About 10 years ago, when I first moved back to New York from a 2.5 year stint in LA, I wanted to re-acclimate myself in the scene. I was a big believer that tech in many ways was going to be the savior to the music business and therefore wanted to immerse myself in the then emerging NYC tech scene. I signed up for the New York Tech Meetup and went to see what it was all about. I found it to be very interesting, funny, quirky and informative. This accelerated my education about the NYC digital culture while allowing me to make a lot of great friends and collaborators that I remain in touch with today. The times have certainly evolved over the last decade and NYTM is now the most subscribed Meetups in the world, with over 60K members in their community. Currently their monthly demo days are always sold out and although the room is no longer filled with familiar faces, it is instead a new room of interested, passionate New York tech enthusiasts.
Tonight one of our new favorite clients, Stationhead, is showcasing at the Meetup and I haven’t been this excited about a Music Tech startup in a long time; possibly since we started working with Spotify in the early days. Stationhead essentially allows everyone to have their own broadcasting platform. You can play songs (It has deals with the streaming companies like Apple and Spotify), you can talk over the tracks and even call in friends and colleagues to put them on “the air” with you. The amazing thing about Stationhead is this, as you grow your channel and potentially amass listeners, every time you play a song, it records streams for the track based on the amount of people tuned in. So imagine J Cole has a show and 50,000 people have turned in, every track he plays gets 50,000 streams. Talk about a way to break a new song! Anyway, it’s the very early innings for Stationhead, they are still building out their community and working through early interactions for the platform. They are cool and are starting to get a music industry following. However, being a NY based tech startup as well as a music company, we thought it would make sense for them to demo at the NYTM. I’m excited to see how the larger New York Tech Community connects with this innovative new approach to streaming music.
There are still a few slots available if you want to check it out live: NY Tech Meetup on May 8th
I’ve been doing a weekly show on Stationhead appropriately titled Beats and Bytes. We have been utilizing it as a place to continue the conversation on each week’s newsletter and elaborate on some of my thoughts on current topics. I also play about 3 or 4 of my favorite new tracks of the week. It’s taking place Friday from 11-11:30 am EST on Stationhead. Just download the app here (link to app) and find the Zero Station at 3pm to tune in and see what it’s all about. I’ve been loving the show and it’s getting better each week as I hone my chops as a jockey. Hope to see you there soon or as they say on the platform #TalkHard
P.s: Seems like a busy time in NYC this week. Blockchain Week kicks off with the ConsensYs produced Ethereal Summit May 11th and 12th.
I’m taping an episode of our Hot 97 Show Hot in Tech at the 7th annual Tech Day on May 10th. You should check out TechDay, it’s the nation’s largest startup convention if you are around. Here is the link. We go on around noon.
We also reconnected with one of our favorite former clients Wale for a show in the city at the beautiful SONY Hall. Ticket link is here. I also have a few slots on the guestlist so if you really want to come, write me an email on why you should be comped. He’s got a big show planned with some surprises up his sleeve.
And finally, Wale is doing one of these really dope DJ experience sets with AirBnB on Wednesday in a boxing ring in BK. Only 50 tickets available to the public and he will be premiering some new music. Wale’s surprise EP just dropped this morning! Check it out: Self Promotion.
No Fields Found.Also published on Medium.