Thomas McAulay and Jared McCammon want to showcase bands and solo artists performing in unusual places on their charity site, Causewaves.com.
It started with indie bands playing acoustic music at subway stops. Thomas McAulay and Jared McCammon would film artists and bands like OK Go, Saves the Day and Matt Costa at different subway stops throughout New York City and post them to their website, subwaysessions.com.
Causewaves, the new website the two 23-year-old Mira Costa alumni are currently working on would take the same concept—videos of artists performing in unlikely places or in unique ways—and add links to donate to charities of the participating artists’ choice.
McAulay and McCammon aim to raise $9,000 in funds by Sept. 27 to start the project and launch the website, causewaves.com. They’re a third of the way to their goal and encourage donations through Indiegogo.com. The site will launch showcases of nine artists in nine different locations. Although McAulay and McCammon said they’ve begun working with bands to collaborate on the project, they said they cannot name any of them yet.
The website is partially inspired by the pair’s love of music, as well as their interest in changing the nature of charity concerts.
“We were seeing them do it poorly a lot up until now so we wanted to step in and see it done well,” McAulay said.
McAulay and McCammon said that by allowing performing artists to pick charities for website visitors to donate to, the cause becomes more meaningful to both the artists and the audience.
“We’re also in a culture of ‘slack-tivism’ now where people think making a Facebook status is making a difference,” McAulay said.
Although it will be possible for viewers to stream videos on Causewaves, McCammon said that they will be strongly encouraged to donate money, and that they will be required to donate money if they want to download video or audio from the site.
“We’re trying to get it in people’s heads to see it’s not that hard to take the extra step and throw a couple dollars in,” McCammon said.
They said the site is non-profit, and that they would eventually like to host benefit concerts as well.
McAulay and McCammon are also interested in using the site to showcase music in innovative ways.
“Every session we do something very new or in a location that hasn’t been used before,” McCammon said.
“You don’t always see an entire folk band playing at the end of a drain pipe,” McAulay said.
McAulay, who is a freelance camera operator, and McCammon, a contracted roadie who recently went on tour with Linkin Park and Incubus, have been friends since high school and recall working summer jobs together when they were 15. They collaborated on their Subway Sessions website together when McCammon was studying music business at NYU and McAulay was attending Hofsra University to study video and television and business.
They are currently in business together to produce audio and video for concerts and events.
They said that between their combined interests in film and music and their connections in those industries, they thought they were a natural fit to pair on the project.
“We really like spreading music too,” McAulay said. “We like it as a universal language.” ER
