Key facts
- A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya raised $5.5 million in pre-seed funding.
- The startup focuses on music apps that emphasize human interaction and creativity.
- Founder Máuhan M Zonoozy previously led innovation at Spotify.
- The company's products include Speed Surfer, Usersound, Stacks, Drops, Sampler, and the iOS app bop.
- A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya is developing a multiplayer version of its bop app.
A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya, a startup founded by former Spotify innovation head Máuhan M Zonoozy, has secured $5.5 million in pre-seed funding. The company is developing a suite of small applications and tools designed to allow users to create and modify music through interactive experiences, deliberately avoiding the use of generative AI for content creation.
Investors in the funding round include Mantis VC, SV Angel, Boxgroup, Quiet Capital, ERA, Common Metal, Gold House, Liquid 2 Ventures, Breakers VC, and Systemic Ventures. Dawn Ostroff, former chief content and advertising business officer at Spotify, has joined the company as an advisor.
Zonoozy, who departed Spotify in 2024, aims to empower users to interact with music in more creative ways, drawing inspiration from how younger audiences engage with culture through games and creation tools. The startup releases its experimental apps like "singles" from an album, with a common theme of user interaction to create or modify sound.
Existing products include Speed Surfer, a Chrome extension for altering browser audio speed and filters; Usersound, which creates audio usernames; Stacks, a stem player for remixing music; Drops, a game that generates musical notes; and Sampler, which converts YouTube videos into music samplers. The company's more ambitious product is the iOS app bop, allowing users to arrange instruments and effects to remix songs, adjust tempo, and add effects, with options to export to social media platforms. A multiplayer version of bop is also in development.
Zonoozy stated that while AI is a powerful tool for building products and infrastructure, the company's philosophy is that the future of music lies not solely in AI generation, but in human perspective, interaction, and participation. A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya plans to release a "musical sandbox mixer" this year, enabling users to create instruments and experiment with music-making elements.