The Spotlight’s On… WaveByte

As the DigitalDinos team analyses our interview with local business WaveByte, it’s not hard to see what drives them. Passion. Their passion for the music industry is so strong that, despite the pressures of student life, they decided it was time their love of the art was translated for the rest of us to see. One look at their slick website and you’ll find news, reviews and original photography that proves the potential of this Portsmouth based business is exciting to say the least. Here is our interview with the WaveByte team, so you can see for yourself what drives them…

1) Can You Give Us A Short Description of Your Business?

As a quintet of friends, we strive to provide our readers with the latest news and reviews from the music industry. We offer a personal and insightful viewpoint into the genres you love, from RnB to Alternative Rock, Soul to Pop, there is something for everyone. WaveByte was established in 2017, a blogging site with the purpose of providing a raw and intimate experience for our readers. Our aim is to provide those who share our devotion to music, a look into the current wave of endless talent filtering through the industry. Original photography, written reviews and a social media feed of the latest news keep our audience at the forefront of their music world. Our team of full-time students comprise of Dan Baker, James Donaldson, Aaron Jackson, Jamie Law and Will Wilkins, enjoying this as a hobby in the spare time we have. Music is a substantial part of all our lives, some of us play and others listen, we may not all agree on what is right; but we certainly agree that the world would be an extremely monotonous place without it.

2) What Inspired You to Start Your Business?

It feels too cliché to say that we were fuelled by our passion for music but it’s certainly true that if we didn’t possess this passion, then we wouldn’t have had the motivation to start this project. In addition to the fact that we are all obsessed with music, its apparent that we are all hugely motivated individuals. The idea blossomed when we were brainstorming ways in with we could exercise productivity – in the media industry, regardless of scope, it is utterly paramount to be proactive. Complacency is a myth. When I was growing up I’d often read magazines like Kerrang!, Rocksound, NMEetc… and so, even though I may not have been aware of it, music journalism was having an influence on my life from a relatively early age – I have no doubt that this is also the case for my colleagues. Our work ethic is absolutely fuelled by the fact that we all thoroughly enjoy our writing, it’s a pleasure to be active in and around the music scenes that we love the most.

3) What Challenges Have You Faced Since Starting Your Business?

As full-time students and only being nineteen years old, this is our first experience with any project that requires the implementation of empirical business practice. We soon realised that discussing ideas face to face is only the start of the journey to having a functioning business. I would go as far to say that every step we have taken has been a challenge, purely because of our humble understandings. However, I don’t mean “challenge” in a pejorative sense – while everything has been a learning curve, I believe that we are taking everything in our stride and handling any task we may face with a well-educated approach and a mature aplomb. Establishing a domain for a website was one of the first hurdles we had to overcome, and it was certainly a teething problem that we experienced, it took slightly longer than we may have hoped to work out, but in the end the results were as fantastic as they continue to be.

4) How do You Market Your Business? Do You Use Online?

At WaveByte, there is a constant emphasis on social media because we all understand how integral a part it plays in the habitual lives of every single person. We ensure that any activity on our website is instantaneously promoted throughout our social media outlets to guarantee the best possible reach to our audience, both current and potential. Furthermore, residing in a generation that has grown up in correlation with the development of the internet and the influence it has on an audience, we believe that we are in the best position to be able to recognise what stands out online. We recognise the importance of locating and embracing the equilibrium between design and functionality when it comes to our website and we believe that our current product is a fine example of this attitude.

5) What are Your Plans for the Future?

Our ambition holds no end and we are constantly looking forward to ways that we can further develop and improve our brand. If I were to discern one particular area that we are seeking to bolster is the size and scope of our audience – in order for our brand to thrive, we need to establish a population of dedicated readers who are willing to engage with our brand on a daily basis. We have several plans in the pipeline to achieve this, those most promising revolving around the notion of a business that adopts and embraces the term ‘multimedia’. We currently have our text/image based website and social media feed. This October we will be launching a weekly radio show and podcast where we will be discussing the freshest news in the music industry, as well as playing you the songs that we are discussing! We’re extremely excited to see what our time ahead holds and, while no one knows what will happen, we are all confident in a bright future.

For more on WaveByte:

Website: wavebyte.co.uk

Twitter: @WaveByteLive

Instagram: wavebytelive