Welp, we did it. This is post number 1,000.
I Heart Local Music had several homes before landing as an independent site. This music coverage was previously seen on LiveJournal, Topeka blogs, and more. Now, we’ve been proudly serving the Lawrence and Kansas City community by highlighting local musicians and events in the area.
To reward you for sticking it out with us, here’s a little bit of trivia:
1. The #1 most-viewed story in the history of our site is a photo gallery from the first day of the Kanrocksas Music Festival in 2011. It is followed closely by a feature on Nate Harold, a former Lawrencian who toured with the band FUN, a concert review of Kawehi, and a feature introducing a brand new act (at the time) called Your Friend. Back then she spelled it as Y(our) Fri(end).
2. We have published nearly 300 photo galleries.
3. We were the first to introduce you to dozens of artists who went on to find great success, such as signing with major labels and embarking on world tours. This includes Your Friend and Radkey.
4. When we initially started, we were renting our gear. Eventually, we launched a kickstarter campaign to help raise the funds we needed for our own cameras.
5. We have thrown more than a dozen events in three different states featuring local bands in order to get the bands more exposure.
6. We have covered local musicians on location in at least six states (Kansas, Missouri, California, Wisconsin, Washington, and Texas).
7. Because we are based in a college town, the size of the staff fluctuates at I Heart Local Music. At one time, there was just one person on staff (the editor).
8. We have a strict code of ethics that our staff must follow in order to highlight the local music scene.
9. Most of our recent efforts have gone toward providing funds to Midwest Music Foundation by hosting fundraisers and selling the I Heart Local Music Swimsuit Calendar.
10. When someone short lets us stand in front of them to take a photo at a packed concert, we generally reward them with some I Heart Local Music merch.
Thank you, readers and local musicians. You are the reason we get up and go to work every day. We firmly believe one is only as good as their community, and it’s important to take care of ours.
We’ll see you at the show.
I Heart Local Music