Boiler Room (music broadcaster)

In March 2010 Blaise Bellville, Thristian "Thris Tian" Richards and Femi Adeyemi, the founder of NTS Radio, to record a mixtape for his online magazine platform. This led to the creation of Boiler Room.[10][11][12] The name Boiler Room and initial idea came about from an overheard conversation in a bar in Hoxton Square. The first Boiler Room session was recorded using a webcam duct taped to the wall of a disused boiler room, and the session was broadcast live online on Ustream.[13][14]

During this period, Boiler Room developed their format of filming a DJ facing the camera, a projected visual backdrop of the Boiler Room logo overlaid on old rave video footage, with Time Out noting: "the artists are, after all, the sole attraction at Boiler Room: attendees are positioned behind the decks in a bedroom DJ style set-up so that the selector is always the main figure in view.".[15]

Boiler Room's first session in March 2010 turned into a weekly show, becoming a Ustream "Supported Channel" and getting widespread press recognition, with coverage from the BBC, Fader, Time Out, Hypetrak, and Dummy Magazine, who noted that "from a small room in Dalston to a globe-spanning brand, in just over a year Boiler Room has emerged as one of the most important broadcasters in underground music."[16][17][18][19]

In its first year in 2010, Boiler Room featured performances from mostly electronic musicians and DJs including Theo Parrish, Jamie xx, SBTRKT, Hudson Mohawke, Jamie Woon, Mount Kimbie, Falty DL, James Blake, and Ben UFO.[19][20][21][22][23][24] London based record labels Young Turks and Hessle Audio, as well as hip-hop collective Livin' Proof, hosted Boiler Room takeovers in 2010.[20][23][25] Radiohead hosted a Boiler Room takeover in October 2011, featuring sets by Thom Yorke, Jamie xx, Caribou, Lone, and Illum Sphere.[26]

Boiler Room first began international shows in August 2011 with a run hosted in Germany by Michail Stangl, a Russian-born music curator and DJ.[27][28][29][30] Shortly thereafter, Boiler Room expanded in the United States, starting with broadcasts in Los Angeles headed up by Sofie Fatouretchi Royer,[31][32][33][34] an Austro-Iranian artist and musician.

The early focus on the underground music scene and electronic music in London has broadened. It has hip hop, jazz, experimental, classical, world music and talk-based podcast formats.[35][36]

2014 was defined by a push into classical music, launched with German prepared pianist Hauschka,[37] and followed by broadcasts from St. John's Church in Hackney featured Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and Julia Holter.[38] A broadcast within the Pula Arena in Croatia[39] saw Nils Frahm perform.[40]

The platform has partnered with music festivals including SXSW, Sónar, Dimensions, and Dekmantel.[41][42][43]

Boiler Room launched in China with a show in Beijing in April 2016 followed by a show in Shanghai with Disclosure in May 2016.[44]

Boiler Room's first full-length documentary, on Atlanta based collective Awful Records, launched in June 2016.[45] Boiler Room has since continued producing TV shows and documentaries aimed at telling stories tied to the people, artists and culture.[46] This includes shows like Gasworks, a 20-minute, grime-focused talk show starring Alhan Gençay & Poet.[46]

In 2018, Boiler Room launched '4:3', a platform for film, documentary and music videos, with Amar Ediriwira as its creative director. In 2019, the first 'Boiler Room Festival' was announced in Peckham, London. [47] The event showcased a different underground scene each day, across contemporary jazz, rap, and dance genres.[48]

Despite posting a net operating loss of £6,633,752 in 2018 and a loss of £1,299,656 in 2019,[49] Boiler Room controversially received £791,652 from Arts Council England via the Culture Recovery Fund scheme in October, 2020.[50]

In 2021, ticketing platform DICE bought Boiler Room for an undisclosed sum, after raising $122 million.[51][52]

• Gold Lovies – Best Music and Culture Platform[53]
• People's Choice Lovies – Best Music and Culture Platform[53]
• Digiday Media Awards – Best New Vertical[54]
• The Drum DADI Awards – Best Digital Strategy[55]
• The Drum DADI Awards – Best News Media Website[55]
• Webbys – Best Music Website[56]

• Webbys – Social Content Series & Campaigns – Migrant Sounds[57]
• The Drum Content Awards – Best News Marketing Strategy – System – Highly Commended[58]
• Drum Marketing Awards – Best Music and Entertainment Campaign – System[59]
• The Drum Awards – Best Media Content Marketing Campaign – System[55]

• Webbys – General Social-Music for Social – Contemporary Scenes[57]

• The Drum Digerati – Stephen Mai (Top 100 in Digital)[60]
• Campaign's Power 100 – Stephen Mai (Top 100 in Marketing)[61]
• Jodie Nicholson – Alternative Power 100 Music List[62]
• Video Team of the Year – Digiday Media Awards[54]