{"id":64632,"date":"2025-11-25T17:42:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/64632\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T17:42:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:42:08","slug":"phil-rosenthal-of-somebody-feed-phil-sets-austin-tour-date","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/64632\/","title":{"rendered":"Phil Rosenthal of Somebody Feed Phil sets Austin tour date"},"content":{"rendered":"

Austin musician Ben Ikwuagwu<\/a> didn\u2019t know it at the time, but a night of karaoke with his fellow Dell interns back in 2017 would redirect his life and eventually lead him toward becoming a tech entrepreneur \u2014 building an app designed to organize the chaotic, gig-to-gig lives of working musicians. <\/p>\n

Soundcheck<\/a>, which officially launched<\/a> November 17 with crowdfunding support largely from fellow musicians, is built as a streamlined business hub \u2014 something Ikwuagwu describes as Shopify-style platform for musicians. The app puts a booking calendar, payment process, and vendor coordination hub in one location.<\/p>\n

The life of a musician is feast or famine, Ikwuagwu says. A working musician could make $40,000 in April and turn around and make $2,000 in August, just due to the nature of the business. Soundcheck helps guide better budget choices.<\/p>\n

“Gigging musicians aren’t broke. They just don’t know how to manage their business,” Ikwuagwu says. “They don’t know how much money they have or how to forecast it.”<\/p>\n

When Ikwuagwu was an intern, he expected to land a steady career in supply chain management with his business degree from Texas A&M University. But one night at a karaoke bar, he reluctantly stepped onstage with future mentor Greg Williams and his band Uptown Drive, and his one song turned into a full 45-minute set.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I sang with Greg\u2019s band, that was my first time ever singing with a band,\u201d Ikwuagwu says. \u201cI\u2019d always been a choir guy \u2014 I didn\u2019t play in bands, didn\u2019t write music, nothing like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Impressed, Williams gave him his phone number and told him to reach out if he ever made it back to Austin. A couple of years later, when Ikwuagwu did return for a full-time job at Dell, he did. His side-hustle career as a wedding and event singer began. Performing as Benji Uzo, Ikwuagwu went on to work dozens of gigs with Uptown Drive, Moontower Entertainment, Dart Collective, the NightOwls, and even the Dallas String Quartet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2019, I made more money from gigging than I did at Dell, and it was supposed to be my side hustle,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"Ben Ikwuagwu on the Fox game show Don’t Forget the Lyrics with Niecy Nash in 2023Photo courtesy of Don’t Forget the Lyrics via Fox<\/p>\n

Over the years, Ikwuagwu has performed at ACL Live, Stubb\u2019s, Carnegie Hall, and the MGM Grand Hotel, and his corporate gig clients have included The Domain, Dell and Toyota. Two years ago, he even shared the stage with Niecy Nash on the Fox series Don\u2019t Forget the Lyrics.<\/p>\n

All the while, Ikwuagwu’s logistical mind kept cataloguing and mulling the headaches of the industry: wrong addresses, incomplete information, sheets, last-second updates, and inconsistent payment processes. One night he floated the idea of a musician-management app to his roommate, Steven Tran, who had recently exited a failed startup. Tran didn\u2019t hesitate, and the two began sketching out what would become a subscription-based tool called Soundcheck.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t sleep because I kept thinking about this problem,\u201d Ikwuagwu says, recalling his time working at Apple. \u201cI literally could not stop thinking about how to fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ben Ikwuagwu with his Soundcheck co-founder, Steven Tran.Photo by Nicki Gell<\/p>\n

Besides integrating with popular calendar software \u2014 basically keeping performers and event staff in sync with up-to-date gig details \u2014 the app also provides detailed invitation emails and automated reminders, pulls information from contracts for band leaders to have on hand, stores files in one centralized place, helps the user build setlists, and more.<\/p>\n

Having some assistance on making business decisions makes it easier to be a musician, Ikwuagwu says. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so stressful as a musician when you don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on,” he says. “if I have a single source of truth \u2014 one place with all my gigs \u2014 I\u2019m so much more relaxed.\u201d<\/p>\n