For a few years Matty Twigg (CallsignScarecrow) has been coordinating music collabs. It started as a fun thing to do, but over time it has become clear they have multiple benefits including help members of the Twitch music community to come together, make new friends, learn more about music creation, gain exposure to new audiences and make some great music along the way.
A couple of years ago Brittlestar started helping Matty with the collabs and working together they grew in scale and frequency, adopting a unique name “collabamajig” which was born out of saying collab thingamajig. It’s a fun thing to say, and equally fun to watch some people struggle to say it.
All collabamajigs have a similar format. Music streamers sign up to participate and names are then drawn at random to determine the groups. Those groups then work together to create a new song or cover song based on the theme of the collab. Part of the challenge is learning about your partner and adapting to find a way to incorporate the instruments, skills and styles of both partners.
The theme changes for each collab, and towards the end of the year we run a special Christmas themed collab which is unique in having the additional goal of raising money for a charity through the release of an album on Bandcamp and donations.
Collabamajigs are now run by a small team of people helping out behind the scenes, a large number of music streamers actively participating, and a wonderful community supporting music on Twitch that help spread the word and celebrate the results.