The first-time event at the Harris Building on June 25 will feature Vox Vidorra, The Legal Immigrants, Lady Ace Boogie, Ty Beat, Valentiger and more. Radi8er plans similar events in other cities.
One of the Sounds of the City: Valentiger will play the one-day festival in late June. (Photo/Anna Sink)
When Rob Anthony and Jim Czerew started brainstorming about their new music discovery platform known as radi8er, their mission was to get users to explore local music and to “push people to go to shows and reinvigorate the live experience in cities everywhere.”
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Now, radi8er will host its own live experience: an event to showcase a bevy of Grand Rapids bands and draw attention to the music-streaming platform/smartphone app that will allow users to determine what music others are listening to in a particular area.
The first-ever, one-day “Sound of the City” music festival will take place from 1 to 10 p.m. June 25 at The Harris Building in Grand Rapids’ Heartside district with performances by Ty Beat, Vox Vidorra, Lady Ace Boogie, Valentiger, Full Catastrophe, Lipstick Jodi, Olivia Mainville & The Aquatic Troupe, Moto and The Legal Immigrants.
Anthony and Czerew see the Grand Rapids festival as “the official kickoff of the live events component” of radi8er, which hopes to stage similar events in Chicago, Nashville and Austin.
“This day-long event will help increase local awareness of up-and-coming musical talent in a city by connecting artists, music fans, and businesses in order to build a thriving and energetic music scene,” said Czerew, who noted the event features “nine of the top award-winning regional bands and 10 hours of music.”
Early-bird tickets are $8 if purchased before June 20, and $10 after that. Buy tickets online at radi8er.yapsody.com.
AN INDOOR FESTIVAL WITH ‘PLENTY OF SPACE TO MINGLE’ AND DANCE
Although radi8er initially considered staging an outdoor festival in Grand Rapids, organizers encountered “some logistic and timing obstacles,” and wanted to ensure that weather wouldn’t be a factor. The renovated and historic Harris Building at 111 S. Division Ave., along with its spacious second-floor ballroom, will provide “plenty of space to mingle, eat, drink view the artwork on display and, of course, listen and dance to some great music.”
Vox Vidorra (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
Radi8er hopes to attract about 500 people for the day-long event in Grand Rapids, with planning already under way for a similar festival in Chicago later this year.
Developed in Grand Rapids, radi8er’s innovative music-streaming platform and smartphone app is in a “closed Beta” testing phase. By the time the Sound of the City festival takes place, developers said, it will have moved to “open Beta” testing, which will allow users to sign up and experience some of the app’s features.
The app boasts a map function that allows users to zoom in or out to see and hear artists that other people are listening to in a particular area, sample music from those artists, and even purchase that music or tickets to a concert featuring those acts.
Because the new platform calculates “the sounds of the city,” it offers fans the opportunity to sample and connect with local and regional acts with whom they may be unfamiliar but who are performing in a certain neighborhood. Artists will benefit by receiving standard royalties for music that users sample and by having an opportunity to sell their music and concert tickets through the app.
All of the artists performing at the Sound of the City event have signed onto radi8er and many others already are uploading their music to the radi8er library. Get more information about radi8er in this Local Spins feature story.
Copyright 2016, Spins on Music LLC
