grey matter is a social music app with expressive ways to share, discover, and support the music you love.
we are:
- a community layer on top of existing streaming platforms.
- a public benefit corporation, owned and operated by artists.
- a working product and a work in progress.
our mission is to connect people through music and build enduring value for those who make it.
Come on through 👋
Music is one of the most human things we do. But we live in an era where the convenience of tech shouts louder than our friends. While there is no substitute for real-life connection, there should be a digital solution that better supports it.
We’re building Grey Matter to be that digital solution. Our vision is a global music community dedicated entirely to sharing, discovering, and supporting music.
We are a team of musicians, DJs, writers, independent music marketers, curators, and fans. We’re building Grey Matter with and for the people that create the most value in the music industry: artists and the humans that support, amplify, and gather around their music.
“The computer can’t tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but what’s missing is the eyebrows.”
Music has been a fundamental part of human life since time immemorial, pivotal to the way we form culture, convey feeling, and identify with one another.
Emotional exchanges and connections that happen through music remain irreproducible by anyone besides humans: chance conversations at record stores, the sweaty camaraderie of a punk show mosh pit, thanking an artist to her face, and conversely, hearing from a fan that your music means something to them. Add to that the power of human-to-human music discovery — the whispered lineage of “my god, have you heard this yet?” These are those eyebrows.
But we live in an era where the convenience of tech shouts louder than our friends. Streaming platforms promise listeners personalization but the tradeoff is isolation. By obscuring other people’s behavior in their platforms, they remove opportunities for shared meaning. They remove the human element that’s so inherent to music.
Streaming isn’t going anywhere, though, at least not for a while. Billions of people stream music every day, so we’re helping it evolve.
We’re building a community layer on top of streaming platforms where we can find each other through the music we love. It’s meant to be the connective tissue that reminds us there are human beings on both ends of every song: the people who make it and the people who listen to it, support it, and amplify it.
Through means inspired by real-life music connection — creative expression, shared meaning, and community-driven support — we’re building a digital solution with eyebrows.
Why?
Because music is interdependent. Connection through music is the origin for both community and support. It’s why we pay to go see music together. It’s why we create fan clubs around the people that make it. It’s why we feel good when we support the artists that move us. So in the words of Deltron 3030:
"Upgrade your grey matter, 'cause one day it may matter."
We’re gathering around the firm belief that music and its communities are essential.
Feel the same way? Wink at us from across the way, show off those eyebrows: contact@greymatter.fm.
