Intimate gigs hosted by global hand raisers 🎶 Rafe Offer, CEO of Sofar Sounds
Show Notes
Today we’re talking to Rafe Offer, CEO of Sofar Sounds (Sofar is an acronym for "Songs from a Room"), a community-led global movement that’s bringing the magic back to live music.
Dissatisfied with a concert-going experience in 2009, Rafe and two friends decided to take action. They hosted an intimate concert in a flat in North London for eight people. At the event, music was the undeniable focus: "At our gigs you could hear the music rather than the clatter of drinks being served, the purring of phones or murmur of side-bar conversations." Three living-room concerts later, there were lines around the block of people hoping to attend. Soon, people living in other countries raised their hands to bring the format to their cities.
Ten years later, there are 500 gigs per month in more than 300 cities worldwide, and more than 25,000 performers have put on Sofar shows - including big names from Leon Bridges and Billie Eilish to Benjamin Clementine and Karen O.
In our interview, we talk to Rafe about the origin of Sofar and how community members around the world host these gigs, and how Sofar went from hobby to a full-fledged business.
👋🏻Say hi to Rafe and Learn more about Sofar Sounds.
Listen and Subscribe to the Podcast:
Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Overcast, Pocketcast, RSS
Get Together is produced by the team at People & Company.
We published a book and we’ve worked with organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider as strategy partners, bringing confidence to how they’re building communities.
Stay up to date on all things Get Together.