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San Francisco – Calling all Bay Area musicians! San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) is once again opening its popular free music streaming platform, Bay Beats, to provide local talent with a platform for expanding their audiences and reach. Starting March 1 through May 31, 2024, SFPL will accept submissions for consideration in all genres, from Jazz to Soul, Rap to Rock, Classical to World, New Age to Noise and everything in between. 

Musicians currently playing or recording in the nine Bay Area counties are eligible. Submission guidelines can be found at baybeats.sfpl.org/faq. Bay Beats will pay selected musicians a $250 honorarium for their participation, but artists are not required to grant exclusive rights to music on the site. Rather, artists are encouraged to share their music as much as possible.  

New this year: Bay Beats is encouraging artists of all ages to submit their recordings for consideration. Bay Beats is also seeking more submissions from the local Latinx and Chinese communities. In addition, the Library is excited to announce that a slate of Bay Beats performances are in the works to take place all around the City in 2024. 

SFPL received just over 600 submissions from artists when it put out its call for music in 2023. While more than a dozen other U.S. and Canadian public library systems—including Nashville, New Orleans, Austin and Seattle—have also adopted the music streaming software by tech startup Rabble, San Francisco carries the distinction of having doubled the number of submissions previously received by a library system. Musicians from all nine Bay Area counties uploaded tracks for consideration. In addition to nine community jurors—whose backgrounds range from a jazz bandleader to a traditional Chinese instrument musician to a Latin music radio DJ—a team of Library staff select the music for Bay Beats.  

“We were thrilled to have gotten such a warm and enthusiastic reception when we put out our first call for submissions last spring,” says librarian Brian Weaver, who oversees the project. “Musical talent in the Bay runs incredibly deep. We’re growing as a platform, and welcome bands and solo artists to come on board.” 

Anyone across the country and around the world curious to hear the sounds of the Bay Area can stream music on Bay Beats. Albums from more than 100 top-rated solo musicians and bands from popular genres—jazz to soul, rap to rock, classical to world—will be available for anyone to listen, with or without a library card. San Francisco Public Library cardholders have the added benefit of being able to download music. Additionally, the platform allows artists to curate their own band pages, so they can let their fans know the latest about upcoming gigs and new releases.  

To take a listen, visit baybeats.sfpl.org.  

About San Francisco Public Library:

San Francisco Public Library is dedicated to free and equal access to information, knowledge, independent learning and the joys of reading for our diverse community. The library system is made up of 27 neighborhood branches, the San Francisco Main Library at Civic Center and four bookmobiles.