Muzaik Blogs

     I pull up to a storage facility's gate at 5:30 pm. I open my window to the 6 degree wind and punch in the code for the gate and it shakes open. I drive past the rows of storage units until I see one with a big white van. After parking my bulky Acura on the narrow, snow covered pavement, I walk up to the van to see the face of The Hawkeyes, Jay Wiley.      I've been hanging out with Jay Wiley of The Hawkeyes for about a week now and I understand why everyone I've talked to about him have said he's "the hardest working man in Pittsburgh".  I first heard this uttered when filming a production meeting for The Hawkeyes' upcoming album. "Jay Wiley, hardest working man in the business" said Sean McDonald, Jay's producer. I thought that was just Sean kissing ass. He's not going to say "biggest piece of shit out there", right? Sean kept saying it.      Jay is packing the van in preparation to go to Indiana, PA to perform at th...

     As the founder of Muzaik, I get to talk to a lot of musicians. When I tell them what Muzaik is, they love it. The conversations start with a bewildered look as I explain what it is. Once the explanation lands, they get excited. Eyes get bigger, body language loosens, people get more comfortable. They know I'm not trying to take anything from them. Just building this community. Face-to-face. The crack of a smile is all I need to know. We're all looking for the same thing. To come together. Community, especially in the creative realm, is crucial. Everything is a good idea in a vacuum. What is music, or art for that matter, but a culmination of everything you've ever heard and experienced, put through the eyes you see the world with. Now, if there are more eyes that are seeing that message before it gets put out into the world, the worldview of the art gets bigger. I think that is just absolutely beautiful. Reality is perception. Your reality changes once there is a...

     I found a complete lack of community in the creative environment. There just wasn't a place where we all were hanging out. I wanted to work with other creative people to get my own creative juices flowing. Although the internet has made our world so small, we still don't know how to connect with each other to collaborate. We are much greater than the sum of our parts (you, me, all of us). I found the lack of portfolio/collaboration platforms pretty discouraging. "What if nobody is doing this? What if nobody wants amateurs working on their videos?" "Well then, how does anybody start?" People need to connect. Nobody ever "made it" by themselves (as much as they'd love to tell you they did). Art takes collaboration and hustle. Nobody can give you hustle, but Muzaik provides a tool for collaboration. Muzaik is a network of creative people who want to collaborate and showcase their work as musicians, photographers, graphic designers and...