a brief overview of 20+ years in the music industry

CONCERT + FESTIVAL PROMOTER
When it comes to the music industry, Mike Ziemer is a man of many hats! Starting in 2002, Ziemer began interviewing bands and reviewing albums for online magazines in order to get into shows for free and meet his favorite artists. After building up a large list of contacts, he was asked by a local band to manage them. The band’s first request was for Ziemer to help them put together a concert in the suburbs, the rest was history. 

In March 2004, Third String Productions was born at The Plano Centre where Ziemer would hold shows in multiple rooms from 2004 - 2009 with attendance ranging from 500 to 4800! The Plano Centre was the birth place of Unsilent Night and So What?! Music Fest (previously known as South By So What?!).

After outgrowing the Plano Centre, Ziemer began booking live events across Texas, and beyond, averaging as many as 400 events annually between multiple markets from 2021 - 2023.

In 2022, Third String Entertainment formed a strategic join venture with Disco Donnie Presents, named Disco Punk, to further grow the So What?! Music Festival brand. 2023’s festival was the largest in the festival’s history bringing in over 22,000 people across 2 days in Dallas, TX.

So What?! Music Festival has established itself as the “go to” festival for catching multiple stages of up and coming talent mixed with legacy acts for metal / hardcore / pop punk /  emo fans, filling the void left from the end of Warped Tour and Mayhem Festival.

Ziemer is also a partner in Furnace Fest, taking place annually in Birmingham, AL featuring a wave of bands primarily from the late 90s and early 2000s hardcore and post-hardcore scene while still being inclusive of current up and coming bands in those genres.

Over the last 20 years, Ziemer has been instrumental in helping introduce and build artists through his festivals including A Day To Remember, Enter Shikari, Forever The Sickest Kids, Dance Gavin Dance, Beartooth, Of Mice & Men, Polyphia, and many more.

In 2023, Ziemer founded the entity Restless Shows with long time friend Arturo Piña. Following the success of the first year of his festival, Restless Fest, Ziemer realized that this brand was something special for the underground music of the next generation of artists and needed to have its own identity and team behind it. The company has already made major waves with a stacked resume of booking JPEGMafia, Glaive, OhGeesy, Lucki, Veeze, Lil Darkie, Homixide Gang, Bashfortheworld, Sid Shyne, Dom Corleo, Jeleel!, Nascar Aloe, Black Kray, Joeyy, 03 Greedo, Premo Rice, Jasiah, and many more.

OTHER VENTURES
Ziemer has also independently run his own record label, Third String Records since 2014. The label has released music for over a dozen bands with streams totaling over 20 million across all platforms.

He also founded the artist management company, Flip A Switch Music Group alongside his partners Luke Knipe and Matt Dunne. The management company roster currently includes songwriters, producers, engineers, and bands.

During 2020, while live music was on pause, Ziemer opened up his first recording studio, Flip A Switch Studios in his backyard of his Oak Cliff home. The studio has attracted some of Texas’ hottest acts including Bashfortheworld, Tay Money, Lil Twist, SVDDEN DEATH, Luna Luna, LilBootyCall, Astrus*, oodaredevil, and many more. In 2021, he opened his second recording studio in Deep Ellum. The upgraded studio has attracted artists Slimesito, Milkshawty, Wasteey Monroe, brands including Pepsi + Takis, and labels including TDE, OVO, and many more.

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