Inside look on how I'm building a new event series

with insight on how to launch a series and the details that it takes

A new event series I’m planning is called AM.RADIO. I’ll dive into the idea, the name, the branding, the content plan, and everything it costs to run an event like this.

Wtf is AM.RADIO? A radio station?

If you cant tell by now, I love the nostalgic feel of the radio. Our podcast is called putyouon Radio, and it ties so well into information and music. Two things that are at the core of putyouon. I also love a play on words, and AM.RADIO signifies two things.

AM Radio

A.M./P.M.

So my idea was to have an event series that started before noon, and had a name that signified the radio and DJ’s. I feel no one was tapping into a massive audience- weekend coffee shop lovers. And I just love the way it sounds.

Now I have the name, but why a new event and where?

I posted a video talking about club culture dying, and traveling parties becoming popular. And the best traveling parties that artists are throwing are the ones that are shot and posted on YouTube. There is a serious wave of YouTube DJ sets like Elevator Music, Blackhouse Radio, Third floor sounds, and you can tell that brands and artists who are capitalizing on this new home for parties will gain major audiences. So the idea is simple:

Throw events with the intention of having artists we love perform recorded DJ sets. But you know me- we need to make these unique

At first, I had an idea to create an online only/ instagram page called “Music Dept.” that was posing as a vinyl shop, but without a physical location. No one really knew where the shop was supposed to be (because it wasn’t anywhere physical). We would post content of vinyl DJ sets, cool vinyl store pics, and then throw pop ups at vinyl stores and have DJ sets and sell merch once we built an audience.

But the more content research I was doing for posts, the more I fell in love with coffee shop content and the aesthetic of them. I myself (just like most people) love going to get my weekend coffee – and then I saw a video of a DJ set at a coffee shop counter and thought how original that was.

And my head started spinning.

What if I had a putyouon cafe? What if someone was spinning lofi? What if I invited people in the music industry and used this as a meetup?

But as I started to see the shift in content to long form YouTube DJ sets, it became obvious that being intentional on hour long DJ sets in coffee shops and a fun vibe would be a move (there are barely any on YouTube) and there are so many fun branding things that you can do with it. So I had my idea.

• Morning Coffee event on the west side of LA

• Recorded DJ Sets posted to YouTube

• Custom coffee cups and merch in store

• A dedicated playlist

• A dedicated Instagram page

I started an Instagram page to have a dedicated home to the event series and post clips of the sets, post photos and highlights of the atmosphere, grow the music club (music club will be the first to know when we have our first one + receive the invite) and promote the new AM.RADIO playlist. I’m currently posting cafe DJ sets to build audience, showcase the vibe of what the events will be, and show love to the art of coffee shop sets. It will take a lot of content to get to 1,000 followers but I’m excited. All posts will be collab posts with the putyouon.club Instagram page to extend reach as well as show the connection of the two pages.

Now- Where will these be?

I threw a music club meetup when Jerro came to LA.

We had a meeting with his team about it to see how we could support, and they told us they were doing it at a coffee shop. And the coffee shop was called Boulevard Coffee on Abbot Kinney in Venice (and they sold beer and wine). So when we met up there, I was amazed at the size of the space, the vibe, and the location. I instantly knew that was where I wanted to host AM.RADIO. So I found the owner, shook his hand, told him I had an idea to throw something there, and set up a call. I’ve said it before, but it pays to get out and meet people

Lastly, what does something like this cost?

Because I was able to secure the partnership and we’re going to be pushing people to the shop- Boulevard isn’t charging us for the space. Its a true partnership for these.

Current Cost: $0

We have to rent CDJ’s and Speakers for the event, but I’m currently looking for a speaker sponsor to provide the speakers for free. We’ll add this cost in for now since I do not have one yet.

Current Cost: ~$500

I’m renting cameras from my friend’s media company to shoot the event for a discounted rate. I’m editing the content myself to save costs, keeping this part pretty affordable.

Estimated Cost: ~$700

The goal is to sell sponsors for the flyers, table top logos, and product placement. I think we can become profitable with these, but the long term value of creating a YouTube presence of sets and audience is the real value play here. If you want to come to our first one and get the notification first, join the music club and come experience something fun in Venice.

-Steve