Back in 2013, Matt Ott and his associates who love the live music scene in Austin, Texas, launched an arts organization based on a patronage model similar to the kind that symphonies often use.
Today, Sonic Guild is a thriving non-profit that has awarded more than $6 million in grants to more than 250 up and coming Austin bands.
Matt and his friends saw how increasingly hard it is for Austin musicians to survive (much less thrive) in the booming metropolis billed as the Live Music Capital of the World, a moniker often derided as more of a rueful joke as musicians and other creative types are getting priced out of the city that claims to champion them. So Matt and his associates in the tech world pooled their resources and ideas to create what was originally known as Black Fret. They later changed the name to sound more positive and more clearly music-oriented, and less likely to evoke goth or metal or corporations like BlackRock. So in 2022 Black Fret became Sonic Guild.
Here’s how it works. Members pay monthly or yearly dues, attend any of several band showcases per month in a season that typically spans a few months (and averages about forty shows per year). The showcases usually feature two or three bands that are referred by members, music industry mentors, and sometimes even past grant recipients. Most of the showcases are held at Pershing Hall, and occasionally other venues such as Antone’s, the 04 Center, Mohawk, Scottish Rite Theater, and the Dell Club at Moody Center. At the end of the season, members vote online for their ten favorite bands from those showcases.Then the season culminates in a special concert at the ACL Moody Theater, featuring the bands with the most votes, who receive grants upwards of $12,000. The grants are awarded to each band onstage by members who helped refer the most new members that season.
The last season concert, in December 2023, functioned almost like a live telethon, where members were encouraged to pledge additional grant funds via text message right there in their seats. By the end of the night, each band’s grant grew by another $2,000.
Most bands use those funds to record and promote an album, go out on tour, even repair or replace an aging tour van.
“It’s just fascinating. Austin is such a vibrant, vibrant community,” Matt says. “It really was a drive to support the musicians. But as it’s evolved we really began to understand the power of the community we’re building around this music, the power within that community to create opportunities for everyone, you know. Musicians also get booked for great gigs at corporate events, by people who saw them here, so they’re getting help even before they get a grant.” He went on to say that it’s not just the bands who benefit. Members regularly tell him that not only have they been exposed to great new local music, but it’s enriched their lives in other ways. “I’ve had dozens of people tell me, you’ve given us Date Night. We wouldn’t go out nearly as often if we didn’t have Sonic Guild saying ‘Here’s another great, fun thing to go do,” he says. One couple took the stage at a showcase to say it even saved their marriage, allowing them to reconnect and bond over their shared love of music.
Sonic Guild is continually looking to expand its support of musicians beyond just financial means.
When the Austin Music Foundation had to suspend operations last year, Sonic Guild added the concept of a “band tune-up” to help mitigate the loss of AMF’s Artist Development Program.
“Every band that plays a showcase gets paid and they get a career tune-up,” Matt says. The tune-up includes advice and resources for career management, touring, web and social media presence, and healthcare. “Paul Scott from HAAM (Health Alliance for Austin Musicians) is a good friend, and we send dozens of musicians to HAAM every year,” he says. Texas-based supermarket chain H-E-B also helps with a special prescription wellness package for HAAM referrals.
Matt says “So even if they don’t get a grant, we want Austin bands to be able to say, ‘Sonic Guild helped move my musical career forward.’”
Sonic Guild has recently established chapters in other music-friendly cities such as Seattle and Denver, and hopes to become a nationwide network of financial and professional support for local musicians.
For more information about Sonic Guild and membership, check out SonicGuild.org.
Check out some of the featured artists of Sonic Guild’s Austin Chapter.
