This virtual jukebox app is bringing live music to Lemonade Park; Here’s how the interactive show works
September 21, 2023 | Nikki Overfelt Chifalu
A one-of-a-kind interactive music festival that allows anyone to be the DJ arrives later this month in Kansas City, shared YouSpin founder and CEO Adell Hendon.
The YouSpin Anywhere Music Festival — set for 7 p.m. Sept. 29 at Lemonade Park — is planned as a crowd-driven concert using Hendon’s socially-interactive virtual jukebox app.
“People are going to be able to pick and play songs using the app and it’s going to come on the sound system,” he explained. “They’re going to be able to DJ the music.”
Click here to learn more about the festival.
Adell Hendon, YouSpin
YouSpin and YouSpin Anywhere allow users to pick and play music, as well as interact with other users, in clubs and bars, at home through virtual clubs, or — the newest feature — in the car on a group roadtrip.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: Virtual jukebox app spins back after laying new tracks as a social experience
The coming festival is about creating crowd engagement, Hendon said. On top of the audience-driven concert, plans include a music trivia game show, a talent show, and performances by several local, up-and-coming artists, plus food trucks. Tickets are $20.
“You’re not just looking at the artists on stage and asking them to entertain you,” he noted. “They’re going to entertain you, but you also get to be a part of the entertainment itself.”
The music trivia game show — which Hendon called a cross between Jeopardy, The Price is Right, and Soul Train — will be played through the app and have dance-off rounds, plus prizes will be handed out.
The YouSpin team has begun piloting the game show once a month at Parlor KC in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District.
“It’s about just having people have a good time together,” Hendon said. “But they’re creating their own experience through that and connecting with everybody else.”
At the Sept. 29 show — which is expected to offer prizes — audience members will be able to choose who advances, Hendon noted. Several local artists are also set to perform, including Jass Couch, Sabaneros MGM, TNTLKP, Lucid Flows and Lou Rip (MOKS), and Rayvon Oddboy.
“We’re gonna have all different types of music happening,” he added. “We’ve got hip hop; we’ve got neo-soul; we’ve got Columbian; and then dance music. So it’s gonna be a lot of fun.”
Hendon hopes the festival creates more awareness for the YouSpin app and for its artist referral program, he shared.
He launched the referral program — which allows independent artists, DJs, and influencers to share their music with YouSpin and invite their fans and followers to subscribe and hear their music — in fall 2022. The artists then get 10 percent monthly residual commission from every subscription from their followers.
“We’re doing something different than all the other music streaming platforms,” Hendon said. “Spotify only pays their artists per stream 0.0033 cents per stream, so it’s really, really difficult to make any money off of that. And people keep on putting their music on there because they think that’s the way to go. … This will allow artists to make monthly passive income on their own terms.”
Featured Business
2023 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
From Google to KC, Beth Ellyn McClendon’s advice to startups: Test everything
Don’t fall in love with an idea, Beth Ellyn McClendon said. “Test everything, especially your assumptions, and allow yourself to be persuaded by data,” said McClendon, a seed investor who formerly worked with Google, Android, YouTube, Cisco and Netscape. “Try to remember — tattoo it on your eyelids if you have to – anecdotes are not…
Bodyrite duo cooks meal prep into personal training concept
Don’t just go with the flow at a traditional gym, Jamil Nelson said. Go with Flo. “Treadmills and ellipticals are pretty archaic to us,” said Nelson — or “Mr. Bodyrite” to his wife, Florese. “A jump rope is way better because it’s going to blow up your heart rate.” Modern workouts are all about functional,…
Denise Kruse: So your startup wants to be acquired – now what?
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. In the first column this three-part series, I discussed how a stellar strategy only gets your company halfway, but executing can take you to the finish line. Next, we took a deep dive into what startups should do after landing a first big…
Tech tracks workplace bias: It exists ‘whether you want to face it or not’
During a summer internship with a large Kansas City corporation, college student Louis Byrd was unexpectedly called into the HR office. Although the incident was about 10 years ago today, it has not yet left his mind, Byrd said. “I’ll never forget this,” he said. “HR told me that the people on my team had…