Denver Music Community Launches Classifieds Page

Though Denver does not claim to compete with the likes of Nashville or L.A., the city is home to a thriving music community. From underground punk to experimental R&B, musicians run the gamut of genre in the city’s high elevation. Denver Music Community aims to stitch the scope of musicians together with their latest project — a Musician’s Classifieds page.

A year ago, during the initial run of quarantine, co-owners and co-founders Shaun Chapman and Bootz started a podcast discussing the local music community. The podcast featured advice for young musicians as well as Denver-oriented tips. From that podcast, the website was born with the goal of providing as many free resources for musicians as possible.

“It’s definitely hard to be able to find all those resources because they’re often scattered around the various parts of the internet,” Bootz said. “We really had this idea of providing those resources and gathering them all in one place for the community.”

Chapman and Bootz have a combined 20 years of experience within the local music community. Chapman being a musician himself and Bootz a photographer and big music fan, the duo understands the community and its needs better than most. Currently, Denver Music Community provides Instagram features, a Spotify playlist of local artists, a YouTube channel of music videos, the classifieds page, the podcast and a blog. Where the website houses reviews of local albums and interviews with local acts, the blog centers around advice. The most recent post offers musicians advice on running a successful Instagram page to promote themselves.

“I think [the classifieds page] is about building that community aspect,” Chapman said. “And pushing to provide those resources that will take musicians far, as well as help musicians achieve what they want to with their music.”

Photo Courtesy of Denver Music Community’s Facebook

A major element of the page is musicians helping other musicians. Once a post is made, the original poster can be contacted directly from the information provided. Musicians, photographers, industry folk, merch designers and whoever else are able to find each other in a mutually beneficial, free space. With 12 posts currently after launching only a little over a month ago, the classifieds page continues to grow.

“We’re coming at it from the experience that we have in the community and what we see as things that people can use to benefit their music practice,” Bootz said.

Posts on the page currently feature musicians seeking collaborations with keyboard players, guitarists, drummers and bass players. Those offering services such as cassette duplication and event photography also grace the page. Whatever realm of the Denver music world a person comes from, they can find what they may be seeking in the classifieds.

“We’ve received really good feedback,” Chapman said. “We’re just kind of building it up, it’s a work in progress at this time. But it’s out there and in enough time, people will find it. It’s there for them to use and benefit from.”