Aussie Start-up Everywhere Roadie Selected For SXSW Showcase

27 February 2017 | 2:58 pm | Staff Writer

The local company sprung up mid-last year to broad acclaim

Local company and 'music marketplace' Everywhere Roadie has been selected as one of 20 organisations from around the world to showcase as part of this year's SXSW Startup Spotlight program at next month's event in the United States.

Launched in June last year, Everywhere Roadie was started by friends and musicians Kate Bradley and Liz Thomas (with their mate and business partner Martin MacDonald) in an effort to provide performers with a more affordable way to source equipment and instruments — heck, even photographers, film crews and sound engineers — when they're on the road.

The idea had its genesis when Bradley (aka Ramona Moore, of Dark Fair) was touring and had to borrow an amp, finding quickly that the price had blown out past the $200 mark.

"That's when I thought, 'There must be an easier way of doing this!'" she told The Music last year.

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The platform has been leaped upon by strapped musos around the country, growing to include bonuses including access to discounted accommodation and van hire. Originally, the Bradley and Thomas wanted to see Everywhere Roadie's membership stretch across Australia and New Zealand — "especially in regional areas", Thomas said at the time, as they desired to be "an integral part of enabling bands to tour in areas that may not have been previously accessible or affordable for them" — and now the founders are ready to take their idea to the world.

"We really want to see a service that could be global that’s going to help musicians to tour the land … in a way they can actually save some money and make some money when they’re on the road," Bradley said in a statement.

More information about Everywhere Roadie is available at its website.

SXSW 2017 gets under way from 10 March in Austin, Texas. Everywhere Roadie will feature at the Music Startup Spotlight event on 14 March, alongside fellow innovators Cultivate, Even, Jammber, Musx, NPREX (National Performing Rights Exchange), Nymbus, OneAvenue, OnlyinVR, RIFF.TVR, RoadNation, Skytracks, Songstream, Songtradr, SoulSence, TuneRegistry and Vocalz VU, among others.