Why Stem Shovel, Why Now?

Friends and colleagues have asked what inspired me to start building this app and the simplest answer is: I couldn't find the tool I wanted, so I built it.

I wanted a simple way to collaborate with my friends on music projects, though we have limited time, and we are all spread out across the country. And, by projects, I don't just mean recording. I mean songwriting, arranging, sharing ideas, sharing demos, sharing practice and who recording, sharing notation and lyrics, sharing stems, mixes, and finally (hopefully) finished recordings.

In short: I wanted an app that my friends and I could use to collaborate. And would help us create music together even when we're not together. Which sadly, these days, is most of the time.

Why is this important to me?

Well, I spent much of my twenties and a good portion of my thirties playing music with friends. Many times a week, and sometimes every day for years and years and years. And for me, there is almost no happier way to spend time. Being in a band, writing songs, playing shows, practicing... all are activities I dearly love and dearly miss.

Why am I the right person to lead this project?

Who knows, maybe I'm not. But I've spent nearly twenty years working on websites and web apps and I have some strong opinions, a pretty varied skillset, and enough experience to build it.

So here we are: the app is live in Beta and evolving every day.  It is far from perfect and it is far from complete. But it is my dearest hope that musicians and aspiring musicians will check it out and just maybe find it useful.