A new livestreaming music company located in Ottawa, Ont. is on the rise globally. Sairyo events is one of the new businesses created amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and hits close to home for the creators.
The company is launching June 10. Its first event is a comedy show on June 13, 8-9 p.m EST.
“I really wanted to have something where people can connect easier and connect to livestreams easier, because I thought that would be amazing for my grandmother to have that,” says Emilie Westbrook, co-creator of Sairyo events.
Westbrook’s grandmother was diagnosed with COVID-19 in March. When the Ontario government put in place everyone had to stay home, Westbrook and Fazal Sadikali, co-creator of Sairyo events, were sitting at home wondering why they could not access livestreaming music in an easier way.
“We were frustrated that the livestreams weren’t aggregated,” says Westbrook.
The co-creators brainstormed on how it would be easier to access different artists music from across the world while being at home.
In order to see livestreams and when they take place, in some cases you must follow the artists on Instagram, which some members of the public don’t have know how to use.
Sairyoevents is working with a team to create their own coding to help artists globally broadcast their events on this platform.
“We want to improve livestreaming, video capability, more payment capabilities for the artist,” says Sadikali. “We’re learning what’s working, we’ll have artists creating their events and we’ll leverage the event.”
Jordan David, a 32-year-old artist from Halifax, N.S. is one of the artists under Sairyo events. He currently DJs and does production, as well as radio and other media relations.
“They’ve been a really good resource in sharing the events I’ve been doing,” says David.
He has been a musician since the age of 13 and started DJ-ing at 22. Since the pandemic, he has been taking a course on production, radio segments, creating new music mixes and taking walks with his wife and puppy.
“For us to get through these times, we need music, we need art,” says David. “Make a point to connect with people and keep the music going.”
Making sure artists are getting paid, recognized and accessing live-streams from all different types of musicians globally is one of the most import aspects of Sairyo events, according to Westbrook and Sadikali.
“We’re trying to build something out of what people don’t have right now, we’re here for the world and people that don’t have that connection,” says Westbrook.
