Community Highlights: Meet Gerard Longo of Underground Music Collective

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gerard Longo.

Hi Gerard, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
It’s a long story. I like to say that I got into the music industry completely by accident, and the journey began on August 17, 2013. At the time, I was living in my hometown of Long Valley, NJ, and commuting to New York City for a job in corporate America. I had begun feeling restless and in need of an outlet. I had a weekend to myself and decided to dive into some old creative projects, and wound up listening to saved episodes of my old college radio show (also called The Quinn Spinn), and I remembered the small, but loyal following we had in our years at Moravian College (now Moravian University) in Bethlehem, PA. That was all the inspiration I needed. The next day, I went to Best Buy, bought a USB microphone, designed a logo, and launched the show’s social media handles on Facebook and Twitter. From there, I decided that I wanted to feature music in some capacity, and I took to Twitter, where I found a treasure trove of undiscovered artists. I started asking if they’d like to be featured on this podcast that had zero episodes and hadn’t even launched, and to my surprise, the vast majority said yes! Then, at the end of 2013, my contract at my corporate job expired. Instead of looking for another job right away, I decided to double down on seeing what this podcast could be. I had a team of co-hosts by my side and, over the next year and a half, we put on concerts, recorded more than 100 pieces of content, and welcomed guests – mostly musicians – from five different continents. This period gave me a strong appreciation for the life of an independent creative, for all of its ups and downs. At the same time, life had begun to take my co-hosts and me in different directions by mid-2015. For me, it led me right back to Bethlehem, PA.

After a summer of contemplation, I decided to take the show in a solo direction, and I quickly decided that it needed to be a part of a larger ecosystem. Bethlehem and the surrounding area known as the Lehigh Valley – are talent-rich from a musical standpoint. So, I decided that The Quinn Spinn would now be a part of a larger blog project called Lehigh Valley Underground (LVU), which was launched in January 2016. LVU quickly gained traction locally within our first year, we partnered with a number of prominent local festivals and organizations, including Musikfest, the nation’s largest free, non-gated music festival. We had the opportunity to cover local, regional, and national touring acts alike. Throughout our time in Bethlehem, we also put on a number of local music events including our First Friday Concert Series in the city’s growing SouthSide Arts District – and won three Lehigh Valley Music Awards for our work in the community. This lasted until mid-2018 when the winds of change began to blow…

That summer, I felt as though I needed to grow once again, and take the leap to an “industry town” so that I could become educated and, ultimately, build a better platform to serve independent musicians and creatives. A return to New York was enticing because it was the closest music industry city in proximity. Ultimately, though, Nashville came calling throughout the fall of 2018. I re-branded LVU into Underground Music Collective on November 5 of that year and moved here the Monday after Thanksgiving. I’ve been here ever since.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has been anything but smooth, but it certainly has been worthwhile. No matter your line of work, taking the creative plunge will teach you everything you need to know about yourself, both in a personal and professional sense.

You are going to encounter uncomfortable truths that you would prefer not to face; however, facing them is essential to become the version of yourself that is most equipped for the success that you desire. Over the course of the past decade, I’ve relocated multiple times, encountered various bouts of financial instability, and have had to make sacrifices in relationships. Every trial I’ve encountered has taught me valuable lessons, and I wouldn’t be who or where I am today without them. As you embark on this journey, you’re taught resilience, patience, grit, compromise, and a lot more. From there, it’s up to you to apply the lessons.

We’ve been impressed with Underground Music Collective, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
As it stands, Underground Music Collective is a music publication and multimedia services company based in Nashville. We wear a lot of hats, as we serve musicians and creatives in Music City and beyond. I’ll give a rundown of some of our main initiatives:

Daily content: Music reviews, features, playlists, and more. The Quinn Spinn is still The Official Podcast of UMC and was among the top 5 percent of most-shared podcasts on Spotify in 2022.

Live events: We put on live music events (with an emphasis on building community) through our NashLive! brand. We’ll be announcing some lineups shortly here in Nashville, and we may even branch outside of Music City for the first time in 2023.

Content/marketing services: We offer Artist-Friendly Promo Packs for those who want to leverage the marketing power of the UMC platform to highlight their releases or events in a targeted, specific manner – at affordable rates. In addition, I also offer artist consulting services on a retainer basis and work as a freelance writer and photographer.

If anybody wants to support us as we expand the business, I should note that we are a fiscally sponsored project of The Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville. This fiscal sponsorship allows members of the public to make tax-deductible donations to Underground Music Collective, to the fullest extent permissible by law. You can learn more and donate here!

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I’m big on podcasts! The School of Greatness by Lewis Howes, The Angry Therapist by John Kim, and The Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett are my top three choices (besides The Quinn Spinn, of course).

They all inform how I approach life and business, and inspire me to have better conversations on my own show.

They’re all worth checking out!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://undergroundmusiccollective.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/umcnashville/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UMusicCollective
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/UMCNashville
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa47Wh0jcr5mCrxRIPz-ZeQ
• Other: https://abcnashville.org/donations/umc/ 

Image Credits
Underground Music Collective