In 2011, Johnathan Chen, a freshman at New York University, came face-to-face with how prevalent homelessness was on his daily commute in the city. What initially shocked him was how normal this scene was for other commuters. He noticed that a majority of people in New York always had either headphones or earphones on. So he thought: "What if we could change that behavior of listening to music to avoid interaction into something positive?"
In 2012, OneReasonRecordings was created. The organization went on to become an official 501(c)3 non-profit organization, created 6 albums, partnered with over 30+ artists, raised over $30,000 with donations impacting over 15 different charity organizations, received a Google Grant, and were featured on publications such as the Huffington Post. The organization stopped operations in May of 2015.
MIP Music acquired the remaining digital and physical assets created by OneReasonRecordings in the hopes of continuing to positively impact the world through music. 100% of all proceeds are donated to social justice organizations around the country.
