Audiotree is an American music record label located in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, founded in 2011. The company

records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

and publishes live music sessions. It also promotes artists and organizes live events, and invites artists from around the world to enter a professional studio setting, to record, perform, and release a live EP free of cost.

History

Audiotree was founded in 2011 in Chicago by Michael Johnston and Adam Thurston, who saw the potential for a viable business recording live sessions for artist and sharing the revenue from sales. Michael Johnston was already working as an audio engineer in the Chicago area, and founded the company to help promote

independent artist Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...

s and bands. Johnston was removed from his post as president and CEO of Audiotree following his arrest for felony unauthorized videotaping in November of 2021. In 2018 Audiotree announced its extension into Canada, collaborating with Paquin Entertainment Agency to create a Canadian artist discovery platform.

Live events

The company's series known as Audiotree Live is broadcast from the studio directly to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

and the Audiotree website for fans to listen live. Audiotree company serves as one of the top music video outlets, having amassed over 700 thousand subscribers and 280 million video views on their YouTube channel as of 2022. Audiotree has held its annual Audiotree Music Festival since 2012. The festival is typically held in September, and takes place at the Arcadia Creek Festival Place in

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropol ...

. The festival was held every year until 2019, when Audiotree shifted their focus to hosting special concerts at their independently owned venues at Lincoln Hall and Schubas Tavern in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. At the end of 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, Audiotree began organizing live

virtual concert A virtual concert, also called V-concert or virtual live, refers to a performance in which the performers are represented by virtual avatars. Virtual concerts can take place in real life, where digital representations of the performers are project ...

s under a new segment called "Staged". This segment allowed fans to pay a small fee to join a private broadcast of the show, which they could stream as much as they want for 24 hours after completion. ''

Time Out Chicago ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition beca ...

'' noted that due to Audiotree's extensive prior experience with producing

streaming media Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content i ...

, the label was "uniquely equipped" to help bands keep performing online during the pandemic.

Business model

Audiotree typically shares revenue from sales of live session recordings with the artist, usually split 50:50. The company works mainly with musicians that are independent or on independent music labels. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic's limitations on public gatherings created problems for music venues, leading Audiotree to release merchandise online to help afford maintenance and other venue fees.

Recording process

In 2015–2016, Audiotree released a series of videos showing behind the scenes of how they record music and prepare video and lighting. The studio holds a wide variety of

microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike (), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and pub ...

s, ranging from the AKG 460 or the Royer 122 for acoustic guitar recordings, to a Telefunken M-82 used on the

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. T ...

. The company does on-the-spot

sound mastering In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

using

IZotope iZotope, Inc. is an audio technology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. iZotope develops professional audio software for audio recording, mixing, broadcast, sound design, and mastering which can be used in wide range of d ...

s Ozone 9 mastering VST, and partnered with Antelope Audio for

analog audio Analog recording is a technique used for the recording of analog signals which, among many possibilities, allows analog audio for later playback. Analog audio recording began with mechanical systems such as the phonautograph and phonograph. ...

equipment in their control room. In 2017 Audiotree started a new series named Far Out sessions, taking their work outside of the studio and recording live music sessions away from traditional music venues.

Selected roster

A complete roster is available on the Audiotree website; the dates of the selected sessions below are from the metadata of the relevant session pages. *

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References