Today sees the launch of AudioStage. A music production and promotion company, their goal is simple: push great music from all genres to masses while making sure musicians are rewarded for their work. AudioStage was founded last year by musicians Dan Grannum and Marcus Still. New Boots spoke to them about the project, and you can watch the first episode below.
What is AudioStage?
We record live sets of talented, mainly unheard of artists and share it on our website, YouTube and social media at no cost to the musician. We are not in this for the money, but the love of music, talented people and a passion for creativity.
What was the inspiration/motivation for setting up AudioStage?
As musicians ourselves having played in bands for years it came from the observation that bands/musicians/artists can only get somewhere nowadays by having a wealth of content and a following, and that doesn’t come cheap when you start paying out of your own pocket to do it. We decided that no struggling musician should have to work a full time job to afford a roof over their head and on top of that put every spare bit of cash into their passion, especially when the cost of living is getting tighter and tighter. So we started AudioStage, we are removing the cost for content creation from the artist and recording three tracks in live studio quality with multiple high definition camera angles. Alongside that we do interviews, create teaser content and publicise the artists for two weeks on our platform.
Where do you film?
We actually film in The Pomfret Arms [Northampton pub/venue]. Their barn has this incredible sound so we literally walk in and set up with very little effort, it’s the perfect room for us.
It take the form of episodes, right?
So each artist is considered an ‘episode’ which runs over two weeks. First with a ‘coming up’ teaser, then a single track from their performance, the interview and their full performance. This essentially means we can spread their content across two weeks to give them greater exposure. We have eight episodes per series. In fact right now we are already starting to record the second series. Each series will be 16 weeks of content; there will also be a podcast to run alongside so you can understand the journey we as creators have taken to get to this point, and discuss issues/opinions we have of the work we are doing and the industry.
How do you see things progressing in the future?
Really for us the dream would be to be permanently set up and make this a full time job. In future for the artists we hope our channel grows and we can create content that people come from far and wide to be a part of. We are also already working on some subsidiary projects to compliment AudioStage, so keep your eyes peeled!
The first episode, with Rushden/London singer-songwriter Kelly Jane, begins this Monday September 10th. Jane said: “It’s so good to work with people who are genuinely so passionate and into the music. It’s refreshing to be in an environment where everyone is working together to create something amazing. It’s about having a good time and just enjoying the music”.
Watch the introductory podcast from Grannum and Still below, which further explains the ideas behind the project.