The Story of The MuSiK Box & In Audio We Trust

The High School Genesis & The 'MSK' Code

In late 2008 and early 2009, during their sophomore year at Saint Ignatius High School in Cleveland, Ohio, co-founders Myles Snider and Seamus Kelleher launched an underground music destination straight from their laptops: The MuSiK Box (themusikbox.com).

The publication's distinct capitalization was a subtle in-joke and personal signature: The MuSiK Box cleverly embedded the co-founders' initials — Myles Snider and Seamus Kelleher — spelling out MSK within MuSiK using lowercase "u" and "i".

Built on early WordPress architectures and powered by DatPiff mixtape rips, Mediafire downloads, and direct email submissions from hungry indie artists, the site stood at the vanguard of the burgeoning music-blog revolution.

“We Skip Study Hall For This...”

Mac Miller at The Grog Shop & The MGK Video

The MuSiK Box was never just digital commentary; it was a physical live-music catalyst in the Midwest. In the spring of 2010, Seamus and Myles partnered with Cleveland promotion crew The Coventry Kids to book an 18-year-old Pittsburgh prodigy named Mac Miller at The Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights — Mac's first out-of-town headline show.

Just weeks earlier, on April 22, 2010, the co-founders shot a now-legendary parking lot interview on an iPhone in the Saint Ignatius High School lot with a 19-year-old Machine Gun Kelly (MGK), breaking down his breakout mixtape 100 Words and Running.

The Viral Surge & The 100k Ceiling

During its peak in 2011, In Audio We Trust averaged 2,000 to 6,000+ daily readers. On record-shattering days, viral algorithmic traffic from StumbleUpon, Reddit, Hype Machine, DJ Earworm mashups, and college network word-of-mouth propelled single-day visitor counts above 100,000 unique visitors.

A major engine of this explosive growth was the golden age of collegiate mashup culture. IAWT was a premiere launchpad for artists like The White Panda, The Hood Internet, Super Mashed Bros, Norwegian Recycling, Brenton Duvall, and Big Z Remixes.

The 301 Rebrand to In Audio We Trust

As readership expanded beyond Ohio into a national footprint, the co-founders orchestrated a comprehensive brand evolution in early 2011, executing a 301 permanent redirect from themusikbox.com to inaudiowetrust.com.

"IAWT 2.0" introduced a sleek, high-contrast dark aesthetic, custom audio streaming players, categorized music channels, and the Thomas Jefferson in DJ headphones emblem that became the brand's signature seal.

To keep up with the unrelenting volume of PR submissions and exclusive premieres, the blog's circle grew the way so many 2009–2012 college-era sites did — friends pitching in between classes, guest writers dropping album reviews, and late-night track tips landing in the inbox. Core contributors included Matt, Ben, Helen, Pilo, Lesia, Tricia, and Heather, who helped review tracks, cover shows, and manage the daily premiere queue.

The Prescient Ear & Final Broadcast

What made The MuSiK Box & IAWT unique was their track record of identifying future megastars months or years before mainstream recognition — tracking early mixtapes of Tyler, The Creator, A$AP Rocky, Macklemore, Skrillex, Avicii, Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, The Weeknd, Frank Ocean, and more.

By early 2012, as high school drew toward graduation, the co-founders sold the publication. Active publishing by the founders concluded on January 25, 2012 with Mike Posner's “Looks Like Sex” — the final broadcast of the authentic era.