Part 1 of 2: The Koffeehouse story of serving Los Angeles great music

All photography provided by Stefhan Gordon at SHGfoto.com

From all over the country and world, musicians come to Los Angeles because this is where so much of the music business in the world is done. Unfortunately though, unless performers are already established, Los Angeles is a difficult place to launch a music career. Since the talent level is so high, the competition is intense. Attracting an audience and building a fan base can be especially challenging for new performers in LA since, at so many venues, a pay-to-play model is often used where either performers meet a minimum amount of ticket sales at the door or pay the short fall out of their own pockets. This model can not only be expensive, it can be demoralizing. Moreover, if you're not a musician and simply want to go out to listen to good undiscovered music, Los Angeles can be very hit-or-miss. Fortunately, there's a growing grassroots organization, Koffeehouse Music serving up just what Los Angeles needs to solve these problems for both up and coming musicians and patrons.

To support this up and coming talent, Koffeehouse's founder Jeremy Koff started producing events without any pay to play at his home. Koff realized he enjoyed music much more in his home environment with artist he chose, people who shared his passion for music, and a with a high quality sound system. Four years ago Koff teamed up with his business partner Chris Ng. After Koff's home and backyard could no longer accommodate all the music lovers noticing the level of talent that Koffeehouse was attracting, Jeremy and his business partner Chris NG started seeking out venues that still maintained the spirit of his backyard listening experience though with room to move.

Currently Koffeehouse is producing four monthly series at Café Was in Hollywood, Harvelle's  in Santa Monica, Yoga Shelter in Studio City and the Musicians Institute's Green Room in Hollywood. Their signature annual event (now in its fourth year), however, still remains its "Evening of Independence" at the Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood. This year's show, in partnership with the County of Los Angeles, will feature Katherine McPhee (runner-up on Season 5 of "American Idol" and whose freshman album debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200 in 2007) and Island Def Jam recording artist Jon McLaughlin (who performed the Academy Award-nominated song "So Close" from "Ella Enchanted" during the worldwide broadcast of the 80th Academy Awards). Additionally some Koffeehouse favorites will also be on the Ford Theater bill such as EMI recording artist Shawn Hlookoff, Terra Naomi (whose song "Say It's Possible" is a YouTube phenomenon with over 4 million plays), Freddy & Francine and Jayme Dee. (Also check out Koffeehouse on facebook frequently for updates).

The organization has grown so much, now working with hundreds of artists and thousands of dedicated concert goers, Koffeehouse may just launch the careers of many of tomorrow's stars. In the next 12 months, Koffeehouse expects to produce 50 shows, with the Ford Ampitheatre event attracting well over 1000 patrons. Koffeehouse is now even placing artists to sing the national anthem at some of the current NBA playoff games!
 

Please continue to Part 2 of this article for Q & A with Koffeehouse's founder Jeremy Koff.