Songlorious' bespoke music is the perfect gift for loved ones during the pandemic

CHICAGO -- When a close friend asked Omayya Atout and his fiance to write a song for their wedding, he didn't think he'd be able to make a business out of it.

"The reaction we got was way more amazing than we thought it was going to be. So we tried a website to see what would happen," Atout said.

Thus, Songlorious was born. It's a marketplace where musicians make money by writing and performing customized songs, sharing people's stories.

"These people are writing a lot of stuff, they're really spilling their hearts out," Atout said. "When you read that, it's so easy to draw inspiration from their story and write a song."

People can request a quick birthday jingle or 5-minute long anniversary song in a variety of genres like country, rock and electro-pop.

"You're trying to find the right way to tell their story through lyrical music," Atout said.

"Oftentimes, we write music for ourselves with our own life experiences; with Songlorious you get the opportunity to take somebody else's life experiences and inject those into the song," musician Justin Reckamp added.

Reckamp, along with his bandmates that form Mungion, are just some of the musicians who have struggled since March.

"It's been crazy, summer is usually one of our busiest seasons," Reckamp said. "But this year, not so much. We've only played three shows in the last six months."

Songlorious gives Reckamp the ability to continue to write and perform music while staying in the comfort and safety of his small studio, an opportunity he's grateful for as the pandemic continues to threaten live musical performances.

"As a musician, sometimes it's hard to find work, especially now. So to have that sustainable income is amazing. I'm so happy to be apart of it," Reckamp said.