Ensemble Bets on Indie Community — and Tampa

By Avery Anderson

If you’ve ever yelled into the social-media void with a new song and heard nothing back but the algorithm laughing, this one’s for you.

Ensemble—a new app built by two lifelong friends—is trying to give indie musicians what the internet took away: connection. Co-founders Lucas McKamey and Joshua Graves want to make music feel communal again, not transactional.

“I had this concept for a song that had different phases,” McKamey says. “I realized I’d need a ton of instruments I didn’t know how to play. I just didn’t know any musicians around me that could hop on and help me out. That’s kind of how Ensemble started—the idea of musicians just being able to come together on a single platform.”

Graves, who grew up producing hip-hop beats in Iowa, didn’t need much convincing. “I wasn’t even trying to make money off my beats at the time,” he says. “I just wanted other artists to use them and make something cool out of it.”

The two have known each other since they were elementary-school neighbors, the kind of rural Midwest friendship built over long bike rides and late-night Guitar Hero battles. Then McKamey’s family moved to Florida, where he later studied computer science at Cornell University. Each year, the families reunited on vacation—one of those trips became the birthplace of Ensemble.

“He was like, ‘You post your music, anyone can remix it, and you could have this tree of different renditions of your song,’” Graves remembers. “That’s when I fell in love with it.”

Now McKamey lives in Palm Harbor, building Ensemble’s digital hub while the duo grows their global user base of roughly 2,000 musicians. “We’ve got people from Australia, Denmark—everywhere,” McKamey says.

What It Is (and Isn’t)

“Ensemble is a social media app for musicians,” McKamey says. “It’s completely free… we’re bringing indie musicians together on a single, supportive, collaborative platform where you can release your music, give feedback, and collaborate.”

Think virtual jam session, not “pre-save my single.” Songs are short—90 seconds max—and meant to be messy. Graves explains: “What sets Ensemble apart is that it’s this low-key social media where I don’t have to make promo videos or come with the perfect take. I can post it without fear of getting blasted or clowned on.”

That vulnerability has become the hook. The app hosts monthly competitions like Heatwave and Rocktober Fest, where users upload clips, vote for each other, and split the prize pool. It’s gamified collaboration—part contest, part community.

Why Tampa, Why Now

Tampa’s indie scene is quietly booming—from backyard EDM sets to acoustic pop-ups at bars along Central Avenue. It’s also fragmented. Ensemble could be the connective tissue: a digital commons for a city that loves to cross-pollinate genres.

Graves says, “We’re starting from the ground up, and now our focus is on growing this community.”McKamey adds that connecting with local artists is becoming a key part of that growth. “We’ve started doing that—really going out there in person, talking to musicians, and kind of selling them on the idea,” he says. “But part of what’s been cool is seeing musicians all over the world trying out Ensemble.”

Why Non-Musicians Should Care

Because this isn’t just about tracks—it’s about how creative people survive in an algorithmic world.

The average indie artist today competes for the same sliver of attention as Taylor Swift, a football highlight, and a TikTok about soup. “Artists are doing the most over-the-top cry-marketing stuff just to get their music heard,” Graves says. “The algorithms aren’t in favor of the small guy.”

Ensemble pushes back. It’s a reminder that collaboration—not competition—is still the engine of culture. The app’s “Indie Struggles” chat threads read like group therapy for creatives: marketing woes, burnout confessions, imposter syndrome, and encouragement from strangers who get it.

That spirit spills beyond music. For a region that prides itself on building from the ground up—Tampa’s film collectives, St. Pete’s muralists, Sarasota’s indie theaters—it’s a model for how local creatives can build community in a digital age.

“We’re taking a gamble, going all in on indie music,” McKamey says. “Every time we see a new artist, it’s, you know, like our birthday.”

Graves echoes it: “We’re indie artists ourselves, but these people are truly independent—and very talented. They have just as much a part in building this as we do.”

For two kids who met over Guitar Hero and ended up building an app to keep musicians from playing solo, that sounds about right.