Interview: Steven Vance, Creator of Stolen Mix Tape

By Chris Karr in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 28, 2006 3:35PM

Steven Vance is a 21-year-old sociology student at the University of Illinois at Chicago. When he isn't hitting the books for the latest exam, he's furiously coding and promoting Stolen Mix Tape. Stolen Mix Tape is an online community of Midwestern musicians and fans. Steven's created a site that is a cross between a MySpace and a YouTube (but with music). If you want to know what's musically going on in the region, Stolen Mix Tape is a good place to start.

We sat down with Steve earlier this week to talk about his creation.

Chicagoist: Tell us a bit about Stolen Mix Tape.

Steven Vance: Stolen Mix Tape is based on a web site that started out in 2001 called stevevance.net. It’s the first domain that I ever owned. It was for the young musician community in Fox Valley in the western suburbs. It was because I wanted to go to my friend’s band show, but he was the only person giving me information about the show. I couldn’t go anywhere else to get the information, so I decided that I’d make a clearinghouse for the information myself. So I made that, and it was really just for three cities. It worked out pretty well, and I said, “I want to expand this.” Plus, I wanted to get away from my name, so I needed a new name for it. “Stolen Mix Tape” was actually somebody’s LiveJournal screenname that I saw, and that’s where I got the name.

I bought the new domain and expanded from there. I decided not to concentrate just on Illinois, but also states in the Midwest, so I have Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. I memorized them in alphabetical order because I always have to type them out.

Stolen Mix Tape came on in 2003, so it’s been around for three years.

(More after the jump.)

C: What’s the purpose of the site? What are you trying to accomplish?

SV: The purpose has changed over the years. Before, it was just a listing of bands. Then there came a listing of venues. Then I educated myself on PHP and MySQL and other web technologies so I could develop a database-driven website. I figured out the Flash Player, so now there can be music. So, it’s a CMS – content management system – and it also has some of the same features as PureVolume and MySpace, where you can upload music and it can automatically play for someone.

I also try to make it distinct from those two websites by concentrating on only eight states. I try to remain in contact with everyone on the site, or at least the musicians. I try to get feedback directly from them. So, I think one of the advantages of my site is the personal contact. Whereas on MySpace, you don’t know Tom. But you know me. You can get results from my website. If you need help, I can help with some HTML you're having a problem with, or what website is the best for ordering flyers. Poster companies, T-shirt companies – I’ve done this all. So, it’s basically the content management system, plus whatever help I can give you.

C: How many hours a week do you put in on the site?

SV: About three hours a day. It’s usually from midnight to three AM.

C: How many visitors and hits do you get?

SV: I’d say that I get a hundred unique visitors a day.

C: How big is your user base?

SV: Listeners are up to 819 – last I checked. That does not include people who have not activated their screen names yet. Musicians are around 490. Every few months I go through and purge the inactive bands or the bands that no longer exist or the bands who are no longer participating. I like to purge it so that I have an active musician base and active listener base.

C: What tends to be the most popular genre of music on the site at the moment?

SV: Indie.

C: What exactly does that mean?

SV: I don’t know.

C: So, what’s the second most popular?

SV: Rock. And then probably pop. People obviously mash genres together – Indie-Rock, Pop-Rock. Instead of listing “Indie-Rock” or “Pop-Rock”, musicians pick three separately and someone has to combine them in their own mind. Like, “He’s an indie-rock-alternative band.”

C: Are you a musician yourself?

SV: No. I did play the saxophone in high school, though.

C: So what got you interested in this online music promotion?

SV: I needed a hobby.

C: Is this the consequence of growing up in a small town, with nothing to do?

SV: That’s one of them. Another is that I knew a lot of people in bands. A lot of people think musicians are cool people. They want to be one, hang out with them, and I saw an untapped need in the community. I don’t know – I like it. I like what I’m doing.

C: Any dining recommendations around the UIC campus?

SV: I really like WOW – World of Wings. They sell buffalo wings and chicken tenders and salads. It’s pretty good.

While Stolen Mix Tape is an online venture, the site will be sponsoring a show called "Rock in the Park" at Grey's Lake on August 26. The show will raise money for the local youth center, and Steve will be hanging out with Jessie Mendoza of JStreet Radio.

In the meantime, check out the site, find some of your local favorites, and pester your local absent favorites to check out the site and join the community.