Holy Crap Records is a local podcast hosted by husband and wife JP and Cinnamon Kennedy. JP and Cinnamon focus their efforts on local, independent artists in the Asheville Community. Since their beginning in January of 2017, Holy Crap Records have produced 102 podcast episodes each focusing on new releases from 3-5 Asheville artists per show. In addition to the weekly podcast, Holy Crap has also made a website that has more in depth write-ups and featured artists.
While Holy Crap was not directly impacted by the coronavirus, as they do not have guests or in-person interviews on their weekly podcast, they decided to host a creative streaming competition called “April Madness.” The competition featured 32 underground artists, primarily from Asheville, Greenville SC, and Knoxville TN and lasted over 3 weeks. While there was no prize or award for winning, “April Madness” was a creative way to allow musicians to continue connecting with their fan base while unable to play shows. The event hosted by Holy Crap Records was also a way for musicians to potentially connect with an audience who they would have otherwise not come across as the event had a total of 47,259 views and facilitated thousands of other virtual interactions.
Several of the musicians who performed, including the winner Lainey Harrision, did creative things to make their performances more exciting, such as taking on the fly and previously unattempted cover requests and using kitchen utensils as percussion instruments. JP and Cinnamon claim that they have “some plans, lots of plans” to try and follow up the success of April Madness. It was exciting to follow this event and witness a successful “virtual festival” on a small local level.
Joseph Harrington
April 27, 2020 — 1:45 pm
I’m excited to check out this podcast. I think it’s amazing how successful they were able to make this ad hoc “local festival.” 47,529 views seem like a lot for something like this. The fact that Lainey won for being more creative with her performance makes me wonder where the world of virtual concerts is going. It’s obviously a big limitation to do a virtual concert but I’m excited to see how artists push the boundaries of creativity in the virtual world.
Dean Merritt
April 28, 2020 — 1:19 pm
I think it is cool to see all of the innovative ways that people in the music industry are employing during the COVID-19 Pandemic. This event gave some good exposure to both the podcast and several local bands with 47,529 views! I am curious about how streaming will be effected as things start to open up again? Will these sort of streamed competitions become part of mainstream culture, or will they die out?