Sea-Tac Airport Rocks

The Seattle-Tacoma airport brings local bands to its airwaves.

By Sierra Christman April 3, 2012

0412airportmusic

This article originally appeared in the April 2012 issue of Seattle magazine.

Imagine you’re this close to missing your flight at Sea-Tac Airport, the family floundering in front of you has apparently never been through security before, and your departure has just been moved out to the N gates. From somewhere overhead, you hear the voice of a local rapper saying, “Hi. I’m Macklemore. Welcome to one of the greenest airports in the world.” Don’t you feel better now?

Soothing stressed travelers isn’t the main goal of the new Sea-Tac Airport Music Initiative, aka “Experience the City of Music,” but swelling with hometown pride might at least distract you from air-travel woes.

Launched in January, this collaborative effort of the Seattle Music Commission, the Port of Seattle and Redmond-based media company PlayNetwork aims to celebrate Seattle’s rich music culture by piping local bands through airport speakers, playing local music videos on monitors and offering a multichannel Web-radio service on the airport’s free WiFi.

Featured music includes songs by Heart, Quincy Jones, Eddie Vedder, Allen Stone, Fences and Nirvana (here’s hoping they play “On a Plain”), and you can listen for Ben Gibbard, Macklemore and Sir Mix-A-Lot rockin’ the mike on public service announcements. Et voilà, suddenly flight delays feel like encores.

 

 

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