smart | entrepreneurs Local app creators tap into largest music library


in the world to streamline listener experience Streaming and organizing music off YouTube has never been easier thanks to Musi He earned enough money from this practice to buy his


By Brenlee Coates E


veryone these days is a YouTube DJ. You want someone to hear the newest track from your favourite artist, and you go straight to YouTube


to pull up the video. Ten you play the next recommended video, and the next one, and suddenly you’re running through Beyonce’s entire discography. Tat’s because YouTube “has every single song ever,” says


Aaron Wojnowski, developer of the app Musi. “YouTube is a music centre… but no one had a way of listening to the (songs) directly.” About two-and-a-half


years ago, Aaron and his high school pals, David Bell and Christian Lunny (of Dash Agency), dreamed up an app that allows you to “organize and manage (YouTube’s content) as if it was your own.” As long as you have Wi-


Fi, or are using data, you can access the endless You- Tube (and Soundcloud) li- braries, listen to the songs, and create playlists right in Musi. “We really like to push


Aaron Wojnowski (top) and the Musi app screenshot (below).


Musi as an organizational tool,” explains Aaron. “(It’s a) simple app to let people listen to YouTube videos.” Although it’s an app that


simplifies a process – You- Tube has playlist capa- bilities, but nothing like what music listeners have come to expect – Musi’s been nothing short of life- changing for some people. “A lot of people use it at


work… It’s really changed a lot of people’s lives. “To make people’s lives


easier through music, that’s really rewarding,” says Aaron.


For those wondering about licensing, Musi doesn’t actu-


ally allow you to download music – it streams songs from licensed material from YouTube. “Tey just publish their data, and they handle all the licensing, and then we’re al- lowed to play the content,” explains Aaron. While it may look like you’ve built up a library in Musi, the songs aren’t actually saved onto your phone. “You can’t download mu- sic, or listen to the music through (another) music app,” says Aaron. Tere have been a few copycats since the Musi makers


started, but between Aaron’s search engine optimiza- tion expertise and Musi’s user-friendliness, it has stayed competitive. It’s even a concept deemed worthy of CBC’s Dragons’


Den, where partners Aaron and Christian recently pre- sented. While the results are under wraps, the exposure of the


show will no doubt help them earn more free downloads – which also helps them earn cash. About six months ago, they introduced banner ads on


Musi, and are reaping the rewards. “Recently, it’s really sky- rocketed,” says Aaron. “I really wish I did it from the start.” Interstitial ads – or full-page ads that pop up before or


after content – have just recently been incorporated, which means revenues will grow exponentially. Te duo is user-conscious, so it won’t go too far to inter-


rupt the ease of Musi. (Likely why they’re after Dragon money at all). Aaron has always been about enriching users’ experi-


ences with technology – in Grade 9, he was the go-to techie to jailbreak people’s iPods (essentially opening up the de- vice to non-Apple approved apps, which can be somewhat arbitrary).


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own iPod – but he yearned for bigger and better. His dad made him a deal. If Aaron could build him a


purchase ordering software for his company, he’d buy him a Mac. Aaron was successful, and soon went on to do contract


work for startups in Winnipeg, and even New York. He is now completing his second year of computer sci- ence at the University of Manitoba, and landed a job in San


Francisco with a startup this summer – a passion of his. “I love just boot-strapping initial products, getting viable


products together. “I like to work with startups a lot too because they don’t


have a lot of rigid processes in place.” If Musi survives the Dragons’ Den, there’s no telling


where his own startup could go. Te Musi app is available for free in the App Store. Visit www.feelthemusi.com for more information.


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