Boiler Room Heats Up the 'Net with Live Music

Looking for a portal to free, exclusive live performances by rising and established musicians and DJs? Boiler Room is the place to go. Located online at BoilerRoom.TV, the site is a fantastic resource for music lovers -- presenting streamed and subsequently archived sessions played in front of invitation-only attendees. The recorded concerts are accessible by Boiler Room subscribers at the company's online archive.

Beginning in 2010, Boiler Room began operations when founder Blaise Bellville asked Thristian Richards and NTS Radio's Femi Adeyemi to record a mixtape for Bellville's online magazine Platform. The recording session happened in the boiler room of the Platform offices in London, was captured on webcam, and was broadcast live online. The positive response moved Bellville to make the sessions a weekly affair. In short order, Boiler Room went global with shows originating from around 50 cities (as well as select music festivals) on a dedicated Ustream channel.

The organization now has offices in Los Angeles, New York and Berlin, and produces roughly 35 new video programs a month. Although initially focusing on London's underground music scene with an emphasis on techno/electronic music, Boiler Room expanded its approach to include hip hop, jazz, classical and world music. There have been shows featuring renowned creators like Japanese composer and performer Ryuichi Sakamoto (originally of the techno-rock band YMO), Radiohead's front man Thom Yorke (who is also a part-time DJ), and soul-jazz singer Erykah Badu, and a troupe of lesser-known but equally-adept avant garde creators and turntablists.

You can catch sessions via the Boiler Room website (http://boilerroom.tv), and also at a handful of high-profile video streaming services (among them, YouTube and Dailymotion).