SWITCH Nashville: A Premium Music Collective Built for Nashville’s Next Generation of Music Industry Leaders
On August 26, Madison Monroe announced the launch of her company, SWITCH Nashville.
Monroe, a Belmont University sophomore, describes the aim of SWITCH, “I want to bring people together who take music seriously.” She discusses a blurry divide in Nashville between people who pursue music as a hobby and those who pursue it as a career.
The SWITCH vision is described in the Instagram launch post, “Hundreds of young artists move to Nashville every year with big dreams, but quickly hit a ceiling in standard bar sets, writers’ rounds, and traditional cover shows that aren’t built for long-term leverage.”
Monroe first had the idea for SWITCH while trying to form a band during her first semester at Belmont, but she chose to commit to the idea in recent months. The idea was supported by the love for event production she developed when producing her high school’s “Lip Sync Battle” every year. She’s from the Chicagoland area and has also previously won a National Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Emmy for a high school project, highlighting skills in video editing.
Monroe wants to support committed young artists by putting them in high-profile performance settings. The first SWITCH event is titled Nashpalooza and will be held at The Trimble on September 25. Monroe chose this venue for the first show due to the venue’s popularity among local college students. This will help her implement her priority of giving platforms and therefore paying forward to her relationships with the performing acts, many of whom are her friends.
Fittingly, as artists grow, SWITCH will grow too. Down the line, Monroe hopes to collaborate with the real estate industry and put on shows at luxury mansions on the market.
The line-up for Nashpalooza consists of previously established bands The Band Light, Probably Not, Half Baked, Finding Franklin, and Sleep Naked. Additionally, there will be two “SWITCH Bands”, made up of musicians in the country and pop/rock genres, respectively.
The SWITCH bands are groups of independently functioning musicians collaborating for a one-off gig. The framework is inspired by School of Rock, an organization Monroe participated in for about ten years of her youth. In the School of Rock model, students are put into groups to create a show and perform it after three months of rehearsals.
The country SWITCH band will feature Morgan Higman, Kylie Small, Jax Dion, Lily Monet, and Brody Bates. The pop/rock SWITCH band will include Sadie Haynes, Mara Gary, Shelly Rose, Palmer Holden, and Evan Statile.
Monroe doesn’t want showcases to be the only thing SWITCH does. Following this gig, she plans to develop toward a goal of hosting parties and live music, but also educational retreats and workshops. These workshops could teach participants about topics such as navigating the music industry as a teenager, handling online hate, making friends in the industry, online music promotion, and more. She also hopes to provide networking opportunities that will unite, in her words, emerging creatives and strategic operators in fields like A&R and marketing.
At the moment, the SWITCH administration is heavily Belmont-oriented. Belmont sophomore Andrew Russell, who Monroe previously developed a great work relationship with through several years of being in the same School of Rock house band, assists with musical direction and stage management. Lexi Bertuzzi, also a sophomore, co-creates social media graphics with Monroe. Monroe wants the team to grow as the company develops. The emphasis on building community could not be clearer.
Monroe also takes a moment to shed light on the important differences between members of every community: “I’m African American. I’m someone navigating my sexuality and my faith.” Combining these things with being female, entering any workforce where a lot of eyes are always on you is scary. But as Monroe puts it, “It doesn’t scare me enough to stop.”
Let this sentiment be your inspiration as you enter the Trimble on September 25 and watch dozens of talented and driven musicians perform their music. Taking the stage, being vulnerable, and going full-send is a risk every musician onstage is willing to take to build a successful career in the music industry. Buy your tickets here. Keep up with SWITCH Nashville on their Instagram and on their website.
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