Much like New Zealand’s Moas bird, the local electronic scene had gone extinct — until Moas Collective was founded to bring Columbia’s electronica back to life.
In spring of 2013, Mason Youngblood, a fourth-year biology student and WUSC music director, created Moas Collective. Through word of mouth, this web-based collaboration brought together different electronic DJs and producers working to get their music off the ground.
Moas Collective broadcasts a weekly radio show and podcast through WUSC, hosted by Youngblood under his producer name Callosum, which features DJs live-mixing and interviews with members of the collective.
While Columbia has a respectable music scene, the electronic community is the least represented out of the genres. EDM has made a name over the years, but that’s formed a bit of a creative roadblock when it comes to what venues are willing to play. Plenty of businesses play club music, but what about club music that is heavily influenced by R&B and disco?
“The main thing is networking with other people in town to find gigs,” Youngblood said. “It’s almost always about having an ‘in’ with venues.”
Moas Collective aims to bring these artists together not only to boost publicity, but also as a networking system among the artists themselves. Collaboration is valuable to any genre’s community, not just the less supported ones. Youngblood explained that when you bring together a group of artists with similar tastes and goals in mind, it’s beneficial for everyone involved.
“I think the coolest music comes out of working with people,” he said. “With electronic music, it’s easy for people to get stuck behind the laptop and not really have other people to share ideas and compare music with. That’s especially important in a smaller city, like Columbia.”
While Youngblood has been producing music as Callosum for over a year now, he admitted he wasn’t into electronic music before he joined WUSC. From starting as a DJ trainee to becoming the music director, Youngblood has spent all of his college years working for the radio station and says it has changed him for the better.
“[WUSC] has had a huge impact,” he said. “It was the first thing that ever sparked my interest in electronic music ... I wasn’t really into it until my freshman year. It has also helped me meet so many people who are also really passionate about music here in town.”
As a biology major planning on going into the neuroscience field, music is more of a passion than a future career path for Youngblood. Even while looking at grad schools, he found himself picking a school in a city where he can continue to produce and perform music. And even as he plans to move, Youngblood is planning to still be involved with Moas Collective.
Making money through music sales isn’t easy nowadays, particularly for up-and-coming record labels, and Youngblood is the first to admit that. That’s exactly why the collaboration is looking at Kickstarter, merchandise sales and hosting events in hopes of making some profit.
Moas Collective is Youngblood’s senior thesis, but it was his aspiration all along. Even as he's set to graduate in the spring and leave Columbia, Youngblood is not willing to call it a day for Moas Collective. He’s confident that the other members will keep collaborating to continue making an impact on Columbia’s music scene. And no matter where he goes, Youngblood doesn’t want to leave it for good — after all, it’s still a work in progress.
“It’s been slowly growing," he said. "But I’m very optimistic about it.”