Philadelphia is becoming a leading city for music lovers, from artists to concert-goers. With Vivid Seats rating Philadelphia the #1 city for live music, opportunities are also growing for local artists to get their foot in the door and start their musical career.
Jennifer Logue is not only a singer/songwriter based in Philadelphia, but she is a leader in shining light onto Philadelphia’s local music scene. She started Rock On Philly, a music website featuring a diverse selection of national and local talent for Philadelphia music lovers to discover new artists. With a team of upbeat, honest writers and photographers, she has built a community that strives to get down to the roots of natural, raw talent and expose it to the outside community.
Talk a little bit about Rock On Philly. What motivated you to create it?
Rock On Philly started as a music website. Our whole purpose is to market local music to a mainstream audience. I started Rock On Philly as a personal blog just so I could share with my friends in other parts of the world to look at all this cool music we have here [in Philly]. There is so much talent here, and I get chills thinking about it. It’s talent that’s not entitled. With Philly, it’s about “Are you good at your craft? Are you honest? Are you real?” That’s what lasts. Philly just has the best scene I’ve experienced.
What type of work does Rock On Philly do?
Rock On takes up a lot of time. We’re doing events, too, in Philly. It’s not just coverage of the scene from a media standpoint. We always try to do a mix of local and national artists coming through town. We try and make local music really accessible because I feel like a lot of music outlets out there are catering to people already in the know. At Rock on Philly we want to make everyone feel comfortable coming to our site, even non-musicians.
How do you help the music community outside of Rock On Philly?
In terms of helping in other ways, I offer guidance to musicians who ask for advice about their career. Councilman David Oh wants to create a Philadelphia Commission for the Music Industry, so I’m helping with that along with other community leaders. A lot of musicians will leave Philly once they reach a certain level of notoriety. We’re trying to bring the industry back here because the talent is here. However, if we don’t have the infrastructure to support them on the business side, they’re going to leave and go to places like New York and Los Angeles.
Rock On Philly has a feature called #KNOWYOURSCENE. Tell everyone a little about that.
#KNOWYOURSCENE is all about spotlighting people in the music community that are behind the scenes. From producers to mixing engineers to booking agents to managers, there are so many people who make the Philly music scene tick. These people aren’t in front of the camera but they work tirelessly to make the scene great. By giving them a spotlight, it shows our appreciation and also helps foster collaboration by letting aspiring artists know who’s who out there. If you’re new to the game, it can be hard finding the right information at first.
What sets Philadelphia aside from other cities?
I’ve been to a lot of cities as an artist and I’ve never seen the amount of talent that I do in Philly. It might be something in the water. (laughs) We’re also a hard-working, no frills kind of city and I think this is ingrained in our music scene. It’s not about being discovered, it’s about getting out there, playing, getting better at your craft and making yourself. The power lies with you. We do it for the love.
— Text and images by Sarah Sweigart and Breanna Keohane.
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