Fault Radio’s DJ Streams Showcase The Bay’s Vibrant Music Community
Amid sky-high rents, wave after wave of tech industry transplants, and music venues closing, the San Francisco Bay Area doesn’t seem a great place for artists.
But Fault Radio tells a different story.
Fault Radio, an Oakland-based member of Intersection for the Arts, hosts and streams free, live DJ events in the Bay Area every week. Since its founding in May 2018, the collective has hosted 180 free events and recorded nearly 500 DJ sets.
With an extensive library of recorded mixes that span electronic music, cumbia, funk, disco, ambient, and beyond, the collective prides itself on inviting DJs to the platform regardless of what they look like, the style of music they play, or even their skill level. All that matters to Fault Radio is that they’re based in the Bay Area and want to share music with the world.
“If we want to elevate the community, we have to support everyone,” says Fault Radio co-founder Dor Wand.
As much it highlights DJs, Fault Radio also shines a light on brick-and-mortar establishments in the Bay Area that provide products, services, and a place for communities to form. Record shops, art galleries, clothing stores, cafes, and pop-up spaces have all served as venues for Fault Radio recording sessions. That personal touch and community context is essential to what Fault Radio’s founders believe sets it apart from the algorithm-generated recommendations served by mainstream streaming sites like Spotify and Apple Music.
“With Fault Radio, it’s not only about the music,” adds Fault Radio’s co-founder Dundee Maghen. “You see the DJ. You see the setting. That gives you an opportunity to engage with a specific art form and culture which you might not fully understand if you were only listening to it. It makes the music much more personal.”
In addition to its weekly events, Fault Radio also partners with online music marketplace Discogs to host a twice-annual record fair called Shifting Plates, with the next taking place Sunday, April 5th in Oakland. It’s free to attend, though for those that want the best chance at discovering and purchasing rare vinyl, early entrance tickets are available.
See Fault Radio’s schedule of upcoming live, free-to-attend DJ streams here.
Shifting Plates Record Fair
Sunday, April 5th
at Classic Cars West, Oakland
