The recent rise of music streaming has revolutionized the way that consumers are able to access songs from their favorite artists. Streaming now makes up 80% of the music industry’s revenue. According to a 2019 Reuters report, Apple Music had 28 million subscribers, followed closely by Spotify Premium’s 26 million.
But what if there was a music streaming platform specifically designed for college students?
Quadio is a new platform that was designed for college artists and listeners. Clara Maurer is the campus representative manager for Quadio and has been working with the company since November 2019.
“The idea for Quadio first came about when one of our founders, Joe, had an idea for an app where you could connect with musicians in your community and on your campus,” Maurer said. “He brought the idea to Marcus, our now-CEO, and in November 2018, they decided to start Quadio together. A year and a half later, they’re launching the platform!”
Maurer described Quadio as a social streaming service that’s all about music discovery and collaboration. It was designed so that students can find people on their campus to work with and learn about all the cool music in their local area.
Jaida Nichols is a Georgia State freshman who is also a campus representative for Quadio.
“It’s a music platform for college students specifically,” Nichols said. “You don’t even have to make music to be on the platform; it’s just a way for you to put your music out there or to discover new artists that could go to your school.”
The platform recently launched the beta online version of the app nationally. Already, there are users from universities and colleges from all over the country.
“There’s a lot of people that go to [the University of California, Los Angeles] that are on this app; there are a lot of people who go to [the University of Georgia] on [as well],” Nichols said.
Since the app was designed for college students, accounts can only be created with a “.edu” email address. The platform shows users where other listeners and artists alike attend school. Nichols described the app as being similar to Spotify in the sense that artists have their own profile page, complete with a bio feature, a discover page and a top chart for artists. Users are free to follow other users if they wish.
There are also chances for college artists to boost their following.
“You can get really big opportunities from it. Like, we just had a competition where if your music was trending you could become verified on Instagram, Snapchat, things like that,” Nichols said. “You can also get partnerships with bigger music companies as well.”
Nichols described the app as being a great resource for artists to release their music with more ease than larger platforms.
“It would be harder for a college artist to push it on Apple Music and everything like that,” she said. “But now, it’s like, ‘If you go to Georgia State, you can listen to this person; they go to Georgia State.’”
In addition to being a student and a campus representative, Nichols is also a singer. She’s a pop and R&B artist and goes by the stage name Jay Imani. She’s currently working on an album and plans to release it on Quadio.
As a campus representative, Nichols’ main objective is to inform the student population about Quadio. She places flyers in the dorms, sends messages in GroupMe chats and even occasionally walks up to students on campus to talk to them about the platform.
Another responsibility of campus representatives for Quadio includes hosting two promotional events a semester. Nichols already has plans in the works for her two events.
“Right now, I’m working on my first event,” Nichols said. “We’re trying to do a Music Midtown but for Quadio artists, but it’s going to be intercollegiate. We’re trying to get artists from UGA, Georgia Tech and all the artists involved with Quadio from Georgia.”
Her second event is to re-create NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concert” for herself. Nichols also noted that campus representatives don’t have to host their two events alone. They are more than welcome to work on and co-host events collaboratively.
Even though as a campus representative she doesn’t get paid, Nichols still sees it as a great opportunity that will pay off in the long run.
“I don’t get paid, but as an artist, it helps me a lot. I’m working on an EP right now, so when that drops, the fact [that] I am a Quadio artist and I’m able to host events like that, it brings a lot of attention to my name. So, it will help my music career,” Nichols said.
Quadio is still currently seeking more campus representatives. Both Nichols and Maurer encouraged students to reach out if they are interested. Maurer also encouraged students to try out the app.
“I think the biggest incentive for artists and listeners alike is that you can see in real time all the music being put out by people in your area. Who wouldn’t want to know that your next favorite artist sits next to you in your ECON-100 course?” Maurer said. “Also on the artist front, we put on a lot of live events: from the events hosted by our campus reps to our major events hosted by the events team at Quadio HQ. We pick artists for cool opportunities like this based on how they perform on the Charts, so put your music on Quadio and get your fans to stream it!”
Editor’s Note: During the time that the interviews took place and that the article was written, Quadio was still in its beta-version on a web browser. Although Maurer wouldn’t reveal the app launch date, she did confirm that it would be live by the time this article was published.
