Why I Started one2one2
“There Has to Be an Easier Way”
Hi, I’m McNeal; founder and lead developer at one2one2. When I got married back in 2011, my wife and I wanted to keep things small and intimate. Instead of a big, elaborate wedding, we decided to have a destination wedding and host a small ceremony with our families, but throw a great reception party for the rest of our friends to celebrate with us when we came back to the US. For the wedding, we used a local coordinator since we couldn’t fly back and forth to verify every little detail. For the party, we planned everything ourselves, and planned to hire one of my wife’s co-workers at the time to DJ the party for us.
Almost as soon as we sent out invites, email RSVPs started arriving in our inboxes to update us on who was coming. Friends from all over were excited to come visit and party with us in Los Angeles. All the details had been worked out and everything was set. Our reception was going to be just like we imagined: a bunch of our close friends partying together on a boat in the marina at sunset with a DJ we trusted handling the soundtrack for the whole thing.
Or so we thought…
With less than a week to go before the party, our DJ friend broke the bad news: She wasn’t going to be able to spin for us at the party. That’s when we started to panic. What were we going to do? People had already bought their plane tickets and we had already secured the boat charter with the cruise operator (who also happened to be the “booze operator” since we had pre-purchased all the alcohol for the bar onboard the boat). We couldn’t back out now and our reception had to have the right music. How could we find the right DJ for our event in such a short amount of time?
After asking around, searching online, and hunting for demos and clips of potential DJs’ sets, we found someone who’s style matched our taste and got a replacement DJ for our reception. Everything worked out in the end, but it left me thinking: There has to be a better way.
Making a Way
Our struggle to find a DJ inspired me to create the solution I needed. If I was looking for an easy way to find a DJ without having to know someone personally or being plugged into the music scene, I figured other people might be looking for the same thing. I started asking friends who were part-time musicians and DJs how they found gigs and what was the most frustrating part. Most of them admitted getting booked was dependent on how much time they spent drumming up leads—knocking on doors, creating relationships with venues, and marketing themselves as artists. And they all agreed on one thing: they wanted to spend less time selling and more time doing what they loved—playing music.
In the age of the internet, it didn’t seem right that there wasn’t an easy, convenient way for anyone to find exactly the musical talent they wanted in their local area, preview videos or audio clips of talent before they hired a musician or DJ or band, and manage deposits and payments to artists online.
So I learned to code.
After years of late nights and weekends spent working on the project, I finally had what I had imagined: one2one2.
What started as a hobby project to see if I could build an app to solve my little needs turned into something that could potentially solve an even bigger need for musicians everywhere. As I started researching the music industry, I found out that most full-time musicians don’t have a booking agent even though live shows are the biggest revenue stream for independent musicians. Now, any independent musician—whether they’re just starting out or managing a successful career on their own—can get found, get gigs, and get paid from their laptop or mobile phone without giving away 15% of their fees.
I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with the platform and how you make it your own. This is just the start of the journey to make one2one2 the best experience possible for sponsors (anyone looking to hire musical talent) and independent musical artists who want to spend less time working and more time playing. I’m always interested to know what you think of the platform and how I can make it better for you.
I love music. I want musicians (and anyone who appreciates a more convenient way to discover and hire them) to love one2one2. Contact me on Twitter (@one2one2tweets) or send me an email any time to share your thoughts and suggestions.