Skip a coffee Help an Artist Get Discovered
This is our collective push to keep San Diego's shared studio space open, gear maintained, and rates affordable starting at $20/hour.
Give monthly and become a Sustaining SD Music Member — automatic, cancel‑anytime support that funds the booking pool all year, turning more local artists into discoverable ones.
Back Local SD Music →Skip something small. Fund something big.
Every gift — one‑time or monthly — goes straight into TMC's booking pool, the fund that keeps professional studio time affordable and puts discovery-ready audio and video recordings within reach for San Diego artists.
Monthly does more with less. $10/month = $120/year = nearly 5 hours of subsidized studio time — funded automatically, all year, not just during San Diego Gives. One-time gifts fund this week. Sustaining members fund the other 51.
Keeps our guitar strings fresh, vocal mics sanitized, and rooms fully maintained day-to-day.
→ $60/year as a Sustaining SD Music Member
Sponsors a full hour of subsidized studio time for an emerging San Diego artist who needs a professional room.
→ $300/year as a Sustaining SD Music Member
The real cost of securing half a day of studio recording time for a local band — uninterrupted, professional-grade time to build a record.
→ $1,800/year as a Sustaining SD Music Member
Funds the multi-camera video crew for a live-in-studio showcase, like our Beach Break Sessions.
→ $3,600/year as a Sustaining SD Music Member
100% of your gift goes directly into TMC's subsidized studio booking pool. Enter any amount — including these — in the secure form below.
Choose Monthly to become a Sustaining SD Music Member. Cancel anytime — most members stay because they get to watch their impact add up.
If you're an artist or creator
You're paying it forward. Your donation directly protects our subsidized rates, keeping professional rooms accessible starting at $20/hr for all local musicians.
If you're a music lover or patron
You're building creative infrastructure. Your gift funds the scholarships, gear, and multimedia crews that launch independent local careers.
Our local infrastructure. The careers we build together.
San Diego has incredible raw creative talent, but our city severely lacks professional music infrastructure. Independent artists stall or leave our scene because commercial studio rates are out of reach, forcing creators to record in backseats, closets, or garages.
TMC exists to be San Diego's shared creative launchpad — professional, sound-engineered rooms, top-tier gear, and a collaborative community that turns raw local talent into sustainable careers.
By skipping one morning coffee or one SD-priced lunch this week, you make sure talent — not personal wealth — determines who gets to make music in our city.
Give now
Inside TMC's Pacific Beach rehearsal room
Your support in action
Here's what our collective push built together last year.
Diverse career pathways
Marlon Funaki
From PB studios to major stages
Marlon Funaki's band was already touring nationally and opening for acts like Billy Currington, steadily growing a following, when they connected with TMC. What was missing was content that could reach as far as his live shows did. TMC invited him into our Pacific Beach studios to record a live Beach Break Session, captured broadcast‑quality, in a single take, no overdubs. The recording went on to become his most-watched release at the time, spreading across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok and giving fans who couldn't make a show a way to connect. It helped the momentum Marlon had already earned compound into new stages and new audiences.
"We were like, 'Hell yes — this is going to be sick.' The kindness and the idea behind TMC — helping musicians build careers out of what they love — we really respected that." — Marlon Funaki
Alec Johnson - Guard Goose Music Therapy
From creative space to community care
Building a career in music takes many forms. Touring bands play major stages, but local artists also use their skills to teach, heal, and launch practices in our own neighborhoods. Alec Johnson is a music therapist who works with children on the autism spectrum. In the traditional clinic model, he had thirty minutes per child and had to cut sessions off mid-process, no matter what a child was working through. Steep rent made starting a private practice feel out of reach. By keeping our studio suites affordable, TMC gave Alec the workspace and backing to build something different: Guard Goose Music Therapy, where he sets his own pace and gives each child the depth of care rushed clinics couldn't.
"Starting your own business is terrifying. But having this space, and feeling supported by TMC, gave me a real sense of a pathway. That's what made it possible." — Alec Johnson, Guard Goose Music Therapy
Keep San Diego music loud.
Our San Diego Gives campaign closes at midnight on Thursday, Sept. 17. Every dollar goes directly into the booking pool that keeps studio time affordable and funds the Beach Break Sessions and Audio Espresso talent showcases that makes San Diego artists discoverable — on their own terms.
Give before the deadline →