Boiler Room (music project)

Boiler Room
Industry Music & Entertainment
Founded March 2010
Founder Blaise Bellville
Key people
 Blaise Bellville (CEO)
Website www.boilerroom.tv

Boiler Room is a music platform that hosts intimate live music sessions with an invite-only audience in mostly private locations,[1] streaming the performances live on the Boiler Room website and through video streaming services such as YouTube and Dailymotion. Recordings are then stored in Boiler Room's archive, with over 1.5m active subscribers.

Origins

In March 2010, Boiler Room's founder, Blaise Bellville, invited Thristian Richards[2][3] and the founder of NTS Radio,[4] Femi Adeyemi, to record a mixtape for his online magazine, Platform. After moving some speakers and decks into the disused 1930s boiler room of Platform's offices, the first Boiler Room session was recorded using a webcam duct taped to the wall. The session was broadcast live online on a newly created, free Ustream channel.

Early years

Boiler Room's first session turned into a weekly show, becoming a Ustream 'Supported Channel' and getting press recognition, with coverage from the BBC, Fader,[5] Time Out[6] and Dummy Magazine,[7] who noted that "from a small room in Dalston to a globe-spanning brand, in just over a year Boiler Room has emerged as one of the most important broadcasters in underground music."

Boiler Room first trialled international shows in August 2011 with a series hosted in the Berlin venue, Stattbad.[8]

Boiler Room today

Boiler Room has hosted shows in around 50 cities[9] and, with offices in Los Angeles, New York and Berlin, produces an average of 35 new videos each month. Some of the most popular sessions spotlight Berlin techno and LA's beat/instrumental hip-hop culture. Originally specialising in London's underground music scene and focused on electronic music, programming has diversified and regular shows are hosted in genres including hip hop, jazz, bands, classical[10] and world music.[11] In July 2014, a studio-based series called "In Stereo" was launched with German prepared pianist Hauschka to "present a different class of music and musicians that [Boiler Room] cherish, shot with high-end production values and mixed-down audio in locations that stand outside what we are traditionally known for."[12] A run of special broadcasts from St Johns Church in Hackney, featured the likes of leading Japanese composer, Ryuichi Sakamoto, as well newcomers such as Julia Holter and Roly Porter.[13] August 2014 saw this expand even further with a broadcast from the opening concert of Dimensions Festival, housed in a 2,000 year-old Roman amphitheatre in Croatia.[14] Alongside headliners, Caribou and Nicolas Jaar’s Darkside, Nils Frahm performed using just two pianos and some analogue electronic hardware.[15] Boiler Room has previously partnered with a number of music festivals, including SXSW,[16] Sónar[17] and Dekmantel.[18]

Whilst Boiler Room's focus remains on emerging talent. established artists have started to feature: Thom Yorke, Nicolas Jaar, Sven Väth, Richie Hawtin, Flying Lotus, Carl Cox, Jamie xx, Michael Mayer, James Blake, Erykah Badu, Marcel Dettmann, Ben Klock, Kerri Chandler, Levon Vincent, Four Tet, Nathan Fake, Madlib, Corrin Roddick (producer of Purity Ring), Laurent Garnier, Gesaffelstein, Maceo Plex, Solomun, Darkside and Nina Kraviz.

Record labels partner with Boiler Room through its "takeover" format, showcasing a range of their artists' new output. Boiler Room does not charge for its content. The business has remained independent through advertising partnerships.

References

  1. ↑ Dazed. "East London 2012: Blaise Bellville - Boiler Room". Dazed. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  2. ↑ "BNTL - Inside Boiler Room". Vimeo. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  3. ↑ "Thristian Richards and Blaise Bellville, Boiler Room". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  4. ↑ Ruth Saxelby. "The rise and rise of NTS Radio". Dummymag.com. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  5. ↑ Scott Wright. "Dollars to Pounds: Boiler Room". The Fader. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  6. ↑ "Welcome to the Boiler Room". Time Out London. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  7. ↑ Charlie Jones. "Music businesses of the year". Dummymag.com. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  8. ↑ "Boiler Room Berlin 001/ Redshape, Kassem Mosse, Jimmy Edgar & Objekt". Bolier Room. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  9. ↑ "Cities Archive - Bolier Room". Bolier Room. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  10. ↑ Tess Reidy. "Classical music breaks out and joins the youth underground". the Guardian. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  11. ↑ "In Stereo: Gnawa Special". Bolier Room. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  12. ↑ "Hauschka Discusses Prepared Piano Techniques in New Videos". XLR8R. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  13. ↑ "The Quietus - News - TONIGHT: Julia Holter & More At St John". The Quietus. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  14. ↑ Luke Morgan Britton (26 August 2014). "Boiler Room to broadcast Caribou, Nils Frahm & Kwabs sets from Dimensions Festival". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  15. ↑ "Boiler Room vs. Dimensions Festival". Nilsfrahm.com. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  16. ↑ "Ray-Ban SXSW Performances - Bolier Room". Bolier Room. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  17. ↑
  18. ↑ "10 Reasons We Loved the Dekmantel Festival". XLR8R. Retrieved 10 December 2014.

External links