Demi Weitz, the Los Angeles-born co-founder of the Quarantunes livestreams, is turning years of viral fundraising and a very public health battle into a full-blown music-tech venture. At 22, she says she has launched On Octave, an app built to help emerging artists connect directly with fans while weaving charitable tools into those fan experiences. The move follows a quirky, widely shared “funeral” for her failing kidney that doubled as a fundraiser and pushed her back into the spotlight.
Speaking with ABC7 Los Angeles, Weitz described On Octave as a platform where artists can offer fan experiences tied to causes and build more sustainable income streams in the process. She told the station the idea traces back to the invitation-only Zoom concerts she and her father launched in March 2020, as well as more recent fundraising stunts that drew celebrities and sizable donations.
Quarantunes' kitchen-table origin
What became known as Quarantunes started as a birthday Zoom in March 2020 and quickly snowballed into an industry-backed fundraising series filled with A-list appearances. Coverage at the time by the Los Angeles Times documented how the invite-only sessions pulled in millions for COVID-era charities and drew names from Clive Davis to John Mayer. The events were run out of the Weitz family home and leaned heavily on Richard Weitz’s industry Rolodex to book talent; Pollstar reported the series raised more than $6.7 million during 2020.
'Kidney funeral' and the personal side
Weitz told ABC7 Los Angeles she endured six surgeries during her freshman year of college, and that an MRI at one point revealed a nonfunctioning kidney described as black. Nearly six years after those early Zooms, she staged a tongue-in-cheek funeral for the organ that doubled as yet another fundraiser. ABC7 reported the event raised thousands of dollars and featured appearances from Jay Shetty, Jeff Ross, and Rick Astley. She has also begun working with an organization that supports pediatric kidney care, she said.
How On Octave could fit artists' toolkit
On Octave’s mix of fan engagement and charitable giving drops into a crowded but already proven space for direct-to-fan monetization. Industry data suggests fans are willing to pay creators directly: Bandcamp reports that fans have paid artists and labels roughly $1.3 billion through its platform, and Bandcamp Fridays alone have generated more than $123 million since 2020, according to Music Business Worldwide. If On Octave can bundle discovery, transactions, and philanthropy into one streamlined experience, it could present an appealing alternative for Los Angeles artists wary of relying solely on streaming payouts.
For local musicians and charities, Weitz’s background and access to industry figures could help speed up Octave’s adoption, provided the app delivers what it promises. Whether the platform becomes a meaningful new revenue stream or just a high-profile experiment will come down to execution, the artists she can recruit, and whether fans decide they prefer to fund art through built-in charity hooks rather than the platforms they already know.
