Category Archives: Interviews

Jason Grunstra (JamCloud) – Interview (Part 2)

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This is the second and final part of the interview I had the pleasure of conducting with Jason Grunstra from JamCloud. We talk about his musical likes, and lots and lots of underground artists.  If you haven’t already done so, read the first part of the interview here.

 

PART II

MUSIC & YOU

When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?

I believe that we are all born with a natural interest in music. It’s part of our DNA; just listen to the rhythm of your own heart beat! I’m sure our early ancestors were making music as soon as they were able to bang two sticks together!

The first music I purchased was in 1991 and was Naughty By Nature’s self titled album.

Are you in a band yourself, or have you been in a band in the past? Is there a clip on YouTube or elsewhere we could watch?

I once dabbled in recording engineered and recorded a demo tape with a close friend of mine from high school. YouTube didn’t exist back then though. I wish I had registered the domain name though!

Musical likes and dislikes? Favorite artists?

I tend to follow the hip-hop genre most closely, but I’ve also discovered a lot of really great content in other genres by using JamCloud. Recently I tend to gravitate to more underground artists, like Homeboy Sandman  or Classified . I think a new artist by the name of Shy B  has a lot of potential. My favorite artist of all time would have to be E-40 because if his unique style and overall creativity and hustle.

As far as dislikes… I try to keep an open mind, and one of the popular rooms on JamCloud is “The Music Lounge” which is an anything goes room. Generally I can tolerate most of the music played in that room. But the other day someone played some trance music and I just couldn’t handle it. I have no desire to be in a trance – I prefer to be cognizant. Continue reading →

Jason Grunstra (JamCloud) – Interview (Part 1)

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Today I bring you a really complete interview with Jason Grunstra from JamCloud, the revolutionary service for enjoying music and videos collectively that I profiled last week on MusicKO. I sincerely thank Jason for having taken the time to answer everything so thoroughly. You can read the first part of the interview below; the second part is here.

 

Full Name: Jason Grunstra
Age: 33
Startup: JamCloud
Position: Co-Founder & CEO

 

PART I

THE STARTUP

Tell us a little about your startup. How was it conceived?

JamCloud was created as a way to harness the massive amount of media that already exists out in the cloud and collect and organize those items that you love from various content providers into one unified player.

What are its most distinctive features in your opinion? Does JamCloud lend itself to more than listening to music? Who else could benefit from it?

Overall I would say that the most distinctive thing when you first use JamCloud is really the overall app itself in that it is really intuitive, easy to use and just looks great. If I had to choose a specific feature I would probably say the discovery tools that we’ve come up with give people multiple ways to discover some really great music and videos that they may have never otherwise heard of before. Tapping into the collective knowledge of friends and peers really helps bring some hidden talent to the surface.

Music is certainly the first thing that comes to mind when using the app. But when you think about it, JamCloud is actually the perfect app to use for any type of content that is fun to watch with others. Comedy routines is a great example – everyone loves to laugh with friends. Or sports highlights is another example where users can chat in real-time as they watch the same sports clips that are synced up across multiple peoples computers. JamCloud really creates an environment where you can socialize with others about any interest really. Or how about animated short films? We even have a group that shares woodworking videos with each other and get inspiration from others for their own projects. The possibilities are limitless.

So far, in which countries has JamCloud been better-received?

We started with the US audience since that’s where we are based, but we’ve had a really good reception in Canada, Germany and the UK. Many times people outside of the US will see a new music platform spring up one day to only to get shut down a few months later due to the record labels clamping down and I think those people are just plain tired of it. With JamCloud since we aren’t the ones providing the actual content we are able to reach an international audience without any problems. We’re just finishing up work on translations for the application into Spanish, German, French and Japanese. Continue reading →

Chris (Jazz Cypher) – Interview (Part 2)

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This is the last part of the interview with Chris, the founder of social networking site Jazz Cypher. Here we talk about his whole musical background, and these artists he enjoys more.

And this link will take you to the first part of the interview (the one where we talk about Jazz Cypher itself).

 

PART II

MUSIC & YOU

 

When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?

I’ve always been interested in music. Always into hip hop. Never an over-the-top jazz fan.

Are you in a band yourself, or have you been in a band in the past? Is there a clip on YouTube or elsewhere we could watch?

No, I don’t play anymore but I used to play the drums.

Musical likes and dislikes? Favorite artists?

Primarily hip hop and R & B, but I can appreciate great music from any genre. Continue reading →

Chris (Jazz Cypher) – Interview (Part 1)

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Today I bring you the interview I had the pleasure to conduct with Chris from Jazz Cypher, the social network for jazz lovers and performers reviewed last week on MusicKO.

So, what goes into creating a social networking site for musicians? Read on to find out…

 

Chris (Jazz Cypher's Founder)

Full Name: Chris
Age: 33
Website: Jazz Cypher
Position: Founder

 

PART I

THE WEBSITE

Tell us a little about your website. How was it conceived? What are its most distinctive features in your opinion?

My father is a jazz pianist, and I am in the technology field, So together we decided to build a site aimed to fuse together Jazz Music with a fully scoped social networking platform.

Registered member can create profiles, and create posts, join groups, or simply use the site as an interactive rolodex to find and contact new jazz musicians in the area. It provides musicians and jazz enthusiasts a unique networking gateway at their fingertips.

What was the original launch date?

July ‘11

What has been the response so far?

Great – although we need to kick promotion into high gear.

What features can we expect to see implemented in future revisions?

Chat and possibly, Vendor Partnerships. Continue reading →

Anton Naumovets (PitchImprover.com) – Interview (Part 2)

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This is the second and final part of the conversation I had with Anton Naumovets from PitchImprover.com. You can read how it all started here.

 

PART II

MUSIC & YOU

 

When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?

My parents made me study piano when I was a kid. I hated it and was very happy when I played the dreaded Fur Elise at the final exam at the school and didn’t need to touch the instrument no more. The piano was sold and my anger began to cease, eventually transforming into interest.

Don’t remember what was the first album, probably something by Egor Letov (Russian punk).

Are you in a band yourself, or have you been in a band in the past? Is there a file on YouTube or elsewhere we could watch?

I was in a band, it is on myspace, but I’d rather do without the links here. If you hear me singing, there is no chance that you will want to learn anything related to pitch from my site!

Musical likes and dislikes? Favorite artists?

I am playing and listening to a lot of sax lately. It started from hearing these guys: http://doklive.com/live, and I still like them a lot. Among the giants, Coltrane and Yusef Lateef are my favourites.

Apart from that, of the contemporaries, for example I enjoy the music by White Lies. Continue reading →

Anton Naumovets (PitchImprover.com) – Interview (Part 1)

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Anton Naumovets from PitchImprover.com (recently reviewed on MusicKO) had the time and the patience to answer all the questions a little voice whispered in my ear the moment he agreed to do an interview here on the blog. Thanks a lot, Anton!

Below you will find the first part of his interview, with the second part (“Music & You”) being located right here.

 

Full Name: Anton Naumovets
Age: 26
Website: PitchImprover.com
Position: Everything

 

PART I

THE WEBSITE

 

Tell us a little about your website. How was it conceived? Was it inspired by anything in particular that happened to you?

As you might expect, I was in need of ear training myself. Looking at the existing solutions, they often overwhelmed me with customization options from the very beginning, or I didn’t like the sounds of the instruments, or both. And I decided to create my own.

What unique features has it got? What features can we expect to see implemented in future revisions? Will you add more instruments?

The unique features are the lack of complex choices, and the instruments that sound more or less naturally.

As far as I understand it, there are two processes important for a musician who improvises or plays by ear that go hand in hand. One is ear training, the other is forming musical vocabulary of melodic phrases and harmonic movements, developing musical language. I’d like to create tools that would help you with both at once, that is the big goal.

On a smaller scale, I am now working on porting the existing exercises to Android and iPhone. That, and fixing some faults and adding some polish to the site of course.

For the instruments, I’d rather improve the sound of the existing ones (strings and woodwinds especially) than add new ones. Continue reading →

Kailash Subedi (RecooMe) – Interview (Part 2)

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This is the continuation of the interview with Kailash – the first part was posted here.

PART II

MUSIC & YOU

When did you become interested in music?

I started loving music ever since I could understand it.

Are you in a band yourself, or have you been in a band in the past? Is there a clip on YouTube or elsewhere we could watch?

Nope, unfortunately I have zero musical talent. Also I’m glad there isn’t a video on YouTube.

Musical likes and dislikes? Favorite artists?

Songs Likes: “For the First Time” – The Script
Song Dislikes: Can’t think of any.
Favourite Artists: 1974 AD, James Blunt, John Mayer, Eminem, Kanye West, MJ Continue reading →

Kailash Subedi (RecooMe) – Interview (Part 1)

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Kailash Subedi from the novel music recommendation service RecooMe (which was featured on MusicKO last week) was kind enough to put up with me for a whole interview. The answers to the first part of the interview are below; the second part of the interview is here.

RecooMe

Full Name: Kailash Subedi
Age: 19
Startup: RecooME
Position: Founder

PART I

THE STARTUP

Tell us a little about your startup. How was it conceived? What are its most distinctive features in your opinion?

The world we live in is a very social world. It’s quite evident that people do things and buy things based on what other people (mainly friends) do and say. A lot of times my friends tell me verbally to listen to a song that they think is really good. But by the time I get to a place where I can listen to the song, I don’t remember what it is. Or often, I’ve had my friends say “I can’t believe you have this song on your iPod”.

I felt like we needed a place where friends could recommend songs, and create a playlist for each other. Furthermore, most of the time we discover new music by seeing what others are listening to. RecooMe allows users to follow others to see what they are listening to or recommending.

The most distinctive features of RecooMe are that it is a super easy-to-use service, and the fact that users are able to post a complete and playable song just by entering its name. This saves time – people find nothing but songs that can be played on the site.

What was the original launch date?

RecooMe is quite young since the BETA launch date, was May 1st

What has been the response so far? In which countries has it been more successful?

The response has been quite good. We’ve had a lot of visits from the US and Canada, and some European visitors as well. Most recommendations so far have been English but there are some international songs being recommended, too. Continue reading →

Kyle York (1Band1Brand) – Interview

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I’ve had the pleasure to interview Kyle York from 1Band1Brand, a really great service that combines fashion and music in a way never seen before (original post here). Personally, I find it really interesting to hear the voice of people who are doing something entirely new in the industry. Thanks Kyle & Co. for your time!

Full Name: Kyle York
Age: 28
Startup: 1band 1brand
Position: Partner

1band1brand

Tell us a little about your startup. How was it conceived? What are its most distinctive features in your opinion?

ABOUT 1BAND 1BRAND
1band 1brand is a free, subscription-based digital platform that introduces emerging, independent musicians and fashion labels to influential young adults who want to stay connected by encouraging them to hear, wear and share. The group facilitates all kinds of innovative collaborations between emerging bands and brands. Learn more at: http://1band1brand.com.

Each one of us involved has a slightly different story. For me, it all started back in 2004 when my brother Travis and a crew of us threw the now infamous ‘Summer Shindy’ music party at his former home in Manchester, NH. In our opinion, it was the craziest party we’ve ever seen. With a few years of maturity and business experience under our belt in marketing, branding and technology we realized we were actually onto something that sunny Saturday back in 2004.

When Travis and his wife Danielle purchased their current home (where my Mom grew up and my grandparents lived for 50+ years) they decided to replace the galley kitchen and expand the home with an amazing room for entertaining. The 138 Listening Lounge, an invitation-only home concert series was born after Travis hosted a birthday party for Danielle with one of her favorite emerging bands as the entertainment.

After planning and hosting shows for over a year and getting involved in the positioning, packaging and promotion of several artists (Travis had managed artists for years), we decided that bi-monthly introductions to new bands just wasn’t enough. That, coupled with the fact that several brands were reaching out to get involved with the Listening Lounge, led us to create 1band 1brand, a concept that myself and a couple friends, Brady Sadler & Justin Griffin came up with at SXSW in 2010.

The simplicity and genuine nature of 1band 1brand seems to be something that subscribers, bands and brands alike have gravitated towards. We’re working hard to build up credibility and an engaged audience without over complicating things or rushing to evolve too fast.

How are bands/brands chosen?

Bands and brands are chosen through a thorough review process: discovery followed by due diligence. We search for a diverse set of genres of bands/brands first and pair them together second, presented individually, but with a semblance of relevance. They have to have an online following and digital distribution as well as an ability to offer music or clothing…with deals. They must be “emerging” and cannot have already made it on a big label. If they are on a label, it must be independent artist-focused. The five of us working on the project have a cross-section of taste in both music and fashion. We all approve each week well in advance (we don’t always agree!) – the actual bands/brands as well as the pairing. There is a standard we are in search of – we won’t settle. Believe it or not, we actually had a queue of 17 weeks lined up before our launch at SXSW in March 2011.

The discovery process is actually getting easier as more folks keep sending us bands and brands to feature, but the diligence process is harder in a way as not all of them sent are the caliber we are looking for. Continue reading →

Miguel Martín (LyricsGaps) – Interview (Part 2)

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This is the second (and final) part of the interview I conducted with Miguel Martín from LyricsGaps. Check out how the conversation started here!

PART II

MUSIC & YOU

When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?

I have been a music lover since I was a child, but I honestly can’t remember the first album I purchased. Nevertheless, I remember that I liked Aerosmith a lot, so maybe it was one of their albums.

Are you in a band yourself, or have you been in a band in the past? Is there a clip on YouTube or elsewhere we could watch?

No, I don’t not have enough talent.

Musical likes and dislikes? Favorite artists?

I am always listening to the radio, so generally I like all the knd of music that comes through it. These last days I have been listening more than usual to Carlos Jean’s new song, “Lead The Way”. Also to “Who´s That Chick” by David Guetta, and “On The Floor” by Jennifer Lopez. You can find all these tracks (and many others) in lyricsgaps.com. Continue reading →