Atlanta-based Sixthman holds a record of no small distinction. Earlier this month, the company chartered its 25th cruise ship.
These are not small-ship charters: Of the 25, 22 have been Carnival Cruise Lines ships, and three have been with Norwegian Cruise Line. The 25th charter was of the 2,052-passenger Carnival Inspiration.
Sixthman's founder and president, Andy Levine, said that the company works by bringing together communities of people who formerly had only online forums to celebrate their interests. Music cruises, he said, give them an offline extension of those interests.
"Our cruises bring like-mindedness together," Levine said, adding that two-thirds of the passengers on Sixthman cruises stay in touch with people they meet on those cruises.
"It's a chance to take the things they are passionate about in their life and come together offline. ... We all have a longing to be around people making the same choices in life that we are."
Levine said the immersion of the cruise vacation gives music fans opportunities they don't have at a concert, where "you don't get a chance to engage. ... You don't get to escape the responsibilities of life but for a couple hours."
Sixthman began in 2001 as a band management company. Levine and one of his clients, the band Sister Hazel, came up with the idea to host a music cruise.
They took 200 cabins on the Carnival Jubilee and created what they say was the first music cruise, called Rock 'n' Roll at Sea.
That cruise later became the Rock Boat hosted by Sister Hazel. In 2002, they chartered an entire ship for the event, as they have done every year since, with the exception of 2005 when the cruise was supposed to sail from New Orleans and could not due to Hurricane Katrina.
Sixthman instead organized Rock for Relief, a weekend festival that raised money for Katrina relief efforts.
Since its start, Sixthman has hosted cruises headlined by Barenaked Ladies, Lynyrd Skynyrd, John Mayer and Kid Rock.
"Bands are deciding this is a great thing to do for their fans, and also for the bands," he said.
The cruises, he said, enable bands and their audience to come together and interact in ways not possible at meet-and-greets where an artist might sign autographs for a couple of hours.
That, he said, "is just a one-way exchange."
On the cruises, the musicians and their fans compete in flip cup tournaments, have trivia competitions, participate in wine tastings. A performer might even make a cameo as a blackjack dealer in the casino.
Perhaps the best indication of the cruises' success is that 60% of the fans return for another cruise, and according to Levine, every artist has asked to come back.
Sixthman is able to charge between two and three times more than what the standard cruise would cost on the same itinerary.
The company displaces all of the normal cruise programming to create a true music festival during the cruise, with music on multiple stages, and programming that even includes changes to the menu.
On the last charter, a Zac Brown Band cruise, fans could try out recipes from Brown's cookbook; the Carnival chefs created one feature appetizer and dessert every night. In addition, Brown held a cooking demonstration.
"He loved having it be about more than just the music," Levine said. "The artist can let loose and do things they never get to do with their fans."
Levine said he is looking for more opportunities to bring together groups of like-minded people on cruises.
"We're in the business of bringing communities together," he said. "We are exploring what communities are really passionate and intense online. We are seeing where the passion is and can we translate that into a vacation."
During the 2010-2011 season, Sixthman will host 11 cruises, including 311's Caribbean Cruise, the second annual Kid Rock's Chillin' the Most Cruise; Lynyrd Skynyrd's fifth Simple Man Cruise; Barenaked Ladies' fourth Ships and Dip; and Sixthman's first nonmusic-focused vacation, the Jillian Michaels Ultimate Wellness Cruise.
This article has been updated to reflect that the company's name is Sixthman, not Sixthman Entertainment as previously stated.