Today we’d like to introduce you to David Rothstein.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started David Rothstein Music in 1999 after touring as the bass player with the Glenn Miller Orchestra and Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. I was playing bass in other Chicago wedding bands and found most of the bands that I was playing with were doing pretty much the exact same wedding for everybody. One band leader told me he didn’t remember who the bride and groom were until he showed up at the wedding. Many times, I felt I knew what the next song was going to be and what the band leader was going to say. I felt brides and grooms deserved something better. They deserved something that was much more designed around who they are as a couple. Their wedding should reflect their personality, their style and what makes them unique. This has been a central theme for everything related to what we do with our music company. We’re able to provide our clients with a wide variety of music and are more than happy to create the sheet music for special requests, even if it is a song that we’ll never play again, if it is important to our couple, we’re more than happy to learn it for them.
We believe in giving back to our community, both in the wedding industry and to those most in need. We do it in several ways. We have a program called Share Your Love. After the wedding, with the bride’s permission we can round up the floral arrangements and have them delivered to a local nursing home or homeless shelter on their behalf. When client books us for a wedding or event, we do a free concert with a smaller ensemble at a nearby nursing home. This is our Play it Forward program.
We have incredible musicians for the ceremony as well as reception. Our ceremony musicians are specifically trained to play for ceremonies and are separate than those who play for cocktails, which helps keep a smooth transition from the end of the ceremony to the beginning of cocktails.
We also provide our clients a separate emcee which is able to work directly with any of the vendors as well as the bride and groom throughout the night while the band is playing and their guests are dancing. So, instead of the band leader being stuck on stage as the drummer or vocalist, our emcee is able to be much more accessible and available to the clients, vendors and wedding planner. We also provide each wedding with a free DJ to keep everyone on the dance floor during the band breaks, as well as provide great music for an after party. To demonstrate how much we care about our clients, we have them fill out a form called Tell us More About You where we find out about how they met, what kind of work they do and what they love to do together. Then, we create a special gift based on that information. For example, we had a couple that met at the University of Richmond in biochemistry class. I called the University, got a hold of their professor, and bought the text book that they used in that class. I then brought it to the wedding which all their guests signed, and we gave to them as a special one-of-a-kind gift. Our success has been from giving each client their own wedding that isn’t based on the hottest trends, but on their trends and what they love. Our band plays music that includes everyone who is invited to the wedding, not just the 20-year-olds. By being able to read the crowd and have a wide variety of repertoire, we’re able to make sure that the bride’s grandmother can stay until the very last note, along with the bride’s parents, and all of their friends as well. Watching 20-year-olds dancing with 90-year-olds is what our music company is all about. We will always strive to make each wedding as fun, inclusive, organized and meaningful as possible.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Like any business that has been around for close to 20 years, it has been long path of challenges and victories. In the beginning as we began to grow very quickly, I had to try to find more and more people to help me as I was trying to do everything at once with all the marketing, sales, music arrangements, bringing the sound system, playing bass and meeting with vendors. Gradually, I was able to hire more and more quality people to take over many of those responsibilities so I could concentrate on what I was best at and allow other to do what they were best at. There have been challenging venues and clients over the years, which I have been able to learn from and, most importantly, improve from. Working hard and staying humble has allowed me to adapt much quicker than most band leaders. The ability to adapt to technology as well as the needs of my clients quickly has made any challenges much easier to overcome. Everyone in our company is always working towards making every aspect of our company better little by little, at every event and for every year. Our reviews reflect how much we care about our clients and how much they appreciate all our hard work to make their weddings as perfect as possible. Anyone in business knows that it is a never-ending pursuit of better ways to serve our clients as well as we possibly can.
David Rothstein Music – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We specialize in providing our brides and grooms with incredible live music and DJs to keep all of their guests dancing. We are known for our ability to adapt and customize on a much deeper level. Our music company is very creative and loves finding out more about the specific needs of each client. We’re known for being flexible, professional and thoughtful, as well as going above and beyond to make their wedding truly remarkable and completely different than anyone else’s. We’re most proud of the fact that we are building a legacy of thrilled clients that will be able to share with their children and grandchildren many years later that their wedding was truly authentic and incredibly fun. I’m proud of all the musicians that work with us and our ability to help them live better lives through our company. I started the company because I wanted to make a difference in the world using my talents and background. That is what I’m most proud of and hopefully will live on long after myself and the company.
David is the host of the Wedding 101 radio show on BlogTalkRadio as well as a podcast by the same name. Currently, he has 70 shows and close to 70,000 listens to the various programs. He has also written over 200 blog articles.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
In 2015, I won the Silver Star Award from a wonderful program called Wish Upon a Wedding. They provide wedding services for couples in which the bride or groom has a terminal disease. It allows them to have a wedding using vendors that have, many times, donated their services. The award was for my Share Your Love flower donation program, in which brides and grooms are able to donate their flowers after their wedding. We round up the floral arrangements and the next morning, hand deliver them to a nursing home or homeless shelter on their behalf. In 2016, we also won Most Charitable Wedding Vendor in the Nation from WeddingWire.com at their national convention. I started the program as a tribute to my grandparents. They were married for 71 years and lived to 94 and 91. He used to make her breakfast in bed every day and always brought her a flower from the garden. The Share Your Love program is a direct and loving tribute to their incredible relationship. Winning those two awards were definitely big highlights or my career that I’m most proud of.
Contact Info:
- Address: 332 S Michigan Ave Fl. 9 Chicago, IL 60604
- Website: drsmusic.com
- Phone: 773.719.7610
- Email: david@drsmusic.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/davidrothsteinmusic
- Facebook: facebook.com/drsmusic
- Twitter: twitter.com/davidrothstein
- Other: blogtalkradio.com/drsmusic
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