Interview: Hamontify
Check out this killer new streaming service- for #Hamont musicians only!
In an attempt to revive the local scene during the Coronavirus pandemic, Hamiltonian Nick Di Felice created Hamontify- an exclusively Hamilton based streaming service for local musicians.
Hamontify debuted in November of 2020, quickly gaining an audience among local musicians and professionals within the industry.
"Although I created Hamontify myself, it wouldn't be what it was, or will be, without the help of others, including the artists themselves," said Di Felice. "I also have local bloggers and content creators helping it become a reality."
Hamontify was a passion project, created to expand the promotion of local artists.
"I'm a long-time musician, Hamiltonian, and software developer- so my mind was already in a place to stumble into an idea like this," said Di Felice. "With the Hamilton venues struggling to stay open and live shows being non-existent during the pandemic, I figured we should have some way of keeping the local bands relevant, so they don't get lost in the sea of music provided by the big streaming platforms. If all goes according to plan, maybe we will be lucky enough to hit the ground running when live performances make their comeback."
The platform went live on November 21, 2020.
"There was a bit of confusion and even skepticism at first, being that it's completely free for the listeners and the artists," said Di Felice. "But once a few reputable artists started signing on and agreeing with the vision and purpose, things started to move a bit faster and the artist submissions started flowing in."
Di Felice believes the service had a successful launch.
"Taking into account how recent the launch was, I would say we definitely did well," said Di Felice. "As more artists are signing up, it's naturally accelerating in popularity since the artists themselves can share the Hamontify link to showcase their music, bringing more attention to the platform and the artists' music simultaneously."
Di Felice hopes to eventually expand Hamontify by working with local venues, labels and shops.
"I hope to get more involvement from other aspects of local music such as venues, local labels, recording engineers and even restaurants/cafes," said Di Felice. "The venues could be integrated into the app itself and share playlists of bands involved in a particular show. Recording studios/labels could help with uploading or creating the artist content, and restaurants could have easy access to playing quality local music at the touch of a button."
Stream the service at the link below!