We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Diane Dimemmo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Diane, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I currently have two companies: Asbury Park Vibes & APV Entertainment. In 2018, I retired from a company I spent 20 years building with my husband, because I was battling breast cancer. Never happy with sitting around, I began experimenting with and loving photography and then boom … I got facial skin cancer. Recovering from radiation and facial surgery isn’t easy; so, I started wandering around Asbury Park, NJ taking photos which was very therapeutic for me.
I’m a music lover and former musician so I was immediately pulled in by the live music scene in Asbury. My husband and I have always gone to a lot of concerts together and as soon as I recovered, we picked up where we left off and regularly went to shows at The Stone Pony, the Wonder Bar, Langosta Lounge (now The Break), House of Independents, and others. I remember telling him that I loved the “vibes” in Asbury Park and that I had never felt so enamored with a community and music scene before. He was the one who encouraged me to take live concert photos and when I realized how much I enjoyed it … I came up with the idea for a concert photography magazine called Asbury Park Vibes.
Immediately after I launched the online magazine, several local photographers approached me asking to join. They are all incredibly talented, so I was thrilled to bring them on board and expand upon the number of shows we covered in Asbury Park and beyond. Currently, we are a team of fourteen who regularly cover the local and national music scenes.
During the pandemic, my colleague Doug Dresher and I started the Asbury Park Vibes Podcast so that we could continue shining a light on local musicians while the world was shut down. I absolutely love the deep dive conversations we have with artists about their craft. The podcast has been a really nice media addition to our other offerings. And we are now gearing up for our 189th episode!
My newest venture – APV Entertainment – is a result of the many relationships I’ve developed with local musicians over the past few years. There’s so much talent in this specific geographic area and the amount of blood, sweat and tears these artists put into their music is unparalleled. But there’s an entrepreneurial aspect of being a musician that’s often overlooked and my goal here is to work with individual artists on the business side of being a musician. I currently provide management and artist development services for a few local bands and this is definitely a new passion of mine!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
As I stated earlier, I spent 20 years building a family business and before that I was a teacher and a writer. And if we go even further back, I majored in Music Performance at Peabody Conservatory for classical flute. I feel like all of those previous experiences have given me a unique skill set that’s perfectly aligned with music promotion and advocacy for emerging, local artists.
The products and services Asbury Park Vibes offers are varied. We provide photo shoots in studio and at live shows. In addition to the concert media seen in our online magazine, our photographers have taken photos for album art, music promotion, social media, and event promotion. The APV Podcast gives musicians another opportunity to have their story amplified to a broader audience. Our studio on Main Street in Asbury Park hosts intimate acoustic performances, several which we have professionally recorded!
APV Entertainment works one-on-one with select artists on things like branding, content development, marketing, live show innovation, fan nurturing, business procedures, and more. All of these services are offered with one goal in mind … to support the emerging, indie artist and give them the skills they need to achieve success.
What sets the APV brand apart is that we are a team of professionals that promote musicians with only the highest quality of media. And we all spend a large portion of our time shining a spotlight on the live, original music scene. The Asbury Park Vibes brand is synonymous with nurturing musical entrepreneurship in the most professional way.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Asbury Park Vibes has always been – first and foremost – here for the indie musician. From the beginning, our motto has always been to put 150% effort into everything we produce and do what we can to help our music community. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my amazing team: Doug Dresher, Michael Campanile, Kenny Bieber, John Matlosz, Bill Baumann, Melissa Lawlor, Mark Krajnak, Bri Skriloff, Gregory Schwartz, Barbara Carra, Thom Hall, Olivia Lima, and James DeSalvo. The skills of these photographers, podcasters, and writers never ceases to amaze me and have been a big reason why we have a great reputation.
APV also places a heavy emphasis on collaboration with other businesses and with our colleagues. We know that we can achieve more together than by working alone, especially when we share similar goals. Our partners all know we’re here to support and uplift them, so they do the same for us. Good vibes always breeds more good vibes!!
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
Absolutely! Business books are: “The Ultimate Sales Machine” by Chet Holmes and “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert T. Kiyosaki. Books on quantum physics and the law of attraction (which I’m fascinated with): “E-Squared” and “E-Cubed” by Pam Grout, “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne, “Having It All” by John Assaraf. Development books: “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey and “How to Win Friends & Influence People” by Dale Carnegie.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.apv-entertainment.com and www.apv-media.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asburyparkvibes/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AsburyParkVibes/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diane-dimemmo-2333b7212
- Twitter: https://x.com/AsburyParkVibes
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@asburyparkvibes/videos
- Other: Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6roM73Qi3BsmpX7cLscPuY
Podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/asbury-park-vibes-podcast/id1527179942
Image Credits
Image 1 & 2 (portraits) – Photos by Mark Krajnak
Image 3 (concert photography)) – Photo by Jeremy Smith
All musician images – Photos by Diane DiMemmo