Some Questions. Some Answers?

Some Questions. Some Answers?
Photo by Emily Morter / Unsplash

What is Stereoactive Media?

It’s a project incubator. The goal is to help artists and producers develop, produce, and share their projects – whether music, videos, podcasts, or anything else we may be able to help with.

Wait, but is it a production company? A record label? A podcast network? Something else?

Yes.

Not sure you really answered that last question, did you?

I thought so, but take your point. The idea is that it can be many things and will be those things as needs arise. We set up shop as a record label for a couple of our first projects – and that’s something we’ll continue to be. At other points, we may also act as a production company, a network, a distributor, etc. – and in some of those cases, we’ll only “be” those things for temporary stretches as projects call for it, while others we’ll continue to “be” in more sustained or permanent ways.

Where did Stereoactive Media come from?

Basically, it’s something that’s grown out of a couple of long standing previous projects – mainly StereoactiveNYC and Fort Useless. StereoactiveNYC was an ongoing attempt to support and document the NYC/Brooklyn music scene that began in 2003 as a website and ended in 2019 as a podcast. Fort Useless was a venue that grew out of that and was open in Brooklyn from 2009-2014, presenting music, comedy, art, and more. In a lot of ways, Stereoactive Media is meant as a spiritual sequel to the creative and supportive community that was built at Fort Useless.

Who’s behind Stereoactive Media?

J. McVay, the founder of both StereoactiveNYC and Fort Useless, is the founder of Stereoactive Media. In addition to his experience with those projects, he’s been a video producer and musician for two decades. He also worked at an independent podcast and video network for a decade, first as head of video production, then also as a podcast producer and chief content officer. Feel free to look him up on LinkedIn if you're still curious.

Also, maybe you’re behind it? Hope so.

Where is Stereoactive Media based?

J. McVay is based in Tallahassee, Florida as of 2022. Before that, he was in Austin, Texas for three years. And before that, he lived in NYC/Brooklyn for more than 20 years, so much of the community Stereoactive Media serves is still based there – though that community has itself spread out to various other places at this point. A lot of the purpose of the venture, though, is to take the spirit of a “DIY” venue/artspace and try to do something similar outside of the limitations of a physical space. Not being limited to a fixed location hopefully means we can connect with people outside of that initial circle who are similarly community-oriented and supportive of artists and producers with interesting ideas.

So maybe the short answer is that it’s based online – or it’s intentionally not really based anywhere.

Still have a question? Please get in touch!