Splash SF finalist Playmysong is a free app and web service that allows users to both play songs in social jukeboxes. Users can also host their own social jukebox experience in a matter of seconds. Users are allowed to choose the music that is playing around them, at bars, parties, and more, simply by using their smartphones.Watch CEO Rami Korhonen present.
Even though success is not defined by how much money a company has raised, past Vator winners, such as Thumbtack, Getable, Grovo, Astrid, Udemy, and Geeklist have gone on to raise millions of dollars collectively from venerable VCs, soon after presenting.
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Here's some other testimonials:
"Having the opportunity to demonstrate Apartment List at Vator Splash and talk about our vision to an audience of top-tier VC investors and entrepreneurs was an exciting honor. Bambi and team put on an great night of Silicon Valley networking. We made meaningful connections At Splash as well as on Vator that are proving fruitful for our business, and winning the start up competition was icing on the cake. Thanks Bambi and team for creating a great investor and entrepreneur community and packing the house with a fantastic audience." John Kobs, CEO and co-founder of Apartment List .
"The process of inviting everyone one we knew to vote for us, even before the event, was a fantastic way to build support for our company. Then presenting at Vator Splash was a blast. The short presentation style ensured the audience was engaged and the follow-up questions from the judges were on-point and constructive. At Vator Splash, I made great connections with a number of investors and had a number of follow-up meetings. We were able to raise our last round entirely from investors who discovered us from the publicity we generated from Vator Splash," said Jon Paris, CEO and founder of Astrid.
"Working with Vator, and Bambi, is a pleasure. She's really passionate about uniting great ideas with the right people. We actually tied for first in last years Vator Splash SF and as a direct result raised $150,000 from an investor who saw us pitch. TEEC Angels approached us right at the event and invested soon thereafter. Reuben Katz, CEO and founder of Geeklist.
"Vator has acted as a launchpad for my startup in terms of awareness and exposure. As a winner of a Vator competition, my startup enjoyed early traction and buzz. Vator has kept my business relevant in the minds of investors, entrepreneurs and potential employees. I've made many invaluable connections to the investor and entrepreneur community." Tim Hyer, founder and CEO, Getable.
"DogVacay.com won Vator Splash LA in June 2012. The competition allowed us an opportunity to meet and pitch against some of the great Los Angeles startups and further foster our entrepreneurial community. There was such a positive energy with so many great minds providing insightful feedback throughout the night. Two paws up, Vator!" Aaron Hirschhorn, founder & Top Dog, Dog Vacay
"Events like Vator Splash are critical for startups to generate awareness. We were a top 10 finalist for Splash LA. It provided us with an amazing opportunity to network and gain exposure to a whole community of investors and VCs. Soon after, we raised $3M as a result of the momentum/exposure from the event and the platform in general," Peter Vogel, founder and CEO, Plink.
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Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
Playmysong has reinvented the jukebox for the smartphone era. It’s a free app and web service that allows users to both play songs in social jukeboxes and to host their own social jukebox experience in a matter of seconds. Playmysong’s business model is based on selling premium services for participating venues and brands. Founded in Finland in 2011, the company launched its operations in the USA in January 2012.
Team
Rami Korhonen, Co-Founder & CEO: 14 years in executive management- and business development positions at Small Planet, Iwa Labs and Laika Mobile.
Timo Kari, Co-Founder & CTO: 8 years of software engineering experience from Aspiro and Loistava Interactive.
Zack Beatty, USA Business Development: 12 years in executive management positions at EMI Music, Capitol Records and MTV Networks.
Advisors
Petteri Koponen, Lifeline Venture (Google, Jaiku, First Hop)
Sean McCullough, Launchrock.com (Ping.fm)
Gian-Luca Cioletti, Moblasted (Nokia, HP)
Q&A
1. What is the problem you are solving:
For everyone: We all love music, but often we end up in situations where the music could be much better. Playmysong gives us the chance to see what music is available in the music collections of the bars and parties we are in, and to select the songs we'd like to hear there right now - for free.
For venues: Competition between bars and cafes is tough. Playmysong's interactive music experience gives venues the chance to serve their customers better than their competitors. When customers can influence the music around them, they will stay longer, buy more and tell their friends via Playmysong's in-built social features: "I just played Green Day at Idle Hands Bar."
For party-organizers: Music can make or break a house-party and the party host's music computer or ipod is often the center of attention for music loving party guests. But should the party really be about hunkering around a PC to queue up songs? We think not. With the Playmysong Spotify app party guests can use their own mobile phones to select songs to be played and the host can set up limits on how often one guest can play a song and how often one song can be played. This makes it fun for everyone and less beer is spilled on computers.
2. Why would venues pay for the service?
With about $1 investment per day, any bar or café will be able to provide an immersive interactive music experience for its customers. Here's what Marc Schapiro, the owner of Idle Hands Bar in New York, said about Playmysong:
"What we noticed, aside from the simplicity of integrating Playmysong into our venue, was that some of our regulars began staying even longer than before, and the social nature of the app created an organic viral effect that generated new business."
Playmysong Pro customers can also set custom in-venue marketing messages that the users see when playing songs from the venue's Playmysong jukebox:
"Thanks! Your song will be played in 8 minutes. Did you know that we have happy hour with $1 off any beer every day from 4pm to 8pm? Welcome!".
In the future Playmysong Pro features will be enhanced with many new innovative ways of bringing more business for the venues.
3. What is your go-to-market strategy?
Playmysong's consumer service is based on the free mobile app and the free Spotify desktop app. Since the launch of the company's Spotify app in July 2012, Playmysong social jukebox has been used in over 7000 private occasions, parties and get-togethers. The company's organic user base growth has also accelerated 10 times since the launch of the Playmysong Spotify app.
When more and more people get used to playing their favorite songs in Playmysong powered house-parties, the word gets around and reaches bar and café owners who can then purchase the Playmysong Pro subscription from the company's website and soon with in-app payments directly from the app.
Playmysong is also partnering with some the biggest existing business background music system providers in the world to provide the "social layer" on top of their existing solutions. This will also mobilize the large sales forces of these companies to sell the Playmysong Pro subscriptions for venues around the world.
4. What is your competitive advantage?
Our “jukebox meets location meets social networking” approach sets us apart from competitors just trying to make jukeboxes usable with smartphones. We are on a mission to get rid of random music from planet earth and the mobile jukebox experience is just one piece of the puzzle. Our upcoming social features will grow our community even faster and in the future we will be the standard in being able to influence the music around you.
Some comments from the AngelList community:
"Playmysong is a fantastic idea with an awesome team behind it. It's a privilege to be on their advisory team. Looking forward to helping this become a hit." - Sean McCullough, LaunchRock
"I've known Rami for 12 years; he's hard charging, user focused and knows mobile better than anyone having launched 100's of apps, services and campaigns across continents during his career." - Scott Hannan, Facebook
"A small, solid team with a big mission. I know Rami from way back and he is a fighter." - Petteri Koponen, Lifeline Ventures
"Rami & Timo created one hell of a great product. Finally I can choose the songs in a bar…:-)" - Timo Poijärvi, Hitlantis
"I invested in the company. I believe that Playmysong is a great service and the team is amazing!!!" - Gian Luca Cioletti, Moblasted
Joined Vator on
I'm an entrepreneur and a musician. My current work project is Playmysong - the free social jukebox app for smartphones. My main music project is the punk influenced rock band Fumble, in which I sing.
Joined Vator on
I am Co-Founder and CTO of Playmysong. I graduated from Helsinki University of Applied Sciences as a Software Engineer in 2006. Co-Founded Playmysong in 2011
