In this day and age with so many technical tools at your disposal to unleash your creativity, some might think that education and passion are enough to become a great music producer. But this translates into the history of music, songwriting, audio engineering, sound editing, learning how to operate audio software, and a trained ear for great sound.
Startup founded in Bulgaria – Greek co-founder and CEO of Audiomodern, Max Maximilianos knows all about the trials and tribulations of making music. That’s what inspired him to launch tech tools for music lovers.
In the interview below, he details his entrepreneurial journey and next steps to make Audiomodern available worldwide. This may include opening the bootstrap company to investors to accelerate growth.
music technology market
Music producers are the creative force behind the growth of the music industry, and there are millions of them around the world. The global music streaming market is worth around €30 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow by 14% annually until 2030.
But with so many new streaming platforms accessible to everyone, not just the few with big budgets and technical know-how, the market has much more potential. So far, many producers have quit because they couldn’t share the final product with the masses despite hours of work on a single song.
The days of being able to launch something online are long gone and it goes viral. To “succeed in the music industry” these days, quality takes precedence over quantity. Making music that lasts through the ages is difficult, and it’s no wonder even popular artists limit themselves to a few albums in their careers.
The Making of a Music Tech Startup Founder
“I was born in Athens, Greece in 1982. Starting with classical percussion, I discovered my musical sensibilities at an early age and composed my first musical content when I was in elementary school,” he says, playing in several bands. Afterwards, Max Maximilianos reveals. , Audiomodern, is a software suite with AI components that enable music professionals to work smarter, not harder.
With a background in music technology, production and sound engineering, traveling and performing at various festivals, Max was inspired to create smart technology tools that solve the challenges of musicians, composers and producers.
The product acts as a songwriting assistant to help with repetitive tasks, allowing music producers to shift their focus to creativity. This suite offers MIDI and FX plugins for both Windows and macOS.
“I am still a music creator, but now I have a new perspective.” – Max Maximilianos, Audiomodern
recursive: Over the last few years you’ve taken on an entrepreneurial role, do you still compose music?
Max Maximilianos, Audiomodern: It is the passion to create that makes an artist successful. If I can’t combine art and entrepreneurship, I’ll miss it. Combining a passion for music with advanced technology has allowed me to remain a creator.
How has the music industry evolved, especially new song development? Where do you see growth?
In the past, only a few had access to creating music, and the cost of creating and publishing music was very high. increase.
AI algorithms enable music creators to generate all kinds of new musical ideas: from never-before-thought melodies to new grooves and rhythmic patterns. In this way new music genres are created and existing ones can be improved with minimal effort.
AI is gradually being used to facilitate creators’ workflows and save years of hard work gaining technical knowledge. In addition, AI can be used to easily publish and distribute music on budgets significantly lower than what was required decades ago.
What motivated you to launch Audiomodern in 2017?
We started as a very small team of two: me as a music producer and my colleague Katerina, an experienced software developer and musician with a deep knowledge of artificial intelligence.
We both have a deep understanding of the music industry. Our vision was to build a creative ecosystem of music software plugins. This allows you to suggest the perfect musical idea for any music producer, from novice to professional.
As of 2017, there was no similar product on the market, so we took this opportunity to launch our first product using Audiomodern.
Why did you plan to develop in Greece and Bulgaria?
As a Greek, I was a regular visitor to neighboring Bulgaria. Sofia’s quality of life is high, so it was a good opportunity to move to Sofia and launch her Audiomodern in Bulgaria.
What challenges in the market are you looking to solve with this AI solution?
Creators are always looking for new ideas to use in their music. There are currently several AI solutions on the market that can be used to generate music. From automatic music generators that unfortunately are not available for professional music producers, to products intended for use by highly skilled composers.
All available solutions fail to recognize user preferences and produce musical results while preserving style.
Our solution proposes musical ideas through artificial intelligence and machine learning, but most importantly, it is based on user preferences while solving some technical problems that producers currently have to solve. to take into account.
From novice to expert, users can take advantage of advanced algorithms that adapt to each user’s personalized style, or take full control of the software to manually create new results.
Please tell us more about the product you are developing.
This software combines two things: your favorite music genre and how you’ve used the software so far. It does not adhere to the author’s style and follows it to suggest musical ideas that the author had not yet thought of.
The more you use the software, the more it learns about you and the better you get. So the music is generated by an AI algorithm, but the results always adapt to each creator’s style, while the software gives the user full control for further editing.
What have the development stages been like so far, and what lessons can you share about building a music tech startup?
As a fully self-funded company, we started in 2017 by building simple projects with the highest possible quality. This made us grow and become popular in the music industry.
Considering the different ways our software is used, we have successfully transformed the app into an advanced product. This automates some steps and really simplifies the user’s workflow.
Users know that by owning one of our products, they will enjoy advanced and improved technology in the future.In other words, the software keeps up with new technologies that are continuously released. For this reason, many users trust us and choose to continue supporting our project after 5 years.
Can you give us some data on the markets we’re developing into, the users we’re targeting, and the growth numbers for the company?
The music production software industry is growing and is expected to grow significantly over the next few years. Audiomodern is hitting new records every year, and in 2023 he is growing over 35% year-on-year.
Our users are musicians of all levels, mostly between the ages of 18 and 45, in the US, UK and Europe. With 75% male users, and an ever-growing percentage of female users, we are optimistic about the future of music.
What do users say about Audiomodern tools?
Our latest Loopmix plugin seems to be a user favorite. I am happy to share this short piece of a recent review from one of the best and most picky reviewers on the market.
“Audiomodern is renowned for creating some of the most interesting and exciting music software on the market. What’s more, their nifty effort to simultaneously release new releases for both the desktop platform and iOS has effectively turned music into It means that anyone creating it can participate in the action.
Their latest release, Loopmix, is probably Audiomodern’s most interesting offering yet. The loops and sounds he brings into Loopmix are a lot of fun and a great way to put a unique spin on existing material. “
What are your goals for next year?
Launch the most sophisticated project you’ve ever worked on. New solutions are driven by new AI and ML models. It offers everything musicians need to create music in a single ecosystem, but the most important part is that it adapts perfectly to each user’s style and addresses some of the challenges users face today. To solve technical problems.
We hope this will change the way producers make music and contribute positively to the evolution of the music industry.
