Today we’d like to introduce you to Rob Kermidas.
Hi Rob , we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Sure! I grew up in Upstate NY (Binghamton) and moved down to Knoxville a couple of years after graduating college with a Degree in Business Marketing in 2014. I wanted to leave NY for warmer weather and new opportunities. My entire professional background leading up to starting Midas Entertainment has been in sales and marketing—working with both large scale corporations and mom-and-pop startups for over a decade. I believe those experiences gave me a strong foundation & confidence to launch my own company in 2022. Being able to lean on my sales & marketing skills to land our first clients, as well as my ability to create my own website to showcase our talents, made it much more cost efficient to launch the actual company while we were getting our footing.
But secretly, during my entire professional career, I was always DJ’ing behind the scenes (ever since my parents helped me purchase my first set of decks in 2011. Thanks Mom & Dad! Told you it would work out!!). Whether I was spinning at home after work, at friends’ houses on weekends, private BBQs, downtown college bars, or corporate events—I was just trying to DJ anywhere people would let me! And most of the time, I was doing it for basically free, haha.
It wasn’t until the pandemic in 2020 that my brother and I truly decided to start Midas Entertainment. We suddenly had a ton of time on our hands, and it became the norm to hop online and stream what you were doing. Dan (my brother and true brains of the opperation) suggested we create a DJ set for everyone to enjoy while we were all cooped up—and that’s how Two-Steppin’ Tuesdays was born!
Fast forward a month, and our Facebook DJ sets were getting over 1,000 views. People from different countries were even dropping in to say how much they were enjoying the music, our mc’ing, and the visual effects. That moment really solidified for us that we had something special, and we should build a business around our talents and love for DJ’ing.
We’re now entering our third year in business and continue to grow across East TN, going as far as Nashville, Chattanooga, The Smoky Mountains and even GA to DJ Private Events! If you had asked me back when we started what I thought this would be like, I still would have undersold just how much fun it is.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Honestly, it’s been a relatively smooth road for our company since its inception. In our first year, we focused on some of the more budget-friendly events across East TN, which helped us prove both to ourselves and to our clients that we could put on a professional and memorable show. From DJ’ing and MC’ing to sound engineering, elegant lighting, and special effects—we showed we could handle all the critical elements of live events and weddings.
Each year, we’ve scaled up—creating bigger and better events, working with more amazing couples, moonlighting with live bands, and professionally lighting venues. We’re living out our dream every week by vertically integrating sound and lighting locally for our clients to enjoy. We have even added a new Female DJ to our team this year to help us reach an even larger audience & target market locally. Thanks Iko!
If I had to name a major challenge for me personally, it would be this: there’s no class or course that can fully prepare you to run your own business. I still have days where I’m completely stumped on how to navigate the complexities of business ownership. Labor costs, payroll taxes, scaling decisions, staffing—it’s a never-ending puzzle. But figuring it out piece by piece is what allows me to keep doing what I love… which is DJ’ing. They don’t have a lot of 9-5’s for this job, haha! 🙂
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As a professional DJ and business owner, I wear a lot of hats every month. Our bread and butter is private wedding entertainment—which is a ton of fun, but also a ton of work. The second half of our business focuses on corporate events, event lighting, photo booths, and small-scale audio visual work.
Private Wedding DJ:
I think there’s a big misconception about wedding DJ’ing these days—that most DJs just show up 45min before Reception with a speaker, press play, and collect a paycheck. I’m here to let your readers know that couldn’t be further from the truth. Wedding DJs in particular, are often the unsung hero’s of a wedding day. And With Great Fun, Comes Great Responsibility…..
In 2025, here’s just a baseline of what a modern wedding DJ needs to handle and own to help create a fun, seamless, and memorable day for a couple: Through live consultations and planning guides we are able to build a roadmap for success day of and create incredible weddings that reflect our couples character, charisma, and style prior to the big day.
Ceremony:
-Ceremony audio system (often battery-powered)
-Wireless mics (which require radio frequency management)
-Custom processional/recessional music and timing
-Custom song edits to match time constraints
Cocktail Hour:
-Cocktail PA system (often battery-powered)
-Curated playlist to match the couple’s vibe
Reception:
-Full reception PA system
-Wireless mic for toasts, speeches, grand entrances, blessings
-DJ furniture (to maintain venue aesthetics)
-Live-mixed playlists & custom grand entrances
-Elegant venue lighting (uplighting, spotlighting, wash lights, table pin spots)
-Special effects (custom wedding monograms, cold spark fountains, digital photo booths, bistro + fairy lighting)
Modern weddings are all about entertainment that keeps guests dancing and creates “wow” moments. It is both an honor and a large responsibility to handle the enjoyment of 150+ Guests. As well as flawlessly blending sound, public announcement, and spot light moments. Wedding DJs are the conductors of the event! That’s what we pride ourselves on at Midas Entertainment—showing couples how far DJ’ing has come and how our team can shape the entire vibe of the day. We bring together sound, lighting, and effects to help people experience those unforgettable moments on perhaps the biggest day of their lives!
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Great question! If you asked my parents, I bet they’d say I was “a handful”—and I’d probably agree, haha.
Personality-wise, I’ve always had a passion for entertaining in some form. I grew up singing with my grandfather, who was in a local barbershop quartet and taught me scales on the piano. I even sang in honor choir in middle school. But truthfully, my biggest passion as a kid was sports. I played everything—basketball, baseball, golf, tennis, football—you name it. I loved the competition, the energy and the comradery.
I was also a bit of a class clown growing up. I did well in school but definitely leaned into the chance to make the right joke at the wrong time. In high school, I was voted “Most Changed” from freshman year to graduation, which I think reflected my personal growth and zest for life. I’ve always loved trying new things, meeting new people, and squeezing the most out of life through experiences. Additionally, I was always the guy in HS/College that was burning CD’s to try and get the best playlists. One of my big regrets is not keeping my burned CD collection as a DJ now……would have been some great crate digging now! I think I made a burned CD for almost all of my friends at one point in time!
It’s funny, though—I never learned to play an instrument or had any formal music training growing up. That I’ve gravitated toward DJ’ing as both an art form and a career. My brother Dan, who plays a nice guitar, jokes that my turntables are my instrument now. He says I use music to help people feel the emotion of a moment—which is such a cool way to put into perspective what that actual Art of Dj’ing is when you distill it. I think one thing that really sticks out to my Brother & I and our love for DJ’ing & Music in general is our dad owned an Car Audio business when we were growing up. He always was on the cutting edge of sound technology and actually even installed sound systems in vehicles before the car factory’s began to do it. He was always instilling in us some form of audio knowledge, as well as practicing what he preached by putting AMAZING audio systems in our first vehicles as teens. Its cool to look back and see all of these instances stack up and how they influence you as you grow up! I really had no plans to create an Entertainment company up until 35years old. Its more as if, all of my life experiences, help received, and passions, prepared me to be good at this profession and I finally discovered it organically!
Working with a sibling is an incredibly special opportunity that not many people get in life and I really want to take a second to thank my Brother for helping me unearth a passion that helped create a new business for us both! I honestly don’t think I would have done it he didn’t convince us to give it a try publicly during the pandemic…. So Dan, if you’re reading this—thanks for being the man, an awesome business partner and the ultimate fixer for when I inevitably break something important! Midas Entertainment to infinity & beyond!
#MidasWellDanceWithUs
Pricing:
- Wedding DJ (Starting at $1650)
- Private Event DJ (Starting at $1000)
- Luxury Digital Photo Booths ($500)
- Cold Spark Fountains ($500)
- Custom Venue Lighting (Starting at $750)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://midaswelldance.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/midaswelldance/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MidasWellDance
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DJ_Midas865
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/midas-entertainment865
