Denver, Colorado now has a streaming channel specializing in local bands, delivered by the city’s public library. The service in question is called “Volume”. You plug in your Denver Public Library user name or library card number and password, and you receive access to a variety of area music groups for streaming, playlisting, and/or downloading. And all DRM free.
Currently the Volume project has the space to offer 100 albums every year, and pledges to add around 25 every three months. The library has obtained a license to host music for two years. “So by the end of 2015, and moving forward, we should have 200 albums on the site at any given time,” Volume’s About page notes.
The plan is to put out appeals for submissions to musicians from the state three or four times a year, so calling all Colorado artists. In fact, a new window for content has opened, and here is the submissions page.
Current categories include Americana, Country, Metal, Modern Folk, Rock, Soul, Hip-hop, Electronic, and World. Quite a few creative user playlists too. Reverb magazine has a nice piece on the service, which includes an interview with Volume project manager Zeth Lietzau. He notes that Volume targets two groups: people in their 20s and 30s who don’t interface with Denver’s library system much, and regular library patrons who do not patronize the local music scene.
“What we’re trying to find is a place that creates a really Denver-centric community,” Lietzau says. “That’s a niche that people are interested in.”
