We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Evan Kinard. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Evan below.
Evan, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
In 2015, I founded the media production company Killed With Kindness. Since then, we have focused heavily on filming live music events such as music festivals, DJs, and nightclubs. We have also filmed for numerous corporate clients, producing content such as highlight videos and client testimonials. In March of 2020, we were onboarding our 20th client to a monthly retainer program. We also had a media residency at a local nightclub that was going well and a fully booked calendar for filming major music festivals, both domestically and internationally. Of course, all of that would disappear almost overnight on March 15, 2020. The pandemic had come into full effect and California, as well as the country, had begun to shut down. We had a leased office in a SPACES location in Costa Mesa, which had requested that all businesses go home and continue to pay our rent. All of our corporate clients could no longer allow our team on-site to film, and any testimonial work was heading the same way. All nightclubs closed down and all festivals were postponed. We were essentially completely out of work yet still had all of our expenses to cover and no real revenue streams to fall back on. Everything we did was in person, on-site and that was no longer an option. Over the next few weeks, we noticed a large uptick in DJs, both large and small, streaming on Twitch. I mean, what else was there to do? You couldn’t play music at a festival, nightclub, or bar, but you could play it online. As more and more artists began to stream online, we saw a growing trend. Many of the superstar DJs that we thought would have these amazing home studios and rooms filled with gear, in reality, had setups similar to local talent and small-town artists. In fact, we had more gear and a better setup than most of the artists we saw streaming. Since physical infrastructure like a cool-looking studio cost money to build, many turned to using a green screen. This would at least hide their studio if it wasn’t impressive yet their setups were limited to essentially having a large TV playing visuals behind them. While this can be appealing at first, over time it gets boring to look at. This is when we not only saw an opportunity but realized what it would take to make it happen. I had graduated from Chapman University in 2010 with a B.A. in Digital Arts but hadn’t really used it outside of a few small projects here and there. I knew how to 3D model, and we had a green screen in our office, DJ equipment, cameras, and all the time in the world. We decided to invest what had become half of our net worth into upgrading our computers, cameras, and streaming equipment as well as purchasing higher-end DJ gear. We started multiple, weekly livestreams, inviting local guest DJs to come to our office, which was essentially an empty building, and stream for hours on our own channel. We weren’t a big channel, music label, or promotions group which normally would be a requirement for booking any type of notable artist. What we did have was a really cool green screen setup. Instead of just putting a full screen of visuals behind the DJ, I had begun 3D modeling unique set designs and placing the DJ on a “stage” where they would DJ to a community. We had visuals being sent into screens on the stage and controlled by a live person. We had intro screens, interview rooms, unique transitions, and endless amounts of new, 3D content. We were able to use examples of our own livestreams to convince other artists to stream on our “virtual stages” for their own streams, DJ contests, and other major events. We partnered with a DJ duo known as The Hotel Lobby who helped promote our technology while throwing their own virtual festivals. This led to our first major livestream with Bands In Town, which had over 800,000+ unique viewers with a peak of 40,000 concurrent viewers. We continued to invest everything we had, spending 16+ hours a day, 7 days a week at the office creating new designs, new livestream assets, and trying to get bigger brands to use our technology. In August of 2020, The Hotel Lobby was successful in pitching an upgraded version of our Virtual Festival to Insomniac for a Christmas show. We also had a very fortunate meeting about moving into a much larger studio that we would have to build ourselves, but would allow us to have a more professional green screen to match the bigger talent that would be coming in. We moved into the new studio in October of 2020 and continued our 7-day work week and financial investment into growing the virtual show brand and portfolio. Over the months we had been asked by other DJs how they could produce a stream like ours. We gave a few of our stage designs away to local artists and friends and watched as their communities grew and their brand improved with new visuals. This was all the information we needed to not only continue with the more advanced 3D virtual festivals but to launch our own product under the name, Virtual DJ Stages. In February of 2021, we launched our online store with an awesome, 36-hour virtual festival. Since 2021, over 1500 unique customers in 52 countries have bought a virtual stage, and we continue to get new requests, feedback, and positive reviews every day. We’ve released over 140 unique stages, collaborated with major streamers, and continued to develop the Virtual DJ Stages brand and product offerings. In May of 2020, we were 2 weeks from going bankrupt, which was a scary thought. We had no clue this would even work but had nothing to lose. My father told me that one of the scariest feelings I’ll have as a business owner is when I am not sure if I can make payroll. Well, back in 2020 that feeling was all too real. This year we will be launching Virtual DJ Stages 2.0 as well as an online university and our own virtual festival streaming service. How things have changed.
Evan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Hello there! My name is Evan Kinard, and I am the founder and president of Killed With Kindness, INC. We are a media production company based in Southern California with a studio in Anaheim. I am also one of the co-founders of Virtual DJ Stages, which designs and sells what could be considered “zoom backgrounds” for DJs. We have over 1500 customers in 52 countries and have hosted hundreds of DJs at our virtual festivals and livestreams. Additionally, I have been working with the N360 group for the last four years, which is currently constructing a 20,000 sq. ft. art gallery, beer garden, food hall, and event space in Anaheim, CA.
At Killed With Kindness, we specialize in creating dynamic, impactful photo and video content that draws upon our thousands and thousands of hours filming live music events. We have worked in numerous industries and for every client, we aim to create content that really resonates with their viewers. You don’t get into filming DJs or music festivals because you want to get rich, you do it because you are passionate about it. The work is difficult, the environments challenging and the pay is never close to what corporate or most other standard careers can offer. The big music events are almost always on the weekends and the industry itself is incredibly saturated with creatives and only getting more competitive. You do it because you love it.
I started filming events with a GoPro in 2015 as a means to get backstage, reasoning that the camera guy must go wherever the DJ goes. At that time, I had a full-time IT job, working Monday to Friday from 6 AM to 3 PM, and spent my weekends filming raves and nightclubs from 10 PM to 2 AM.
By 2017, Killed With Kindness was generating enough income to allow me to leave my six-figure salary IT job and pursue my passion full-time. My parents were terrified because I was taking a huge risk but I knew that what we were making was adequate enough for a single male, content on eating ramen noodles for the foreseeable future.
Seven years later, we have produced thousands of pieces of content for hundreds of clients in 22 different countries, covering a range from major music festivals to business seminars, digital classes, weddings, and welding shops.
Filming DJs and music festivals remains one of the most challenging tasks. The deliverables must be exceptional, and you only get one chance to capture everything. The passion for the work drives us. We bring the same mentality, energy, and attention to detail to all aspects of our business, allowing our corporate and brand work to stand out. We approach every project with passion, energy, and intention, capturing as much as possible while remaining unobtrusive. At times, it feels like we are a media production special forces unit. Our motto, “We use our passion to show your passion,” truly reflects our ethos. Moreover, our company name, Killed With Kindness, has often helped defuse tense situations and get us new clients. Kindness is our currency, and it serves as a constant reminder to treat everyone with respect and to be thankful for every opportunity.
We offer photo and video content for live events, corporate and brand clients, personal style influencers, as well as digital course filming, live streaming, and more.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I’ve always been a very technical person. I am interested in 1’s and 0’s and feel that at times I am more robot than human. I understand strategy and business and from the get-go, I viewed our DJs and music clients more as a business to business relationship than as a business to consumer. I knew that they were brands themselves, even if it was only a single person on the team. When they had managers or agents or PR teams, we worked strictly with them and always kept it professional. At Killed With Kindness, we’ve always taken the approach of being the fly on the wall, staying out of the limelight and making sure that we are always there early, capture everything and stay late. We’re always wearing all black and we know and believe that we are there for a reason and that reason is to capture the passion of our client. I’ve seen a lot of creatives in my industry fall into the trap of thinking they are the influencer, they are the spotlight and that they need to be seen on stage or be a part of the show. I’ve never wanted that to be a line of thinking we’d pursue and I believe that has helped is build a strong reputation for being reliable, consistent and easy to work with. We’re drama free and there to do our job.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
When I was working at my IT job in 2015, I started to listen to the GaryVee podcast on the way to and from work. It was around a 15-20 minute drive each way so I was able to finish around 2 episodes a day. What Gary continued to reiterate in each podcast changed my outlook on life, business and the decisions I was making at the time. Gary helped me realize that if I wanted to leave my day job and pursue my passion full-time, I would have to go all in. That meant all in with every decision, every second of my time and every social choice I would have to make. I had to cut myself off from negative friends and family, social settings that didn’t benefit my goal and any form of wasteful entertainment. I lived and breathed the side hustle until it became the main hustle. Gary described exactly what I would go through and gave me the tools needed to develop my mindset so it could withstand the doubt and hate from the outside so I could fully focus on the inside.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.killedwithkindness.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/epicoptimist
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evan.kinard.3
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evankinard/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/epicoptimist
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/killedwithkindness
Image Credits
https://www.instagram.com/itskinderella/ @itskinderella Daniela Becerra