Richmond has a new all-local music streaming service
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.

Photo: Courtesy of Shockoe Records
Richmond is getting its own music streaming service.
Why it matters: This is your chance to discover more Richmond artists on a platform dedicated to featuring only local music.
Driving the news: Shockoe Records, a local label, recently launched "The Sound of Richmond" as a subscription-based streaming service for Richmond's businesses, restaurants and bars to play over their sound systems.
- Triple Crossing Brewing is the first place to use it in at least one of their locations starting this week, Shockoe Records managing partner Carlos Chafin tells Axios.
- Individuals will be able to snag a subscription by Aug. 31 for about $10 — similar to Spotify Premium prices.
The big picture: Chafin believes a streaming service is the way to get local music into local spaces.
- The idea was an extension to Shockoe Sessions Live, a live-streamed concert series that — in a very Richmond fashion — once had hip-hop, a string quartet and Nordic folk music playing at the Poe Museum.
- "The stranger and more out there it is, the better we like it," Chafin says.
- Some of those local artists signed to Shockoe Records, which led to the question: "How do we get their music in stores?"
And that's how "The Sound of Richmond" and its playlists were born.
- About 100 artists are highlighted on the platform so far, including those Shockoe Records represents, like Los Hermanos Alacranes, Ms. Jaylin Brown and Palmyra.
- Shockoe Records pays the licensing fees, which helps artists get paid.
- Once the platform is profitable, they'll be able to split part of that with artists. While it won't be much, Chafin says it'll be more than what Spotify or Pandora pays.
Yes, but: Don't expect to see GWAR or Lucy Dacus on there just yet.
- Chafin tells Axios that some major names, like GWAR, are caught up in legal red tape.
- And Dacus' record company hasn't responded.
What's next: The web-based streaming service could one day have its own app, which Chafin says would take $25,000 to launch.
- It's among the "lofty" goals, which include you listening to it while catching flights at Richmond's one and only airport.
