Tag Archives: Interview

Barry Starlin (Soundzabound) – Interview (Part 1)

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SoundzAbound is one of the most interesting startups that I have reviewed so far. And I have had the privilege of catching up with its president and co-founder, Barry Starlin. Now you can read the whole story.
This is Part 1; it deals with the genesis of the startup and its repercussion so far. Part 2 is about Barry and his musical past, present and future. Make sure to check it here.

Barry Starlin Britt from SoundzAbound

Barry Starlin Britt from SoundzAbound

Full Name: Barry Starlin Britt
Startup: Soundzabound.com
Position:  President and Co-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?

Back in 1996 a district educator in the Atlanta area was working in the media department and getting many requests for royalty free music that could be used in PowerPoint and news shows primarily.  Most of the audio was too expensive and mostly “elevator music” in those days.  He contacted me about producing some demos.  Once the demos were done and I could see the results of use, I was on board.

The most distinctive features were the technological needs, the need for copyright compliance in the school systems and mostly, our intellectual property was unmatched having been a marriage between district educators and music industry professionals that soon join us.

What was the original launch date?

Our first Volume was released in August 1998 and Soundzabound was officially incorporated just shortly after that same month.  We did not decide to take the company full time until 2005.

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

The response has been amazing.  I never knew what a necessity our product would be.  In the early days I personally thought it would be nothing more than a novelty, but technology and compliance really drove the need.

Being a U.S. based company with strategic focus on the district, regional and state levels of K-12 education, the United States has been our most successful country, but the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, China and India are of course quickly emerging. Continue reading →

Kilian Valkhof (Lystener) – Interview (Part 2)

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This is the final part of the interview with Kilian Valkhof (from Lystener). As I always say… share and enjoy! (The first part is here)

PART II

MUSIC & YOU

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

I always liked music, and I believe the first single I bought was, shamefully, ‘candle in the wind’ by Elton John. I was 9 or so, then, and was very moved by it all. I redeemed myself with my first CD: Discovery by Daft Punk. Getting really into music only happened later a couple of years after that, when I started discovering bands via the internet that I really liked that you didn’t see on television.

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. I tried it with a couple of friends, but I’m just not musical enough. I own a guitar and dabble on it every now and then, but it’s nothing to write home about.

Musical likes and dislikes? Favorite artists?

Very diverse. Anything from folk to hip-hop, really, with some exceptions: R&B doesn’t do it for me, and the only time I tolerate dance music is in a club. I listen most to rock music, with my favorite artists consisting of Jack’s mannequin, Say anything, Third Eye Blind, Snow Patrol, Brand New.

To you, what is the role that lyrics actually play in contemporary music? Is that wrong or is that right?

It really depends on the artist. Some artists have lyrics to accompany the music, and some the other way around. I myself am drawn to more lyric-centric musicians, but it differs per person and per band. Continue reading →

Kilian Valkhof (Lystener) – Interview (Part 1)

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Last week I caught up with Kilian Valkhof from Lystener, a startup offering an innovative way to find and share lyrics that I had reviewed the previous week.

We talked about his project, and also about his relationship with music. A special emphasis was placed on the way he perceives lyrics, of course.

This is Part 1 of the interview. Part 2 (where we talk about music) can be read here.

Kilian Valkhof, The Creator Of Lystener

Kilian Valkhof, The Creator Of Lystener

Full Name: Kilian Valkhof
Age: 22
Web App: Lystener
Position: Founder

PART I

THE  WEB APP

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

I’ve always had a problem with the way lyrics work. Some music players can display lyrics and that’s great, but there’s always one that doesn’t work as well as it should.

You can also google lyrics. This means you have to type in the artist and song title (because somehow they’re never copyable from music players) and find a working site that doesn’t have a bunch of ads and spam. Then, if you want to actually do something with the lyrics, like, copy them, most sites block that too! If you want to share lyrics on facebook, for example, you end up typing them yourself.

Lystener fixes both these problems. No typing needed to find the lyrics to the song you’re listening to now, because I just ask last.fm what you’re playing, and it updates automatically. When you select the lyrics you like, you can post the part you selected to facebook or twitter with a single button.

What was the original launch date?

I launched it on monday the 28th of june, after a week of private beta.

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

Twofold actually. People love the application but the lyrics database isn’t really big, so if you’re like me and listen to lots of unknown stuff, you’ll have to do without lyrics every now and then. There are ways to easily add them though, and I’m going to expand on those to make adding lyrics yourself even easier. When you have lyrics though, people are delighted because everything works very smoothly, reading lyrics, selecting lyrics, sending lyrics, it all happens in one flow.

As far as countries go, English speaking countries lead by a large margin. Continue reading →

Tony Bouchereau (The Tony-B Machine) – Interview (Part 2)

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Below you will find the second part of my interview with Tony Bouchereau, the creator of the Tony-B Machine. Make sure to check all the links he provided as part of the answers! And you can read Part 1 here.

PART II

MUSIC & YOU

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

I play music (traverse flute) since the age of 8.
I think the first album I bought was “No One Is Innocent”, a French metal band.

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 play the flute in the Quatuor Megamix.
We play 90’s Dance hits arranged in a classical way.
Sound and videos at http://www.myspace.com/quatuormegamix

Musical likes and dislikes? Favorite artists?

I especially like Techno artists like Laurent Wolf, Joachim Garraud or David Guetta.
But I am open to a few other musical styles. Continue reading →

Tony Bouchereau (The Tony-B Machine) – Interview (Part 1)

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Today’s interviewee is Tony Bouchereau, creator of the Tony-B Machine (reviewed last week on MusicKO). You can learn how this novel tool for the interactive creation of music came to be and what has been its reception below. And after that, please read the bit named “Music & You” to learn more about Tony and the bands he is involved with.

Anthony "Tony-b" Bouchereau

Anthony "Tony-b" Bouchereau

Full Name: Anthony “Tony-b” Bouchereau
Age: 29
Startup: The Tony-b Machine
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?

My first idea was to make a kind of interactive song where the listener can choose which drum part or which bass part he wants to hear next.
Progressively, I saw that it could be fun to interact with each part of the drums (kick, hi-hat, snare) and to play chords or notes.
I tried to develop the funny side of the application by adding some special “combos” and hidden sounds.

What was the original launch date?

The Tony-b Machine is online since the beginning of 2007 (Version 2).

What has been the response so far?

The beginning was quite calm and after a few months, there have been a few articles in some magazines.
The number of visitors became important at the end of 2007. Since then, the site welcomes more than 1000 visitors every day.
There is a small community of regular visitors who follows the evolution of the site assiduously. Continue reading →

Caroline Bottomley (Radar Music Videos) – Interview (Part 2)

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This is the final part of the interview I conducted with Caroline Bottomley from Radar Music Videos. The first one is right here – give it a good look if you haven’t already done so.

PART II

MUSIC & YOU

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

I think I was about 14. I started reading NME, then I started memorizing it. I think Tubular Bells was my first album, or How Dare You by 10CC.

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?

Wish I had been in a band, I didn’t play an instrument and for some reason thought I couldn’t learn. I should have been a manager obviously but I wasn’t. And sadly no, no old clips of me with my proper Mohican pvc trousers and Chelsea boots with chains on them. Hey ho.

Musical likes and dislikes? Favorite artists?

Oh dear. I like so many different things. I’m enjoying a bit of 70s folk and rock type stuff at the moment, Brinsley Schwarz, Colin Blunstone. Continue reading →

Caroline Bottomley (Radar Music Videos) – Interview (Part 1)

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Caroline Bottomley from Radar Music Videos (a startup I reviewed recently) was kind enough to answer my questions about her company, the Internet and also about her favorite music. You can find the first part of the interview below. The second (and final) part is here.

http://www.radarmusicvideos.com

http://www.radarmusicvideos.com

Full Name: Caroline Bottomley
Startup: RadarMusicVideos

PART I

THE STARTUP

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

I had been thinking about setting up a business nearly all my life. I had been thinking about doing something around short film and the internet but a lot of people seemed to be in that space already (2006). I’ve always loved music videos but had never worked in music video. I wanted to get back into working with music, plus I got that great inside buzz feeling about setting it up, so that’s what happened. It’s most distinctive features are it opens doors for directors.

What was the original launch date?

The first public launch of Radar was January 07, when it launched as a music video festival at the Apple Store in London. It’s changed a lot since then.

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

Nearly all the response I hear is positive – directors think it’s great and commissioners who use it also think it’s great. It’s been most successful in the UK, with some success already in the US.

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

For the moment development is mainly about making the site do what it does better – easier/faster/more intuitively etc. There are some plans for innovation, but we’ve innovated a lot recently and we need to tidy up what we’ve got already. Continue reading →

Majid ALSarra (Lyreach) – Interview (Part 2)

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This is the final part of my interview with Majid from Lyreach.
Read the first part of this interview (“The Startup”) right here.

PART II

MUSIC & YOU

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

At a very young age, when watching cartoons  🙂 .. then I started listening to pop music, the first album I ever purchased was “Bat Out of Hell” by “Meat Loaf” when I was 14, and I still love 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!

Musical likes and dislikes? Favorite artists?

I don’t focus on one artist or genre, I like Madonna, Linkin Park , Leona Lewis, Beyonce, The Saturdays…and a lot more. Quite some time ago I was crazy about Enya, Enigma, and New Age in general, now they’re the bands I listen to the least.

If you had to name the song that moves you the most, what would it be? Can you pinpoint the reason why?

Definitely “I Believe In You” by IL Divo and Celine Dion, it’s the most encouraging song I ever heard, its lyrics are brimming with the deepest, noblest emotions. Continue reading →

Majid ALSarra (Lyreach) – Interview (Part 1)

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I had a chat with Majid ALSarra from Lyreach (the innovative search engine for lyrics that I featured last month on MusicKO) where he revealed the inspiration behind the project and his plans for the future. You can find it below. And don’t forget to check out Part 2 (“Music & You”).

Majid ALSarra

Majid ALSarra

Full Name: Majid ALSarra
Age: 29
Startup: Lyreach
Position: Founder

PART I

THE STARTUP


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

Everything started two years ago, I used to be a software developer my whole life and I really loved it, but in mid-2008 I decided to be a boring man ,working in a boring field called business continuity in a startup bank started by the government.

I tried stupidly to live with such a situation, to have what I thought was a stable life, then I exploded.

I began programming everything like crazy; I was searching for a killer idea, I had been searching for such a thing even before the bank job. I have always been enthusiastic about the Web, but when I was in the bank I was too depressed to find a good idea.

And because I didn’t know “anything” about business continuity, I was searching in Google, and translating some stuff in a dictionary – in both cases using auto-completed sentences. “Google suggest” gave me some nice (but limited) recommendations. A lot of sentences that looked like what I had typed were featured, but I thought “why they’re not here in the suggestions?. Even when I click the “Search” button, it gives results that have the words of the input sentence separated randomly in a lot of results, even when I put the double quotation marks, I can see the sentence alone in the results, but I have to open the link and search for the sentence to find its context…” Then the idea popped out!

It kept brewing it in my mind for a while, and I began programming some code and testing it on some Wikipedia pages, I had more complicated (and also more useful) ideas than this one, but I didn’t have the time to implement them, so I decided to go ahead with this one.

Searching the whole Web was too huge for my tiny budget, that was why I thought about Wikipedia, but then I realized it would take ages to crawl their 6000,000 articles (English only!). So, I kept living as usual with these search ideas in my head, until I noticed how unpleasant it was when I heard a part of a song and could not find it by searching using only that specific part. It all clicked then, and the idea was finally conceived 🙂

What was the original launch date?

No exact date, it was there on the web for a long time while I was debugging it, then I told some friends to test it, and then I finally put the ads on Facebook & Google sometime in mid-May.

What has been the response so far?

It’s been good, a lot of sites & blogs talk about it all over the world, especially in Italy! Continue reading →

James Fontana (SongVote) – Interview (Part 2)

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I’d like to share with you the “Music & You” segment of my interview with James Fontana from SongVote. This is the last part of the interview that started here.

PART II

MUSIC & YOU

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

I’ve been interested in music for as long as I can remember. I remember saving my money in the early 80’s for a “Ghettoblaster” that was the term in America back then for a Jambox.  The first tapes I purchased on my own were Tears for Fears, Cyndi Lauper and Starship.  My, how my taste have changed a bit, except for Cyndi, Her music still takes me back to good memories.

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, that for sure is NOT my talent.

Musical likes and dislikes? Favorite artists?

I find myself listening to a lot of down-tempo beats like Kaskade and zero 7, but I enjoy all music from Steely Dan to Beyonce. Continue reading →