Commercial media has largely abandoned local and emerging music acts, hunting down pageviews, eyeballs, and other numbers. Yet there are other metrics, ones that favor innovative, risk-taking artists and spaces that welcome them with elements like artistry, complexity, and social impact.

Many listeners want to find music with these qualities, not just hear more about the same pop celebs and legacy stars. This resulting discovery void has pushed more and more fans to seek out new ways to find intriguing, emerging bands. One place many music lovers have flocked: public radio. These listener-supported stations, freed from profit-driven models, are doing more than sending out new recordings over the airwaves. They are also producing immense amounts of online content like in-studio performance videos and streams of live sets.

Thanks to the not-for-profit music video app and platform VuHaus, public radio stations can now showcase this content collectively in one place, to bolster artists on-the-rise from their local music scenes. As an extension of the stations, the platform’s status as a non-profit organization frees it from commercial pressure.

“The public radio stations in VuHaus have been at the vanguard of music discovery for decades, taking risks and investing in the careers of unknown musicians and spinning their records when no one else was paying attention,” says Roger LaMay, GM of WXPN in Philadelphia.  “This mission driven ethos is firmly ingrained in the VuHaus DNA, as our stations are constantly working to uncover the best new talent, regardless of commercial appeal.”

Because VuHaus is owned by the public radio stations it serves, like KCRW in Los Angeles, WFUV in New York City, KUTX in Austin, WXPN in Philadelphia, they answer only to the tastes of programmers and the demands of their audiences. This collective ownership and non-profit status provides VuHaus and their stations the flexibility to allow artistic quality and relevance to dictate curation.

Producers and programmers from the stations themselves were consulted for every step of the design process, ensuring that their listeners and the fans of emerging music would be well served by the platform.

This approach works well for artists, as public radio has been breaking bands for decades:  R.E.M. in the ‘80s, Beck in the ‘90s, Mumford and Sons in ‘00s and Adele in ‘10s, just to name a few. Public radio stations have a proven record for not only recognizing a good band before everyone else, but for fostering a meaningful connection to a scene’s artists, local venues and festivals, and most importantly the fans and listeners, who are the true power behind artists’ careers.

With VuHaus, public radio has a new and unfair advantage.  Their network of local partner stations is growing.  So too is the stream of online content produced by these stations, who are often able to host dozens of artists a week. “As our network grows, so too will our capacity to uncover an even greater number of artists from markets across the country,” says VuHaus president Erik Langner. “This creates greater national exposure for them and a more engaging experience for our audience.”

About VuHaus

VuHaus (pronounced “view house”) is a non-profit, non-commercial organization comprised of public media’s leading Music Discovery radio stations. The human-curated, state of the art music discovery video platform features performances from the studios and events of the participating stations, and is available via mobile and web.

The VuHaus stations film local, emerging and established artists playing live music in their studios, on location, and in intimate settings, with one-of- a-kind interviews, and live performance streams. VuHaus curates this exclusive content providing a single platform for music discovery in an ever-expanding video collection from America’s most vibrant music scenes.

The VuHaus network includes WFUV in New York City, KCRW in Los Angeles, WXPN in Philadelphia, KUTX in Austin, KTBG The Bridge in Kansas City, KEXP in Seattle, KXT in Dallas/Ft. Worth, opbmusic in Portland, Mountain Stage in West Virginia, KDHX in St. Louis, Vermont Public Radio, and WGBH in Boston. VuHaus received initial funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and is operated by its founding partner Public Media Company, a national non-profit organization focused on maximizing the impact of public media through innovation and strategic partnerships.

In the era of adblockers, bot views, and other advertising struggles, media platforms with bona fide high-quality audiences are a media buyer’s dream. VuHaus, the national platform curating more than a dozen music-centric public radio stations’ video sessions into one streamlined site, makes this dream a reality, thanks to strong content and young, savvy viewers loyal to the site’s musical dedication.

VuHaus occupies a rare niche in the online advertising world: Part mission-driven nonprofit, part tech-driven national platform with a strong mobile presence. The platform has the agility and targeting abilities of bigger competitors, but keeps the focus, smarts, and non-commercial vibe of public radio intact.

“So much of advertising has gotten big and programmatic, that you never know what’s been seen,” notes Chris Kirchner, VP of Partnerships at VuHaus. “But we’re 100% in control with our inventory. We make direct agreements with advertisers. If you’re just buying impressions, that’s fine, there are  ways to do that. But if you’re trying to solicit engagement, VuHaus can give you a beautiful, uncluttered environment that speaks to an engaged audience and is immensely valuable.”

This vibe goes beyond hype or mystique. It runs deep and resonates strongly with audiences. Public media, especially beloved music-centric radio stations like KEXP(Seattle) KCRW (LA), KUTX (Austin), and WXPN (Philadelphia), have idea-driven power and an avid following. “Public media outlets are sometimes smaller than commercial media ones, but pay back ten times with audience loyalty. Our viewers and listeners may only listen to that one radio station, and they may contribute directly to the station,” explains Kirchner. “They tend to be high-quality, more affluent and dedicated as a whole. This makes public media platforms a much less cluttered environment. There is a fair amount of sponsor interest and the ones that get it, get it: They are marketing to a really devoted audience.”

Many advertisers know the value of this audience, but it wasn’t until VuHaus that a national advertising platform based on some of public media’s most popular assets--its music curation and coverage--existed. Working with individual stations just didn’t make sense for companies like Verizon or Comcast, who collaborated with VuHaus to focus their efforts in particular geographic regions. Moreover, VuHaus’ audiences trend younger.

“We can work with advertisers to figure out where they need to be on the air and on VuHaus,” says Kirchner. “These music stations have never had a national calling card, and now there’s more of a one-stop shop for ad buys and sponsorship.”

VuHaus works directly with advertisers on all fronts, including coming up with the right creative. One recent example: Automaker Subaru wanted to reach just the right demographic, the hip, savvy younger adults associated with its lifestyle. VuHaus suggested the company expand on its existing content and craft something just for the platform, a charming preroll where spinning tires turns into spinning vinyl.

This hands-on approach is an extension of the site’s overall vision for ad support.”We do some of that custom work ourselves and also work with agencies. We often encourage them to rethink their existing creative, so that it fits what we do and what our viewers expect,” says Kirchner. “The call-to-action approach may not work as well with the public media audience. You need a different tone, a credible message. Something more authentic.”

About VuHaus

VuHaus (pronounced “view house”) is a non-profit, non-commercial organization comprised of public media’s leading Music Discovery radio stations. The human-curated, state of the art music discovery video platform features performances from the studios and events of the participating stations, and is available via mobile and web.

The VuHaus stations film local, emerging and established artists playing live music in their studios, on location, and in intimate settings, with one-of- a-kind interviews, and live performance streams. VuHaus curates this exclusive content providing a single platform for music discovery in an ever-expanding video collection from America’s most vibrant music scenes.

The VuHaus network includes WFUV in New York City, KCRW in Los Angeles, WXPN in Philadelphia, KUTX in Austin, KTBG The Bridge in Kansas City, KEXP in Seattle, KXT in Dallas/Ft. Worth, opbmusic in Portland, Mountain Stage in West Virginia, KDHX in St. Louis, Vermont Public Radio, and WGBH in Boston. VuHaus received initial funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and is operated by its founding partner Public Media Company, a national non-profit organization focused on maximizing the impact of public media through innovation and strategic partnerships.

It’s fairly easy to find cool new things from beloved artists, if you know where to look. When kd lang, Niko Case, and Laura Veirs premiered their new collaborative project, for example, there was one place to hear it first. When Ray LaMontagne wanted to give back to his fans and supporters by playing his album in full right before its release, you could only find it one place on the web.

That place is VuHaus, the platform that gathers the best in video from tastemaker public radio stations around America.

Though its premieres and exclusive live streams draw people to the site, VuHaus’s approach to curation ensures that viewer exploration doesn’t stop with the familiar. It carefully curates videos to enable music discovery. Built to boost emerging artists and give fans a fresh look at beloved musicians, VuHaus’s curation approach follows in the footsteps of its public media creators.

Mark Abuzzahab, Program Director at VuHaus, lives and breathes the open-ended ethos of public radio’s musical eclecticism in his work. His team creates playlists of videos that are genre-agnostic, the kind of operation that demands the human touch. “We want you to go from Beck to Disclosure, and enjoy the experience,” Abuzzahab says. “It’s not something an algorithm can do consistently.”

The curation process is human driven at all points. There are no strange suggestions based on past listening, no leaps of machine learning that lead to out-there outbursts or repetitive tracks.

Stations pick which artists to invite, how to capture their performances, and what videos to upload to the VuHaus platform. Many sessions happen in the stations’ studios, but others are shot in creative locales that add serious visual appeal. This may mean Mudhoney playing a dizzying set on top of the Space Needle, or musicians jamming in a canoe in the middle of a Texas lake or in the resonant ruin of a retired power station.

No matter who’s playing where, one thing matters: “I’m looking at quality,” states Abuzzahab. “If there’s a band that has a buzz, I want to feature that. But I’m not programming just for clicks.”

After it’s uploaded to the platform, the VuHaus team works with the video, tagging related artists on VuHaus, creating thematic playlists, and juxtaposing big names and emerging artists, as well as genres and sounds. “If you watch a performance on VuHaus, it will suggest artists based on that artist. We think these suggestions are better done by humans,” says Abuzzahab.

These suggestions are designed to encourage branching out to make new connections, not circling around the same few names or sounds. “For example, KEXP in Seattle has gone to Iceland to film bands at a big fest there. It would be silly to link them all to the other Icelandic bands,” Abuzzahab explains. “You have to watch and figure out what is similar, even if it’s a bit of a stretch, based on things you think the music might have in common with other music. As new material comes onto VuHaus, the suggestions are constantly updated.”

The videos capture the kind of moment only to be found on public radio, like when a certain Star Trek veteran made a cameo in a surf rock band’s session. “There is a great session with Taco Cat, who were doing a video at KEXP,” recalls Abuzzahab. “George Takei happened to be in the studio for an interview, and he liked the band so much he jumped in and started doing this fun, goofy dance.” Only on public radio, and visible only on VuHaus.

About VuHaus

VuHaus (pronounced “view house”) is a non-profit, non-commercial organization comprised of public media’s leading Music Discovery radio stations. The human-curated, state of the art music discovery video platform features performances from the studios and events of the participating stations, and is available via mobile and web.

The VuHaus stations film local, emerging and established artists playing live music in their studios, on location, and in intimate settings, with one-of- a-kind interviews, and live performance streams. VuHaus curates this exclusive content providing a single platform for music discovery in an ever-expanding video collection from America’s most vibrant music scenes.

The VuHaus network includes WFUV in New York City, KCRW in Los Angeles, WXPN in Philadelphia, KUTX in Austin, KTBG The Bridge in Kansas City, KEXP in Seattle, KXT in Dallas/Ft. Worth, opbmusic in Portland, Mountain Stage in West Virginia, KDHX in St. Louis and Live from the Fort in Vermont. VuHaus received initial funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and is operated by its founding partner Public Media Company, a national non-profit organization focused on maximizing the impact of public media through innovation and strategic partnerships.

Public radio stations around the country were early in the game of shooting high-quality video of musical guests--big names, indie darlings, emerging voices--who come by the studio. Now VuHaus gathers these once-scattered treats onto one sleek, discovery-enabling platform.

With new video coming regularly from music heavyweights like KCRW (LA), WFUV (NYC), KEXP (Seattle), and KUTX (Austin), as well as from established names like Mountain Stage, and WXPN (Philadelphia) / World Café, VuHaus bursts with eclectic sights and sounds. Genre-agnostic, the site’s curation team and special guest artists put together timely and thematic playlists, and introduce new artists of note.

Before VuHaus, public radio stations in major markets were hosting video sessions and tossing them up on YouTube. Musicians would stop by, lay down some amazing performances, and that was that. While the resulting videos would garner views aplenty, they didn’t capture the stations’ spirit, keep viewers engaged, introduce them with similar bands, or help music fans benefit from public radio’s proven track record of uncovering the best in music.

“Stations were invested in video, but weren’t getting anything out of it,” notes Mike Henry, a long-time public radio consultant and one of the driving forces behind VuHaus. “They started a dialog between themselves. We sat down and decided on a website, a branded way to face the consumer that wasn’t overtly public radio.” The interface is purposefully minimalist and easy to navigate.

VuHaus is attracting a coveted demographic for public media: young, tech-savvy viewers/listeners. “The majority of our traffic comes from social media,” comments Head of Marketing Michele Tharp. “Many of our views come from the VuHaus embeddable player, which can be found on NPR Music’s and other public media websites. Most views are happening on mobile devices.”

Video may seem like a strange zag for non-commercial broadcast radio stations, but it fits well into the habits of a new generation of music fans. “That’s where music discovery is taking place,” VuHaus President Erik Langner explains. “The majority of music is discovered via video, especially among younger fans.”

It’s a powerful platform for established musicians to debut new work. Jason Isbell, for example, decided to play material from his new album a few weeks before its release, as an exclusive at KUTX in Austin, and the video blew up on VuHaus, the only place it was available online for his fans.

The platform is also a boon to independent and emerging artists, for whom a station session may be their first high-quality, multi-camera shoot. VuHaus powers discovery through careful curation, putting artistry first. Humans are involved at every step of the process: Stations book the bands, produce the sessions and submit their videos, and then VuHaus’ in-house curators classify and spotlight them. “Related Artists” are determined by people, not algorithms. Artists themselves are invited to create playlists of their favorite fellow performers or songs. Greg Holden spent hours watching and creating his.

VuHaus’ non-profit mission demands the human touch, as the goal is not scale or advertising revenue maximization, but supporting and encouraging music around the country. ”For us and our stations, it’s highly mission-driven,” Langner notes. “We are committed to giving artists, regardless of commercial appeal, a way to get out there. We don’t worry about page views, we worry about quality.“

There’s an advantage for stations, as well as listeners/viewers and artists. Unified, they carry more weight and can have a national presence, a benefit to ensure public radio expands, moves forward, and continues to serve its audiences in evolving ways.

“We’re growing rapidly on all fronts, both viewership and partners. We’re picking up new stations and markets,” Langner says. “For the stations, VuHaus is both an opportunity and a hedge. The stations don’t have the scale individually to move the needle in the digital and mobile space. If we want to be relevant for future generations, we need the scale, the national impact, the collective ability to enter into partnerships and provide meaningful places to encounter culture.”

About VuHaus

VuHaus (pronounced “view house”) is a non-profit, non-commercial organization comprised of public media’s leading Music Discovery radio stations. The human-curated, state of the art music discovery video platform features performances from the studios and events of the participating stations, and is available via mobile and web.

The VuHaus stations film local, emerging and established artists playing live music in their studios, on location, and in intimate settings, with one-of- a-kind interviews, and live performance streams. VuHaus curates this exclusive content providing a single platform for music discovery in an ever-expanding video collection from America’s most vibrant music scenes.

The VuHaus network includes WFUV in New York City, KCRW in Los Angeles, WXPN in Philadelphia, KUTX in Austin, KTBG The Bridge in Kansas City, KEXP in Seattle, KXT in Dallas/Ft. Worth, opbmusic in Portland, Mountain Stage in West Virginia, KDHX in St. Louis and Live from the Fort in Vermont. VuHaus received initial funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and is operated by its founding partner Public Media Company, a national non-profit organization focused on maximizing the impact of public media through innovation and strategic partnerships.