Our mission
Born from frustration. Built with purpose.
Campfire took shape in a Music Industry Seminar at Georgetown University, taught by a musicologist and a music policy advocate: Anna Celenza, a Georgetown and Johns Hopkins author-professor, and Michael Bracy of Music Policy Forum. That class is where Campfire was first born as a final project. A group of student musicians, advocates, and technologists looked at a streaming economy that rewards major labels while independent artists struggle to survive. Our mission: lower the technological, financial, and educational barriers between musicians and a sustainable career.
Joined by students from Amherst, Grinnell, Northeastern, and Boston University, we incorporated as a Minnesota 501(c)(3) and have logged over 10,000 volunteer hours building a platform structured to pay artists fairly. The app is built and in active testing, and we're now raising the funds to launch publicly and bring on our first paid staff.
Our bylaws state our purpose in full: “The purpose of this organization is charitable: to advance art, music, education, and the creative interests of musicians by lowering the technological, monetary, and educational barriers to success in the music industry. This includes, but is not limited to: 1) creating a campfire atmosphere where multiple genres of music are offered with a loving spirit; 2) building a digital streaming platform to provide music to the public while at the same time fairly compensating the musicians for their labor; 3) investing in musicians so they have the time and resources to create additional artistic content; and 4) instructing and educating the public about the importance of creativity and the preservation of the creative arts.”
