Where are you based?
Salt Lake County.
Where do you work? What do you do?
I am the Chief Executive Officer for Mixlo, an upcoming music streaming service that uses location to display local and growing charts, as well as live shows. Think Spotify, but more interactive and with a map.
What are you listening to?
Right now I’ve been on a deep dive discovering new and growing artists, in pretty much every genre. As for the big names, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole have been my go-to’s this past week, as well as Taylor Swift’s new “Midnights” album, of course!
How do you discover new music?
I primarily watch for artists who are playing live events. Especially with festivals, you can usually find a great mix of unknown and massive musicians alike. Other than that, I try to see who people I follow or know of are talking about, check updated charts, etc. Soon Mixlo will add a whole new element of discovery, it will be a useful tool for those of us who’ve created it as well!
What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Services? Why?
Streaming and vinyls. Streaming is so easy and convenient to use, and vinyls sound cool as hell… plus, you get a higher quality!
I still feel connected to the massive library of 30,000 songs my friend and I burned to iTunes back in the day. I have it saved on multiple hard drives. However, since streaming includes all of that and more, I only pull out iTunes for nostalgia these days.
“I primarily watch for artists who are playing live events. Especially with festivals, you can usually find a great mix of unknown and massive musicians alike.”
Where do you do most of your music listening?
In my office as I work. Outside of that, in the car or at live shows. If I’m not with someone, like at the gym, I’ll use headphones. I’m almost always listening to music unless I’m in conversation!
How do you find and listen to pre-release music?
I actually purposely try to stay away from pre-release music. Unless I know or feel like it’s meant to be a one-off single, I typically might just listen to a premiere once or twice when it releases (typically I hear about them through the artists’ social channels), then wait for the tracks to drop as a part of the full EP or album before I listen again so I can fully enjoy the experience of hearing the complete body of work with as fresh of ears as possible.
What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?
One frustration I’ve always had, especially since the days past of me being a local artist, is how archaic it seems to try and discover the music from around your location. Typically, it seems like you either have to already know the local artists or happen to come across a local show while you’re out and about and then try to catch their Instagram handle. Local music seems a bit left behind in the modern streaming landscape, and I feel very fortunate to be a part of a team that’s working to fix that issue.
How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?
I subscribe to several of the major streaming platforms, but mainly use Apple Music. I just gather more and more as I listen, trying to keep the majority downloaded. I believe I am at almost 200gb of downloaded songs on my phone right now!
If I really like an album or EP, and if it’s available, I will purchase the vinyl. Or CD, for display. I have hundreds, it’s a nice way of making that music feel personal and timeless.
Do you tip other people off to new music? How?
Definitely! I love passing along recommendations as I come across songs that click with me. A mainstay is of course to message my friends directly since the recommendations can be more targeted with the music I think they’d like.
Anything you want to “promote”?
I feel like these points I’ve mentioned have been on my mind a lot as we’ve worked to build Mixlo. We’ve built it from the ground-up to help modernize the way listeners stream, support, and connect with their local music scenes. We hope it can bring local music into the limelight of modern music streaming in a big new way. It has a planned release for early 2023, and anyone can join the public beta now at mixloapp.com to get a taste for what’s coming. I can’t wait to get it out to the world.
