Think you're the next Taylor Swift? Or SZA? This collaborative MusicTech startup might help
If you watched the 66th Annual Grammy Awards last weekend and thought, ‘hey, I could do that!’ you might want to give the app Bass Parlour a try.
The Atlanta-based startup connects artists and musicians together to help create original music. This is an opportunity for vocalists to team up with instrumentalists and musicians to connect with producers, said founder Darryl Stephens. That discovery process helps bring new dynamic duos and catchy new songs to life in a post-pandemic, remote-first world.
There are monthly contests for musicians who team up and create new sounds together, and a new feature that allows an artist to “go live” within the app, whether it is to stream an interview, a music lesson, or a virtual concert. Ultimately, Stephens said the goal is for the app to allow for virtual recording options, making it even easier for musicians to collaborate across borders.
The app has gained wide appeal over the years, with R&B singers, blues bands, to classical violinists all as earlier users.
Getting To Pitch Perfect
Stephens didn’t necessarily set out to be a tech founder. A gifted baseball player, athletics was actually his first love. But as he pursued his degrees at Georgia State and Full Sail University, he fell in love with music and the music industry.
After receiving his MBA from Howard University in DC, he moved back to Atlanta and opened a small studio on the Westside of town.
He said the studio was inspired by the WeWork-style office experiences that were popping up across the country. Musicians lacked the in-person coworking spaces that help tech and business teams collaborate. That studio helped to fill that void, quickly becoming a hub for the independent musician community. They had once-a-month showcases where musicians would be paired up randomly and tasked with creating songs from scratch. Stephens said those collaborations were creating quite the buzz in the music industry and some impressive new songs.
Then came COVID.
The studio had to shut down in-person collaborations, which certainly slowed down the creative process. But Stephens knew there had to be a tech solution that could help musicians collaborate in a remote-first world.
That pivot proved fruitful. Since launching in January of 2021, the app has garnered 1,600 users from 50 different countries.
Building MusicTech Startups
Building up Bass Parlour in Atlanta is strategic, Stephens told Hypepotamus. The city is known as a hub for many different music genres, from Hip Hop and R&B to pop and country.
Stephens and his MusicTech team rounded out 2023 as part of the 23rd Startup Runway Showcase, an Atlanta-based pitch competition, something that Stephens said was an “extremely valuable” experience.
Now in 2024, Bass Parlour is focused on growth. Stephens said the team is looking to bring on at least 10,000 members and start growing its premium membership numbers.
But introducing the world to the next big musical app remains a central focus. You can check out some of the recent collaborations born out of Bass Parlour through the startup’s YouTube series.
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Photo by Haley Powers on Unsplash
