Listen up, Myrtle Beach music fans!

ListenUp Myrtle Beach is a locally-run blog written by a former journalist about Myrtle Beach music and entertainment.

I started the site after leaving The Sun News in October 2010, with the goal of helping connect fans to all the great shows and events going on around town that no one else was covering or writing about. 

Over the past few years I've taken the site in a variety of directions, each seeking to promote and spread the word about the great music, talented artists and amazing entertainers our area has to offer.

I've operated as an independent media outlet and online music magazine reaching more than 30,000 fans per month online and worked with Waccamaw Publishers to create a printed weekend guide for more than 25,000 readers a week in newspapers such as the Carolina Forest Chronicle, Myrtle Beach Herald and Horry Independent. 

Along the way I've had amazing support from you, the reader, as well as some great local businesses, bands and other groups who helped prove that "Myrtle Beach Music Is Not Dead!" at a time when not everyone believed in the future of the scene.

With that help, I've had some amazing opportunities and been able put on shows at a variety of venues, release a compilation of local music, host a few meet-ups for local musicians and fans and even crown the "Grand Strand's Best Band."

Though there's still plenty of work to be done, I'm proud of the work we've been able to do and am always amazed by the folks who continue to step up and support the growth of our scene as a whole. 

After more than two years of non-stop writing, photographing, promoting, selling and covering the Myrtle Beach scene, as of spring 2013 I've stepped back from running ListenUp as a business to focus my efforts on family and my full-time career in marketing.

Because I will always be a journalist at heart and greatly enjoy being part of the scene, I still cover and post about local events from time to time, though ListenUp is now a labor of love and a hobby done at my leisure for no other purpose than to spread the word about the scene I've come to love.

I greatly appreciate your continued support and thank you for checking out the site!

Note: Unless otherwise noted, all work on this site is my own and does not represent the views of any other person, company or entity. ListenUp does not routinely engage in sponsoring or promoting local shows or concerts and does not accept paid advertising. If you have any questions contact me here.

Sincerely,

Chris Mowder
Editor/founder
listenupmb@gmail.com

Mowder is an award-winning journalist and artist with a decade of experience working at daily and weekly newspapers across Ohio, Indiana and South Carolina. He has lived in Myrtle Beach since being hired at The Sun News in 2006 and founded ListenUp in 2010 while working as editor of the Kicks! entertainment guide. He most recently ran the Visit! tourism guide for Waccamaw Publishers and now works for Interactivity Marketing in Conway.