Home Unknown is a music player that uses curated playlists and acts as a centralized repository of a city’s independent music scene. Launched this past September 3, Home Unknown currently features playlists for NYC, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago. This is a streamlined distillation of process. For those who remember music before the Spotify/Pandora era, new music discovery was one of life’s most cherished joys.
Think of Home Unknown as a cool mix tape. One you traded for on the back pages of your favorite music magazine or record store zine. As Home Unknown grows, so will the chance for discovery. And this is the kind of growth that not only benefits the end user but the bands as well! What a great marketing tool this could be for local bands to utilize when booking tours and targeting other markets.
“The concept came to me when I was still doing shows and zines in Miami,” wrote Ric Delgado on his Facebook page recently. “Year after year I’d hear incredible music and work with amazing people in great bands. And year after year, there would be some glimmer of hope that maybe somehow the Miami scene would get discovered.”
Home Unknown Can Help Local Bands Grow
Delgado was a tireless participant of South Florida’s music scene when he resided in Miami. Booking shows, creating zines, recording podcasts, and writing articles. His hands were into every possible aspect of generating some kind of buzz beyond its geography. Delgado who has since relocated to New York City, has been able to widen the scope of that dream with his new venture, Home Unknown.
Taking to the internet with the DIY spirit of collaboration, Home Unknown’s landing page bears a similarity to chemical mapping and the look matches the intention. “The purpose is to show fans of local music what’s happening in other cities,” states Delgado. “Hopefully this will help make a bridge between the local scenes of different cities.”
Home Unknown brings a sense of “regional music” to the national arena. Heck, it’s a perfect design for a global community of independent bands but all things must start somewhere.
“I hope that this centralized place for local music can help fans branch out. Maybe discover independent music that they’d have almost no other chance in finding,” says Delgado.
