Philly Music Fest was founded in 2017 by Greg and Jenn Seltzer. All shows are curated and produced by Greg. As home-grown, devoted Philadelphians, our mission is to host a unique, hyper-local music festival that benefits our community, without large corporate and governmental oversight and involvement.
We operate Philly Music Fest a bit differently than your typical music festival. By structuring Philly Music Fest as a non-profit and organizing the festival ourselves, we eliminate the need to pay producers and promoters. The result is that we pay our musicians well, host our shows only at independently-owned venues and then donate profits to local music programs educating the next great generation of Philly musicians.
We certainly love that the consequence of Philly Music Fest benefits the next generation of Philly musicians, but don’t miss the shows. Each year, we highlight and celebrate nationally recognized Philly musicians, as well as emerging local bands, in the genres of Rock, Punk, Hip Hop, Bluegrass, Jazz, Pop, Metal and R&B. We hope you’ll join the cause and celebrate the music of Philadelphia.
We believe that to sustain our vibrant music scene, we must support the next generation of Philadelphia musicians. The bands that will grace our stages in ten years are currently kids in middle and high school. Unfortunately, access to music education is not as easy as it used to be since public schools have cut music education programs.
Our community is fortunate to have several amazing music education programs, but the programs need our collective economic support. Philly Music Fest supports the following organizations:
The economic impact of Philly Music Fest has increased every year. After expanding Philly Music Fest to seven nights, in 2022, 2023 and 2024 we donated $100,000 each year - AFTER paying all of the musicians and venues. We estimate that the total annual economic impact of Philly Music Fest on the Philadelphia music community is approximately $600,000, inclusive of payments to talent, venues, designers, merchandise vendors, charities, food and beverage businesses, studios and labels.
In addition to showcasing musicians at our festival, we must support venue staff. On March 28, 2020, days after the initial impact of COVID-19, PMF launched a micro-grant program to assist and support venue staff and musicians. The funds for the micro-grants were crowdsourced from our community and, importantly, through a donation by WXPN. Philly Music Fest deployed over 330 micro-grants between 2020 and 2022. Our micro-grant program is still utilized currently for venue staff and musicians dealing with health issues, stolen gear and other hardships.
Philly Music Fest intentionally books shows at independent music venues in our region. While many of our region’s larger venues put on incredible shows in beautiful settings, we believe that independent music venues are critical to our ecosystem. Independent music venues curate unique experiences that are affordable and accessible. They provide local musicians with a place to hone their craft and facilitate exposure. We rely on our independent venues to showcase diverse and relevant voices. By holding Philly Music Fest in independent venues, we support their mission, support local venue staff and owners, and (with your help) enable our venues to earn a reasonable profit.
We are incredibly proud of the bands that have played Philly Music Fest. Please support these musicians by purchasing their music, attending their shows and please buy merch, as that is often the best way to get money in a musician’s pocket.
