COMMUNITY BOOST

Nashville is reimagined yearly. With this growth, aspects of the community that serve as meeting places for musicians and producers of color are at risk of fading from accessibility in the community in which they live. Since regions are already experiencing minimized inclusive opportunities in the Music City, The Beat List Community Boost is an initiative determined to combat these issues and provide inclusiveness for the disproportionately marginalized musicians and producers of North Nashville and surrounding areas.

We are engaging the aforementioned community through monthly music sparring events, known as Beat Battles. These battles target the under represented music community and other participants, with the intention of bringing them into one space to network and bring awareness to the social and economic needs of North Nashville. While networking, those who compete do so by submitting instrumental tracks that are  played subsequently as an artistic exchange between producers. The community of listeners who have also gathered to engage in the experience are given the opportunity to vote for the music with the most quality, excellence and skill, allowing them take a part in building each producer in a positive way.

Producers are ranked on a single elimination bracket. After top producers are chosen, they are asked to join or engage with The Beat List, which is a collaborative group of producers who will be curating the community album.

The plan is to engage with the community through the The Beat List Community Album. This album is intended to be a musical representation and celebration of the underserved Nashville musical talent. The Album will consist of up to twenty instrumental compositions based on feedback from aspiring artists, entrepreneurs and musical enthusiasts in North Nashville. This feedback will be obtained via live stream and voting to improve the music added to the album as well as using some local musical talent where necessary. Contributors of the project will convene at Jefferson Street Sound Studio and Museum to collaborate on the new material which fosters the relationship between Nashville’s history and future on the Historic Jefferson Street. The goal of this album is to not only generate a profit, but to bring recognition to the often overlooked talent right in the heart of Music City. The album release event will be a final display of the project and a place for all involved to be publicly celebrated.

The objective of The Beat List Community Boost is to celebrate the talent in North Nashville, and connect the new generation of musicians and producers to the historic sound of Jefferson Street preserved at the Jefferson Street Sound Studio. There have been six beat sparring events to date by the name “Nashville Beat Battle.” Each month the competition grows exponentially. The support from this community is overwhelming.  We hope that through this grant we can continue uplifting those who feel they have been overlooked in the place they call “home”.

We generate interest in the community through social media from the instagram account @TheBeatListOfficial, Facebook and word of mouth.