We had the good fortune of connecting with Mark Pratt and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Mark, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 5.20.
Life is full of obstacles, but they can nearly always be transformed into opportunities through perception, action and will. This quote has become quite commonplace recently due to Ryan Halliday’s superb book ‘The Obstacle is The Way,’ but either way I think about Stoic philosophy and particularly Marcus Aurelius every day.
Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I’m the Creative Director and co-owner of Soundry; we’re a music consultancy that makes playlists for businesses and designs / installs AV systems. Most of our clients are hotels, restaurants, gyms, bars, spas and retail stores – we’ve been based in Miami for over 12 years and we now have the privilege of curating the soundtracks at some of the city’s favorite places! Some of our landmark clients include Ball & Chain, Michael’s Genuine, Yardbird, Anatomy, E11EVEN, Lost Boy, Time Our Markets, Pura Vida and Tobacco Road – we also work with restaurant groups like Grove Bay, Groot Hospitality and Kush Hospitality and service global hospitality brands such as Four Seasons.
There’s a good story to how we got here…I’m from London originally and in 2008 I came to visit my brother, Damian, who had just moved here (after marrying his wife Deb, who he met while on holiday) and we decided to start this business. 12+ years later and we have 1,000+ clients all over the world and can genuinely claim to be curating music for the most high profile and interesting properties certainly in Miami, and increasingly, globally.
Was it easy?
Not at all, it has been a long and surreal life-affirming evolution that seems to get both more compelling and challenging each day. Anyone who has ever run a small business will know it always feels like 2 steps forward and 1 step back, and our growth and development has felt like a long succession of hard fought battles. And obviously like all other industries – the market, technology and the hospitality industry as a whole has changed hugely over the years; and of course, those first few months of COVID when 95% of our client base suddenly shut down was certainly a set-back, but one which we were able to overcome with relative ease.
The reality is there’s still a high demand for handmade individualized playlists and the best AV systems and I’m very proud how we’ve genuinely been able to become a better business and increase our revenue year on year. Over 12 years in and it still feels like we’re just getting started and there’s a lot exciting potential ahead, and this sense of excitement and possibility feels like the most important thing.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I actually believe Miami has some of the most wonderfully idiosyncratic locations of anywhere in the world, so I love trying to put together a tour when my friends from London come to visit.
I always tell people to stay at The Standard if they can – it’s pricey, but it’s also beautiful and you can’t beat the pool, spa and sunset drinks. I live very nearby and am a member, so there’s a good chance I can be found underneath the hydrotherapy waterfall in a Dionysian haze. It’s a proper vibe…
Personally my favorite restaurants are all the classics – Leku, Michael’s Genuine, Boia De, Macchialina and Mignonette are all wonderful in their own ways. In terms of nightlife I used to love Wynwood back in the day, but it’s a strange mess nowadays; but you can still have a good night if you go from beers at Dogfish Head to The Sylvester Happy Hour then get into Gramps before midnight, ideally when my good friend Francesca aka DJ Cavaliere Inesistente is playing. She’s one of the residents and spins an amazing mix of all-vinyl indie-rock, alt, psychedelic, electro and everything in between. Dance the night away there, sink a few too many Penicillins (the cocktail, not the pharmaceutical) and then I think you have to head The Corner and stick it out to 6am as a rite of passage.
A lot of the places I’ve mentioned are also clients of ours, which shows that they care about the music they play as well.
Finally, in terms of places to visit and nourish your mind, soul and body, I genuinely think Miami has some of the best small businesses in the world. I take anyone who comes to visit to Sweat Records and Fit 305 in Little Haiti, Books & Books in the Gables and the legendary 5th Street Boxing in South Beach. These are the places that remind me daily that I’m lucky to live in the city and long may they continue.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to give a massive Shoutout to all my close friends in Miami for all their support and unwavering loyalty. There’s seems to be a self-loathing Miami narrative that friends are flakey, people act transactionally and the city and its inhabitants are culturally bereft. This might be true in certain circles, but I’ve had the opposite experience. I’ve had the good fortune of meeting some of the most incredibly loyal and inspiring people during the past 12 years, and some of the biggest music fans as well, and I don’t think I would have reached this point or still be living here if it wasn’t for them.
As Shakespeare said in Richard II, “I count myself in nothing else so happy, as in a soul remembering my good friends.”
Website: https://soundrymusic.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soundrymusic/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/1216576
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soundrymusic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/soundrymusic