Illustration by Fanny Luor
Illustration by Fanny Luor

Virtual First, Dropbox for musicians, Passion economy

How two songwriters grew a thriving collaborative community (and business)

By

Published on April 22, 2021

As the pandemic paused live music, Allie Moss and Bess Rogers leaned into a personal passion: developing the skills of fellow musicians

Photo of Allie Moss and Bess Rogers, co-founders of Thinking Outside the Blocks
Allie Moss and Bess Rogers, co-founders of Thinking Outside the Blocks

As ideas began flowing again, Moss felt inspired to show others how to break through times of doubt and low motivation. So she reached out to Bess with an idea for a new business.

“When the pandemic hit, we decided to start doing these weekly free community classes every Saturday morning.”—Bess Rogers

Bess Rogers and Allie Moss on stage with Ingrid Michaelson (Photo by Grace Brown Photography)

“The fact that we share our unfinished work hopefully gives everybody the freedom to do the same and know they're not going to be judged.”—Bess Rogers

Photo by Grace Brown Photography

“The goal of our writing exercises is not to write a good song, it's just to write a song. Often, the pressure of having to write something good can just stop the creativity in its tracks.”—Bess Rogers

Screenshot of Instagram post from Thinking Outside the Blocks
Allie and Bess provide writing prompts on social media to keep writers active between workshops

“We only teach from what we know, which is how to build a creative practice, and a lifestyle of songwriting that is fulfilling in and of itself."—Allie Moss