Mission Statement:

Weathervane Music is a new non-profit organization that exists to create community, opportunities and resources that support and advance the careers of working independent musicians.

How we achieve our mission:

Weathervane is developing several programs to bring recording and promotional opportunities and career advancement to deserving independent artists.

We currently produce Shaking Through, a music and video series featuring select independent musicians in the recording studio. Artists record a new original song in a high-end professional studio with seasoned production staff, while the entire process is shot in beautiful HD video. Shaking Through provides these musicians with a high quality recording, internet exposure at ShakingThrough.com, radio promotion through WXPN in Philadelphia, but perhaps the most special part of the experience is the rare opportunity these days of collaborating in a professional creative environment.

Weathervane Music's Brief History:

Weathervane Music was founded by musician and record producer, Brian McTear, and education fundraiser, Bill Robertson.

In less than two years, with an entirely volunteer staff, Weathervane Music has achieved amazing results in the pursuit of its mission. In June 2009 we launched The Weathervane Music Project Series (a precursor to Shaking Through) featuring 4 independent artists from Texas, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Project Series immediately made waves in the Philadelphia press, and was even featured nationally in several popular publications. Within 6 weeks of the first release, Weathervane began discussing a serious partnership with WXPN, the nationally recognized non-commercial radio station from the University of Pennsylvania. By the fall, following a successful Weathervane Year-End Concert Fundraiser, the partnership with XPN was in motion, and Shaking Through, an enhanced version of the Project Series with powerful radio promotion and the potentially huge resources of the radio station, was now in pre-production.

Already in 2010, Weathervane has out-performed even our own expectations. The first artist, Sharon Van Etten received wide-spread national press after her Shaking Through project was released, including a coveted favorable review from Pitchfork Media, the industry's most respected and feared music review source. We've also happily enlisted the support and enthusiastic participation of respected guest curators, Daniel Smith (of the band Danielson) and Scott McMicken (of the skyrocketing Philadelphia favorites, Dr. Dog). Projects brought to the series by Smith and McMicken further enlisted the participation and support of other well regarded independent musicians, all reiterating the need and growing call for Weathervane's programs supporting lessor known independent musicians in an especially difficult era in the music industry for new artists.