Fitz Holladay loves music, and it's a love he wants to share with everyone. In 2013, he left the lucrative world of high finance in New York City and dove into the music scene. Now, the Washington, D.C. native arranges a series of small, secret concerts around District as a director of Sofar Sounds, and founded wego concerts, developing an app that connects people via their interests in live music.
What made you decide that you wanted to both run a tech startup and arrange concerts?
When I was in New York I sometimes had a hard time getting my friends together to go to shows, that's where wego started. It was a kind of dating app at first but we shifted it into more social experiences when we relaunched it. With wego I wanted to actually connect people who like the same music, you know?
I don't think we need another event discovery app, but what i discovered was that people who like live music and respect live music have a powerful thing in common. It creates a trust and you'll check out what they say you should check out. Putting together Sofar shows fits perfectly with that. The two are synergistic, to use cliche words. Running Sofar and wego is not like running a coffee shop and a music app, it's a concert series and music app. It fits.
"Most people I've met in the tech world also have an inclination and a passion for music."
How relevant is technology in your dual roles? Is it ingrained in concerts the way it is so many other events?
I think tech has become so ingrained in both music and live music for some obvious reasons. There's the prevalence of streaming which is even bigger by virtue of the fact that people look at it while mobile. And you see things like South by Southwest combining music and tech too. Most people I've met in the tech world also have an inclination and a passion for music.
Is it hard getting volunteers to help you run all of the shows?
Not at all. Our volunteers are people with full-time jobs and this is their outlet for fun. We have between 50 and 60 ambassadors now.
A photo posted by Sofar Sounds Washington, DC (@sofardc) on Sep 23, 2016 at 9:48pm PDT
What kind of music do you listen to at work?
My taste is so all over the place. I don't listen to music while at work, because I get into the music. One of the reasons i love Sofar Sound shows is because it's an uninterrupted time to engage with the music engage with music
Does that make for tension when there's so many people with smartphones at the shows?
I don't think there's tension. We even encourage pictures at our shows. We want them to live in the moment and be present and mindful too, but we're we're not fooling ourselves.
What's your go-to way to stay creative and avoid burnout?
I'm an artist and I've been painting and drawing for a long time. But, just being at Sofar shows is cathartic to me. It's like meditation too. It's still amazing to me that there's all this hustle and bustle, but when the music starts, everyone is paying attention. That attention paid toward the artist, that is meditation.
