2 Degrees, explained.
In Miami’s music scene — and every music scene — trust comes from who vouches for you. LiveGrid maps your professional network so that trust is visible before anyone signs a contract.
How 2 Degrees works
1-minute deep dive · How 2 Degrees Works
How the industry actually works
An artist two connections away from a trusted promoter ranks higher than a stranger with the same credits. This is how the industry already works — LiveGrid just makes it visible and searchable.
Venues in Miami don’t cold-browse talent rosters. They book the DJ their promoter worked with last spring. They hire the band their venue manager saw at someone else’s showcase. The introduction matters as much as the talent. LiveGrid formalizes that signal so it can inform every booking — not just the ones that happen to land on the right desk.
What the network maps
Every account on LiveGrid is a node in a connection graph. Edges form when:
- You follow someone or accept their follow.
- You connect Spotify and share a listening overlap above a threshold.
- You and another user have shared LinkedIn connections (with permission).
- You both check in at the same venue within the same hour.
- You have completed a booking together on LiveGrid.
From your node, “1 degree” means a direct connection — someone you know. “2 degrees” means a friend of a friend — someone they vouch for. The algorithm stops surfacing beyond 2 degrees because trust signal drops off sharply at 3+.
A diagram
Drew and Lena are people you already know. Josh, Sam, Kai, and Rio are who LiveGrid surfaces to you. Anyone beyond 2 degrees is filtered out unless you explicitly search for them.
How mutual connections affect ranking
Applicants for venues
When artists apply to your job posting, LiveGrid shows how many mutual connections each applicant shares with you. Artists connected to people you've worked with or follow move to the top of your ranked list.
Job listings for artists
A buyer's job posting appears higher in your feed when that buyer is within 2 degrees of your network — a former collaborator's venue, a promoter you're connected through, a spot you've both been checked into.
Discovery for patrons
Shows where any of your 1- or 2-degree connections are checked in get highlighted in your feed. You see the count, not the identities — aggregate presence, not a tracking list.
Verified history amplifies signal
Completed bookings on LiveGrid create strong edges. An artist who has played 10 confirmed shows carries a trust trail that a brand-new profile cannot fake — the network reflects real professional history.
Why connections matter more than credits
A press kit can be polished. A social following can be bought. A mutual connection cannot be faked — it exists because two real people have a real professional relationship. When a promoter you trust has worked with an artist, that edge in LiveGrid carries more weight than any bio line.
This is why LiveGrid asks you to connect Spotify, LinkedIn, and to check in at venues you attend. Every real-world interaction you document becomes an edge in the graph that vouches for the people around you — and lets them vouch for you.
Privacy: what we never expose
- Precise GPS location: Other users only ever see approximate distance ("~3 mi") or venue presence ("at Space tonight"). Your coordinates are never shared.
- Your contact list: If you opt into contact-matching, contacts are hashed on-device and only the hashes are sent to our servers. We never see or store actual phone numbers from your contacts.
- Listening history details: The algorithm uses an aggregated taste profile drawn from your Spotify data — not your individual play history. We cannot and do not surface what specific tracks you've listened to.
- Private connections: If a mutual contact has set their profile to private, we count their edge in the graph but never reveal their identity to either party. The connection contributes to ranking without exposing the person.
Privacy: what you control
- Profile visibility: Public, friends-of-friends only, or private. Set in
Account › Privacy & data. - Connected accounts: Disconnect Spotify, Apple Music, or LinkedIn at any time. Disconnecting removes the edges they contributed to your graph immediately.
- Check-in opt-out: You can opt out of your check-in count being visible to anyone, including direct connections. Your attendance stays private.
- Approximate distance only: Precise location is off by default. Even when you enable it for proximity features, it is never shared with other users.
What 2 Degrees is not
- It is not a content recommender system. We do not auto-generate a playlist or decide what music you should like.
- It is not a reputation score. There is no 1–100 number assigned to any person. Edges exist or they do not.
- It is not a tracker. The graph is built only from edges you explicitly contributed — follows, completed bookings, connected accounts, check-ins you logged.
- It is not a substitute for your own judgment. Mutual connections surface context. You still make the booking decision.