👋 Hi, I'm Nicholas Roberts. I create and perform music and write this daily blog about creativity, culture, and my life.

I live in Los Angeles with my wife and golden retriever.

Email me: hello@nicholasroberts.io

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Most of my friends are musicians or songwriters.

Moving to a big city like LA can feel pretty daunting. It seems like everyone is creating cool stuff, but it's challenging to know how to get involved.

These have been my favorite community events for artists and songwriters since I moved here:

1. LASC: The Los Angeles Songwriting Collective hosts monthly events for songwriters, producers, and artists. Their events are usually divided into two parts. The first hour is an industry panel with other artists sharing their knowledge and wisdom on a specific topic (getting signed, management, collaboration), followed by an open mic or artist showcase featuring a range of songwriters from beginners to professionals.
2. Pop Hangs: Pop Hangs are networking events and listening parties for dozens of pop artists, producers, and songwriters. Typically held in a backyard in the Valley, these approximately monthly events attract between 50-100 people each time. Spend some time networking with everyone there for the first half of the event. Then, Pop Hangs turns into a pass-the-aux style event, where different artists are invited to share a new song they're working on and the types of people they want to collaborate with. This is the single best place to meet pop-related artists and songwriters.
3. Breaking Sound: This is a "secret" artist showcase typically held in different locations around LA. Similar to other events, there are industry panels and an artist showcase. These are a bit more curated than other open networking events. They request no photos or videos to be taken, as sometimes there are industry professionals present who may not want to be photographed. There are 4-5 featured artists that are always phenomenal, and playing Breaking Sound is considered an achievement. The audience is all people who work in music.
4. The Silverlake Lounge: Lastly, check out Silverlake Lounge's weekly open mic. If you do go, get there early! It's packed. This is the most popular music open mic in the city. Everyone in the audience of 30-50 people is a songwriter. Their open mic is open to all genres, but most people perform acoustic or over the aux. It's free to get in and watch, but you'll need to buy 1 drink at the bar to play at the open mic and get on the list. This event isn't as curated as some other ones, but it's the most community-feeling.

See you out there!