Step 2: Where to begin?
· Stereotype
With so much ambition and a world of possibilities, where do we start? The best thing about starting as a hobby is that we can take our time and not think like founders just yet. It’s exciting, but we also have to be realistic with the time we have, which is a real challenge.
It’s a chance to play with some different tech, solving different problems to our day jobs. To understand what it is about current or past platforms around music that haven’t quite done it for us.
One thing that stood out for us really early on was that being a fan of any kind of music is incredibly individual. There’s nothing to say that you’re a fan of artists in the same way as the next person, or have the same associations. The memories and feelings that are tied to a certain track for you will never be the same as anyone else’s. The ways you enjoy music can be very different too: from being in your space with headphones on listening to a record on vinyl, to jumping up and down in a mosh pit, from having the radio on as you work to a basement jazz club. But that also highlights what underpins all of this.
Whatever we make needs to help the infrastructure in some ways, whether that’s independent artists or labels or venues, to all of those people that work behind the scenes. We would never claim to have all the answers, not by a long stretch, but that’s not going to stop us from trying.
That leads us to a space for enabling individuality (as best a platform can) and elevating what already exists, encouraging people to go to their local venues, check out artists they’ve never heard of. And if it were easy, there wouldn’t be a problem for us to solve!
So this is our sandbox. This is the space we want to play in. It’s not about being the next faceless juggernaut but taking our time, learning from people constantly and trying to craft something everyone can make their own.
Small steps, but with massive potential.
- Dan & Hannah