The News on MUZE

Art by Rebekah Czukoski

Picture this: you’re an aspiring musician who just graduated from Berklee College of Music, one of the top-ranking music schools in the country, and are now gathering together a decent catalog of your own, original material. But because the Boston music scene is relatively small, you make the strategic move to Nashville, Tennessee–or as the world refers to it (in its more colloquial term): “Music City.” Seems great, right? You’re completely set; you’ve got your music, you’re in the right area, now you just have to wait until someone discovers your talent. But first, you need to find a space where you can play and actually have the opportunity to be discovered (which is easier said than done). Unfamiliar with the area, you know no venues, who is actually hiring entertainment, who is already playing, or what the general music need of the public may be. Well, that’s where MUZE steps in.

This new business has arrived in Boston and nobody’s yet ready for it. MUZE, an Airbnb style music booking company, is filling a gap that we didn’t know existed. By providing a platform for local artists to connect with local venues, it is both quickly and fairly meeting the needs of each side of its customer base–changing the music business landscape as we know it. 

The idea for MUZE started after co-founder and Berklee alumni Elijah Stavena, first began working at large companies in the music industry, such as NBC’s The Voice and Def Jam Records. Upon accepting these positions, he quickly “began realizing that the music industry only works for the top one percent.” Sitting on this unfair truth and later feeling unprepared when a family friend asked if he knew an artist who could play at a last-minute cocktail party, he was stricken with the knowledge that there wasn’t really an app or online entity that could deliver instant services of finding and booking live performers. 

“The problem is [that] musicians don’t know where to find the performance opportunities, and as we have found out, the general public doesn’t know where they can find a musical performer that fits their performance needs,” Elijah stated.

With a background in Business and Marketing, fellow Emersonian and Cofounder, Adriana Alavi, pushed to hit the ground running when it came to meeting these newly realized needs. Finding a passion and drive to build the company, her partnership with Stavena began, and MUZE was born. 

“In the last four months, we have done over three-hundred events, ranging from some of the biggest night clubs in the city, to weddings, restaurants, and even real estate open houses. Regardless, within thirty minutes of booking a band or musician, they can be at the facility ready to play,” Alavi confidently states. 

The opportunities are out there, and they are abundant. According to Alavi, MUZE’s vision is simply to bring back the art form of live music in an easy, approachable way. 

With over three hundred artists and venues already committed to and excited about this project, there’s no telling where it’ll go next. Now that MUZE is newly incorporated, Stavena and Alavi are eagerly pushing their platform development, eventually hoping to expand outside of Massachusetts. But one thing’s for certain: the music industry needs a change and this very well could be it.