts into other people’s venues and built from there. This is the essence of how to build a business. Find a niche, build a community and establish trust with both your suppliers and your consumers. Kelly and Andrew have been at this for 15 years now, since 2009. They started with small events of 100 or so in attendance and built it to the point where their 3 day Seismic Dance Event is now drawing thousands and could soon max out The Concourse Project, their own venue with the capacity to hold 10,000 in attendance.

Theirs is an unusual partnership in that Kelly and Andrew are building this business together as a married couple in an industry which is an ongoing 24/7 commitment. Their task list is long between booking artists, hosting shows and handling the myriad details which lie between success and calamity on any given night.

In the crazy world of live entertainment, the flywheel spins fastest around two axes: your history of successful shows and whether you control a venue or are always working in someone else’s room.

Slowly, and perhaps in retrospect very slowly, Kelly and Andrew worked up to having The Concourse Project which is their own 18,000 square foot warehouse which can be configured as a modular venue. The Concourse Project sits on 15 acres and is home to what will be the 7^th annual Seismic Dance Event this November 15^th-17^th.

Seismic Dance Event is their festival brand. It is a house and techno boutique festival. Kelly describes it this way: “it is electronic dance music, but even more narrowed down to the house music and techno subculture, kind of like a lifestyle and music festival.” This year’s event includes such acts as Disclosure playing a DJ set, Eric Prydz, Gesaffelstein, Carl Cox and a long list of other interesting players. Link to tickets is below:

Seismic Dance EventSEISMIC DANCE EVENT | AUSTIN, TEXAS

I had such a fun conversation with Kelly and Andrew. They have such a comfortable way of interacting with each other. They’ve clearly mastered how to contain the frenzy of putting on shows and festivals while maintaining a normalized home life. Part of that comes from the way they’ve divided responsibilities between themselves, and part comes from the way in which they’ve honed their partnership so each focuses on what they are responsible to do.

The Concourse Project is interesting because it was such a risky undertaking. Kelly and Andrew have David Brinkley as the third partner in The Concourse Project. David’s role is CFO in addition to input related to design elements of the facility.

Their venue is near Austin’s airport which although it is not far from the heart of Austin, it is also not downtown. Locating an event center away from the city core adds complication to attracting audiences. A second challenge for The Concourse Project team is the lack of parking at their location. That is in part offset by the ever growing use of rideshare apps by music fans who would like to party without having to think about how to get home.

The list of events which Kelly and Andrew take on is long. In addition to Seismic, they host Boiler Room, ACL (Austin City Limits) after parties, events which occur alongside the F1 race when it runs in Austin, and a full calendar of stand-alone live music events throughout the year.

When I asked Kelly to explain how they managed so many events she said: “RealMusic Events started as just a promo company. We would produce shows at other venues, and it was basically just Andrew and I for many of those years, and it was kind of like a side hustle and just like a hobby that became our full time passion and job. And we have a big list of promoters, so a lot of the promoters help promote the shows, and there’s like 80 or so of those. When it comes to the actual working team, we started having full time team members once we were able to open the venue, which is The Concourse Project. There are about ten or so full time employees, but when we talk about part time employees and contractors, it gets up to more like 100.”

I only had one significant question for Andrew: “Which of you is in charge and why is it Kelly?” He was good natured in his answer: “She is the boss, but I guess it depends on how you look at it, too. I do all the talent buying and all the bookings, She’s definitely more of operations. She also comes more from the corporate world so she’s just better at that kind of stuff. I’m just kind of like, do what you do best, you know?” (edited for brevity)

Kelly further clarified: “I couldn’t tell you what exactly is in the future, but it’s always just about growth momentum and what feels like the natural next step. And I feel like one is maybe expanding upon our land, whether that is at our current property or an additional property, so that we can have larger festivals with a little bit more area, room to breathe and play with infrastructure and parking and all of that.”

The RealMusic Events team specializes in electronic dance music. It’s their specialty. Austin is known as one of the live music centers of the world. Formerly, Austin was more traditionally known for traditional live music with guitar, drums and a singer. The world has shifted in favor of EDM music. It is core music in Europe and around the world. And, it is blowing up in the US as well.

Kelly also said: “Fundamentally, the culture of enjoying electronic dance music is a journey and a progression. So the music itself, if you’re talking about one specific track it builds. So even throughout the night whether it’s a show or a festival, you’re building from one DJ to the next. And we always prefer when they mix into each other and it’s like a seamless transition versus a stop and start.”

The entire experience of discussing the Austin EDM scene with Kelly and Andrew was enlightening. Their long residence in Austin and the roots they’ve established have made them expert in their field and with their audience. They are succeeding as promoters and venue operators because they are well established in their field and with their audience.

Kelly’s summary to me of her core ethic was particularly on point: “Southern hospitality really is a thing. I mean, I always go back to that, but, I mean, it really is.”Go see The Concourse Project when in Austin, get a taste of that Southern Hospitality, and get your tickets to the Seismic Dance Event while they’re still available.