How One Venue Uses Discord
The DJ thrills a packed house at Bushwick's Elsewhere venue (Credit: Luis Nieto Dickens | @nietodickens)
“Imagine your favorite band of all time — the one you worship. They’re playing at your favorite music venue — the one that really gets you. You have tickets, you’re ready to party. Now imagine being invited to ask your idols whatever you want a few days before the show.
So goes the AMA, or “Ask Me Anything,” session playing out on the laptop screen before me. The band is British electro-pop duo Cryalot. The venue is multi-stage GenZ paradise, Elsewhere, in Brooklyn, N.Y.
From the desk shoved into the corner of my bedroom, I scroll through Elsewhere’s dedicated page on Discord, the popular chat app this venue began using as a super-tool to promote shows, community-build, and do fun shit like this (often all at once). Fans with usernames like “DJGayPanic” and “bonk” raise their virtual hands, funneling into the queue as moderator Nabila Valentin invites them to ask…well…anything.”