In 2013, Groupmuse launched as an app to help you put on live classical concerts in your home. It was the height of the app boom, and outlets from Wired to the Wall Street Journal praised Groupmuse as the AirBnB or the Uber “of classical music.” Those comparisons read differently now—but Groupmuse was never trying to undermine an existing industry through race-to-the-bottom economics. Instead, it hoped to essentially resurrect the salon concert. Ten years later, I spoke to founders Kyle Schmolze and Sam Bodkin about the sense of musical belonging, the economics of living-room concerts, and expanding from Western to world classical music.
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