The business was initially started by Sarah Shuel in 2019, shortly after she graduated from Loyola University in Chicago, but it didn’t really take shape until Shuel moved back to Colorado and endured the pandemic.
“At that time, I had the big idea but not really the correct tools to make it happen, or the full vision of what I wanted the company to be,” the Morrison local explains. “I felt like I had a little bit of a false start then, because I wanted to do this, but I had a lot less experience than I have now.”
But she knew she wanted to make a way for herself working in music, and not as an SEO associate — the “real job” she landed post-college, even though “it was never something that fed my soul in a significant way,” she admits.
Through a mutual friend, Shuel connected with Denver funk-rock band Float Like a Buffalo and helped the group with social media and marketing on the side. It got to the point that she essentially became the band’s manager.
“As I went, I just started picking up more and more work from them and taking over slowly until I started doing everything except getting on stage,” Shuel says, adding that she continued to take on similar gigs with other musicians more and more.
“I thought, ‘I love this so much. I wonder if I can do this for other bands and start to make a living out of it and create my own path forward,’” she continues. “Subconsciously, I was looking for something that filled my cup more and felt more fulfilling.”
The C Minuses, a Denver cover band, are set to play Sonder Music Management's launch party this week.
Courtesy Sarah Shuel Photography
Led by Shuel’s passion for the industry, Sonder Music Management has worked with ten bands in the past five years, including its current roster of six groups, and boasts a seven-person team that offers photography, management and communications support.
“It’s just been people I've sort of known from being in the scene who feel passionate about what we’re doing and have approached us instead of vice versa, which has been super nice, because you know they’re coming into it with all this passion and a belief in the company and everything,” Shuel shares. “I’m very proud of the team we have right now.”
Jamaica Jenkins joined Sonder’s efforts earlier this year as a band manager, having handled similar work independently. “I was always out at music all the time, all over the place," she explains. "Then I started doing social media posts for other bands. That turned into more of the management stuff, which I was already doing, too."
After booking Float Like a Buffalo for a local show, Jenkins connected with Shuel and inquired about teaming up. “In all the back-and-forths, we’re in a lot of the same music groups just from being around. I saw that she was posting the launch of her business, and I just reached out,” she adds.
Now, Sonder is hosting an official launch party on Thursday, July 11, at Cervantes’ Other Side. Sonder artists the C Minuses, Loop Story and Vince Converse & Big Brother will be performing. Other Sonder musicians will be there, too, for sit-ins and jams with the acts.
Plus, Sonder is partnering with Denver’s Youth on Record, MusicFirst and Dog House Music Studios. All three provide resources for musicians and will have a presence at the launch. Rocky Montaño Photography is shooting the event, as well.
Shuel sees Thursday’s shindig as a “night of community building” that will provide artists and industry professionals alike an opportunity to connect and network.
“We’re hoping the room will be filled with all kinds of musicians and music-industry workers at every level,” says Shuel, who is a professional member of the Recording Academy and part of the GRAMMY U Class of 2024.
The idea of bringing the Mile High music family together is at the core of Sonder’s four-pillar approach, which includes promoting music, community, education and advocacy. It’s a high-tide-raises-all-ships ethos, as far as Shuel is concerned.
“We should be supporting each other. We should be finding opportunities for each other,” she says. “We should be including everybody who works in the music industry, not just artists, not just behind-the-scenes people. We’re all in this together.”
With Sonder up and running, Shuel expects the business to continue to expand organically, including bringing on new bands, partners and professional colleagues.
“Big picture, I see this growing as much as it can, as long as we can maintain that level of integrity with what we do. That’s how it’s happened so far,” she says.
“It’s about bringing in passionate people who love what they’re working on, and matching them with incredible musicians who want to do this for a living and reach that next level and are willing to work with us to do it,” Shuel concludes.
Sonder Music Management Launch Party, 7 p.m. Thursday, July 11, Cervantes' Other Side, 2637 Welton Street. Tickets are $15.
