Live Nation’s next venture is less about staging rock, pop and hip-hop extravaganzas, and all about mindfulness.
The live entertainment giant today (July 6) launches the Mindful Nation app, an online space where music meets meditation for a necessary mental health break.
Mindful Nation goes wide with over 1,000 meditation classes featuring special beats curated by leading producers and independent artists, including Janax Pacha, Mose Musica and Chris IDH.
According to LN, users of the app can expect to tap into daily trainer-led classes tuned to “various vibes, on-demand classes for mind, sleep, and day-to-day life, music playlists” and “breathe with the beat” exercises.
Noel Gallagher, leader of the British rock outfit the High Flying Birds and Oasis co-founder, has tested the app and given it a resounding thumbs-up.
“Writing music and albums is one kind of meditation,” the legendary Manchester artist explains, “you have to go into a particular state to do it. Music is meditation to me so for Niamh to create Mindful Nation makes so much sense. Music is the gateway to finding that higher place of peace and this platform will allow for more people to access meditation in a way that makes sense to them. It’s really cool.”
The mindfulness platform is the brainchild of Niamh McCarthy, a former artist manager who worked for Madonna and U2’s management team at Maverick. McCarthy, like so many others in the business, experienced burnout on the road. She unlocked some of the solutions through meditation, breathwork, and yoga, and “made it her mission” to share those self-help gifts with the wider music industry.
The in-app classes “are like a timeless album, never out of date,” she explains. “Users can keep going back to these resources again and again to support themselves through the highs and lows of life.”
Mindful Nation is part of LN’s commitment to supporting mental health for music industry professionals, many of whom work long hours, well after dark, and spend long stretches on the road – a long way from their comfort zones. Factor-in the pandemic, and it’s a business that can take a toll.
“We first launched Mindful Nation as a program for our employees,” says Michael Rapino, CEO and president of Live Nation, “and it’s great to see Niamh now bringing the benefits of mindfulness to touring artists and crew across our industry, as well as music fans.”
Live Nation has also invested in mental health support for the broader industry, including Music Industry Therapist Collective and Tour Support, and by raising money for Support Act, Australia’s music industry charity.
Download the app via the Apple App Store.