In late May, Reverb.com unveiled its new 10,000 square foot office expansion.
The new space, which more than doubles the size of the company’s Roscoe Village headquarters, will accommodate the music marketplace’s continued growth. This year, Reverb estimates it will increase headcount by 50 percent and close the year with approximately $600 million in sales.
“In the last five years, Reverb has connected countless musicians with their dream gear, helped brick-and-mortar music instrument retailers find new streams of revenue, enabled motivated music lovers to build their own online businesses, and more—but we’re far from finished,” said David Kalt, Founder and CEO at Reverb. “As we continue to expand internationally, grow new offerings—like Reverb LP, our new record marketplace—and more, we’ll continue to add to our team, and this new space supports and is a tribute to that growth.”
Over the past year, Reverb has hosted music gear sales for artists ranging from the Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan to Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, and nearly every week, the company hosts local and international artists at its office for video interviews, demos, and more. To support the company’s continued focus on high-quality video content, the new office addition will feature a sound-balanced and acoustically-engineered video production studio, complete with control center and green room. The room features acoustic treatments made of reclaimed wood and faux brick, inspired by Chicago’s vibrant, underground music scene
A company that prides itself on managing many aspects of the business—technology, marketing, and more—internally, Reverb turned to in-house Art Director Lynette Sage and Senior Designer Ryan Ford for much of the artwork displayed throughout the space. The duo designed:
- The large “Make the World More Musical” mural that greets you upon entering the building.
- The pop-art instrument-inspired vinyl decals on the road-facing windows.
- The large, vibrant, music-inspired murals featured throughout the meeting rooms.
- Nearly 50 unique pieces of canvas art celebrating artists ranging from Tom Petty and the Beach Boys to Björk and Beyonce.
“When we were designing the artwork for the space, we wanted it to have the emotive quality of listening to your favorite song or playing an instrument, so we used bright colors, funky shapes, and active patterns that symbolize rhythm and illustrate that indescribable joy music elicits,” Sage said. Of getting asked to design artwork for the space, she added: “Much of the work our design team develops is viewed online or on a much smaller scale. Designing for a physical space—an entire office—was a challenging, fun, and above all else, extremely rewarding project.”
While the Reverb marketplace features new and used instruments of every shape and size, the company initially made a name for itself as a platform for used and vintage music gear. With the company’s roots and sustainability top of mind, lead designer and All Things Esque Owner Catherine Nordloh was dedicated to building out the space using almost exclusively reclaimed wood and furniture made by local artisans. In total, the buildout supported more than a dozen local and/or small businesses—a decision that Nordloh made to mirror Reverb’s dedication to the small music gear shops it supports on the platform.
“Nearly every detail of the space is reflective of Reverb as a company. The meetings rooms all have clear glass doors to represent one of the company’s core values: Transparency. The decor combines vintage touches with modern flair, mirroring the instruments you’ll find on Reverb,” Nordloh said. “The space is also extremely flexible and functional, with many items serving dual purposes to accommodate the diverse team members, as well as the expansive growth that the company continues to see.”
