Quadio is an up and coming music-based social media platform catered for and – ultimately – designed by students. Founded in 2018 by step-cousins Joe and Marcus Welch, both former college musicians, they recognized that there was no universal platform for students to collaborate and share their work with one another. Realizing that it is especially hard for amateur artists to be recognized through oversaturated platforms like Spotify or Soundcloud, they sought to fill the void themselves. In 2018, the Welch’s joined forces with veteran engineer Bill Johnston and a year and a half later, this three-man team spawned what is now Quadio, a New York-based company with a staff of more than 50 people working to develop the platform past its beta.

The company’s motto is “Make music, Make friends.” Quadio’s social elements are irrefutably intuitive, employing methods that allow users to filter on university, local and national scales to find artists to listen to, talk or possibly even collaborate with.  “With the ability to discover music by location – down to your college community – Quadio lets you find the next big hit, and it may have been made down the hall,” said company representative and Villanova student Kenzie Epperson.

 Like most platforms, there is also a page to see what is trending at any given time, meaning each user and artist has a feasible chance to reach the top of the charts. Essentially, Quadio offers an opportunity for aspiring young artists that the algorithms of most platforms never could.

Although Quadio is still putting the finishing touches on its beta, a final version is expected in the coming months that will be open to all students. In the meantime, its staff aims to expand to as many universities as possible via their student representative program, Pennsylvania being no exception. These reps, often student musicians in their own right, essentially franchise the Quadio to their respective universities with social media marketing and individually distributing special “access codes” for the site. As of now, such codes are needed to register with Quadio at all. All new users must register through an .edu (university-based) email address to keep the growing Quadio purely focused on student music. 

There are currently three Quadio student reps at Villanova, freshmen Makenzie Epperson, Alexis Tramontano, and Kevin Conway. All found the platform through creating their own music and have found it incredibly helpful for sharing and getting feedback on their content. All are firm believers in the company and its ultimate mission, saying, “everyone we talk to at the company itself is so excited and believe in it.” For now, Quadio is especially focused on developed software to augment the collaborative aspects of the platform, and to ultimately boost the social experience of being in a common workspace. Epperson and Tramontano suggest this would mean allowing unfinished tracks to be published alongside polished content. This would allow new music to be potentially found by other users who are able to help with finishing touches. Such mechanisms could even yield remixes or collaborations. This aspect of the program is already well underway, too. Tramontano had published some of her music to Spotify and Soundcloud, yet states that it was not until working with Quadio that she was able to collaborate with another student from another school entirely to make a remix, which is now published on the site.

Quadio plans to take even further steps in involving itself with local communities in the months to come, including a potential meetup for student musicians registered with the platform. Updates are forthcoming, primarily on the company’s Instagram: @quadiomedia. Epperson and Tramontano even hinted at a potential Villanova launch party in the works. 

If interested in obtaining a Quadio access code, or for general questions, reach out to the Villanova student representatives by email.

Makenzie Epperson – [email protected]

Kevin Conway – [email protected]

Lexi Tramontano – [email protected]