Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Morgan Saoirse and Corey Matayabas. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Morgan and Corey, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Myself and the other Co-Founder, Corey Matayabas, are both musicians with a combined total of 19 years of experience. We saw other booking companies putting on shows for us and our friends that were paying them completely disproportionate payouts compared to what was being made. We wanted to become a booking company that put artist payouts as a top priority! We saved up what we could to book our first venue. After that first show in January 2024, we were hooked and knew that our mission of resuscitating the live music scene was going to take off in ways we didn’t even know were possible!

Morgan and Corey, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Morgan: I got into the local music scene in early 2020 before the pandemic hit. I was a recently divorced woman looking to find myself in the hobbies I once loved. Myself and my best friend started our punk band called “The Exxes” that same year. We would go on to release a 7 song EP, compete and win the Rock’n Free Live Battle of the Bands in 2023, along with so many amazing shows and opportunities in our path. In October of 2023, I left the band to take care of some medical concerns and happily fell into the booking side of the music industry!

Corey: Moving to Arizona was a hard transition for me as a kid. My small circle of friends used local shows as a way to make new friends and grow my love of the local music scene. From there, I found a band called “Farewell to Apathy” and joined as their original drummer while I was in high school. I fell in love with drumming so much that on my high school graduation day I had to immediately leave to go play a show while still in my cap and gown. 15 years later, I’m still actively playing in a band called “Dead Echo” and booking shows with my booking company.

What sets DNR Booking apart from other booking companies is our unique understanding of the music scene as a whole. We have been through the trenches as musicians and know how to make them feel seen and heard. We put their needs as a priority to make sure they can put their best foot forward on every show they have with us. We have an amazing in house photographer, Justin Zellner, who provides photo sets to our bands at a discounted rate. This is so they can use those photos to elevate a band’s overall image. We have electronic tickets with no hidden fees to keep the bands focused on the show and not running around dropping off tickets. Most importantly we are in the top tier in payouts to bands for each ticket they sell.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

We were so active and positive in our perspective music careers that when it came to the booking company we garnered a lot of trust already. We never take that trust for granted and continue to prove we are in this business for all the right reasons!

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Myself and Corey have been dating since 2022. Originally, he took a lot of this head on but when things became too heavy for just him, I would happily step in and do what I could. I know it’s taboo to own a business side by side with your partner, but it’s truly an experience that has brought us closer together. We have learned how to communicate and problem solve better in our personal life because of our professional life and vice versa. I may be biased but I think we make a killer team!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dnrbooking?igsh=MTVsNmF3cTE1d3QzYg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/k2ZFC2xSfjSYppkG/?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits

John Roland
John Hasemeier
Morgan Saoirse
Justin Zellner