Trying to take in Chicago's music scene can be daunting. Between the unfamiliar venues ("Wait, is this a bar or a concert hall?"), the intimate setting ("Where's the audience?") and the blurring mass of band names ("Was that The Swan King or The Singleman Affair?"), it's something that can be overwhelming to conquer on your own.
A Chicago musician (currently leading Jitney) since his mid-20s, Casey Meehan realized through his decade spent in the music scene that there was a gap between musicians and the wider audience. He and other artists he knew were having a hard time getting the word out about their new music.
In response to this gap, Meehan, at the time a DJ for WLUW's Radio One show, launched Chicago Mixtape in February of 2011. Users on the email list for the free service receive a weekly playlist of MP3 tracks from Chicago bands performing around town. They have the option of either downloading the entire playlist or streaming it from start to finish on the website.
"It went viral really fast," Meehan said. "I was expecting it to be sort of a side project, and it just took off. A lot of the early success, I think, was with Twitter traffic, and it's just been continuing to grow."
Meehan said that while many users of Chicago Mixtape are publicists, music journalists and bands themselves, anyone wanting to learn more about Chicago musicians will find something enjoyable and unique. "People have freaked out and lost their minds," Meehan said. "We've gotten pretty good reception. I think a lot of them appreciate me doing a lot of the research for them."
Some of the music on Chicago Mixtape playlists comes from Meehan going through bands' websites and contacting them for permission to share their music, but a lot of the bands submit music on their own. Meehan said this helps him find out about lesser-known bands and alternative venues so he can share it with subscribers to Chicago Mixtape.
The service has been around for over a year now, and since its inception it has evolved away from strictly offering music. To celebrate the website's first-year anniversary in February, Chicago Mixtape began attaching original album artwork from Chicago, New York and overseas artists to its playlists.
"Our logo was the artwork for so long," Meehan said. "I kept looking at everybody's playlists or when they would open up their iTunes, and there would just be like a million of our logos. I thought it was pretty cool, but I was just thinking we could use that space a little bit better and involve more folks."
Meehan also said his team is working on comedy standup mixtapes to bring Chicago comedians to a wider audience, and they are also looking to set other cities like Austin and Los Angeles up with their own mixtape websites.
Through all of this, Meehan said his main goal is to both inspire and facilitate people finding local bands they enjoy and wouldn't have encountered otherwise.
"It's kind of tough sometimes when you're just looking at names of bands," Meehan said. "I just want to reach out to the folks who are unfamiliar with the music scene and try to get them involved."