Moods Mission Statement
Moods is a network of nightlife workers, techno fans, and artists that platforms music outside of techno. We explore our community’s roots and origins to understand how music migrates from one geography and generation to another. We do this through monthly mixes, merchandise, and low-capacity events.
Vision
We envision a world where the techno community is softer, kinder, slower, and more intentional with our stories and each other. We deserve space to discuss narratives that inspire us on and off the dance floor. We hang out during the day, we spin Motown, we share recipes, we show up, and we remind each other of our strongest elders and ancestors. There are no keepers of the gate; just keepers of stories.
Impact
- Sustained support: we’ve platformed over 40 artists’ sonic origin stories since 2018, totalling over 45 hours of music, 550+ songs, and 400+ musicians.
- Global reach: we’ve hit 18,000+ listeners across six continents. That’s around 20,000 hours of music played through Moods—or 2.2 years of nonstop music around the globe.
- Economic sustainability: we’ve distributed $4,397 to 50+ artists, event organizers, venue hosts, contributors, and curators. And through merchandise sales, monthly subscriptions through Drip (2018-2020), and Paypal subscriptions (2020-present), we’ve brought in over $6,000 in revenue to pay for mixes, curators, events, merchandise, and online hosting fees.
- Season one: $670 disbursed
- Season two: $360 disbursed
- Season three: $870 disbursed
- Season four: $2497 disbursed
Goals
- Platform established and emerging artists, fans, musicians, and nightlife workers.
- How is this done? Curating monthly mixes, designing merch, and hosting events.
- Become a discovery tool and archival resource to better understand how music migrates from one geography and generation to another.
- How is this done? Creating playlists to build narratives through music, reference and highlight past mixes and collaborations, make space for events that celebrate music outside of techno, talk to press and publish findings.
- Center Detroit stories—the birthplace of techno—but extend our geographic lens.
- How is this done? Curate, on average, three mixes a year from Detroit-based people; the remaining nine mixes can tell stories from other cities and countries.
Values
- We pay everyone for their labor—visible or invisible.
- We listen to everyone’s voice and taste equally. A seasoned DJ’s selections matter just as much as an eager fan with no experience playing or making music.
- We are a corrective narrative force, ensuring Detroit, Black, Femme, Queer, Trans, and more marginalized voices have space to speak through our microphone.
- Anyone who loves techno belongs here; or, gatekeeping is boring!
- We reject racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, ageism, and classism.
- We call in community members when friction happens and/or values are broken. Resolution is achieved through accountability meetings between Moods organizers and community members.
- We invest time in elevating our complex musical heritage. If someone needs a year to make their mix, we give them a year.
Team
2018: Daniel Sharp (curator, event organizer, Merch 01 designer)
2019: Daniel Sharp (curator, event organizer)
2020:
- Daniel Sharp (curator, event organizer)
- Crystal Gause (curator)
2021:
- Daniel Sharp (curator, event organizer, Merch 02 designer)
- Crystal Gause (curator, event organizer)
- Miguel Cisne (curator)
- Jamie Johnson (curator)
2022:
- Daniel Sharp (curator, event organizer, Merch 03 designer)
- Crystal Gause (curator, event organizer)
- Miguel Cisne (curator, event organizer)
- Jamie Johnson (curator, merchandise designer)
- Laura Vicinanza (curator)
- jack withers (curator)
Description / Bio
Moods (2017-ongoing) is a community-curated mix series of music outside of techno. We select techno fans, artists, musicians, and nightlife workers to play 1-2 hours of music that demonstrates their roots and origins outside of the genre. These mixes are then paired with low-capacity events and merchandise to explore where the techno community comes from and explain why that matters. The project aims to be an archival resource and discovery tool to better understand how music migrates from one geography and generation to another.