Nibletz Staff
Musicians spend a lot of time looking for collaborations in analog (i.e. the newspaper).
But, besides taking too much time, it can be impossible to find just the right people to collaborate with. CollabMachine is trying to solve that problem with a platform that connects musicians and makes it easy to collaborate online.
Check out our Q&A with CollabMachine below:
1) What’s your startup called?
We are CollabMachine – the world’s first social music collaboration platform.
2) What’s your big idea?
CollabMachine provides a way for musicians from around the world to create music online as a community. Our site is the first of its kind and we’re really excited about bringing this innovation to the music scene.
Currently, musicians spend hours looking through classified ads looking for other players with whom to collaborate and create songs. We felt that this process can be taken online where collaborative projects can be found much more quickly and easily. The most innovative aspect of the project is centered on the Musefeed, which delivers projects instantly that pertinent to a musician’s particular abilities and preferences.
So, for example, a jazz guitarist will receive instant updates on jazz collabs that need a guitar part. This means less time spent looking for projects and more time spent actually making music. Additionally, each member can customize the Musefeed and get tailored updates based on date, genre, instruments needed, etc.
As for the actual production of each collab, we felt that the best way for musicians to record their music is on their own computers with their preferred workflow. We did not want to impede on the recording process with our site so we allow for the recording to occur offline before it is uploaded to the collab. This also solves the problem of latency, which could otherwise impede the recording process due to interruptions or slowdowns in internet connectivity.
3) What’s the story behind your idea?
As musicians growing up in the busy city of New York, we thought that finding others to play with would be easy. However, we soon became involved in the long and tedious process of finding other like-minded musicians, scheduling jam sessions, sitting in traffic, and often failing to find that perfect musical chemistry.
We realized that finding musicians for collaboration was a problem faced by thousands of players like us around the world. That’s when we decided to create CollabMachine.
With CollabMachine, songs can be created track-by-track online in a community-based environment where other musicians can provide feedback on individual tracks (such as the drum or guitar track). They can also help the collab creator by voting on the optimal combination of tracks to create a complete song. This is especially useful when, let’s say, two guitarists submit guitar solos for the same part of a song.
Allowing community interaction in this manner is a new way to approach music creation. It’s a really fun way to participate and get more involved in the creative process!
Aside from being a great collaborative tool, CollabMachine is also a great way for artists to get more involved with their fans! Imagine the band Metallica uploading their newest unfinished song and encouraging fans to contribute a ripping guitar solo. Imagine Eminem releasing a beat and calling on rappers from all over the world to add their hottest verses. This would be a completely new way for musicians to connect with their fans. If only this existed while we were aspiring musicians in college!
4) Who are the founders?
The founders of CollabMachine are Alexander Efros and Dan Lipchanskiy. Alex and Dan are successful entrepreneurs with a couple of successful businesses under their belts in the financial industry as well as the rapidly growing electronic cigarette industry.
5) Where are you located?
CollabMachine is based in downtown Los Angeles.
6) What’s the startup scene like there?
Being in the middle of the mecca of entertainment – Los Angeles, we believe that this is a perfect environment to grow CollabMachine. Being close to San Francisco and the Bay Area is also a tremendous help as it provides access to incredible creative minds in the tech industry. It’s also where many of the greatest startup projects thrive.
7) What milestones have you reached?
We’ve already finished all of the necessary design work for the website. This includes the layouts for all of the main pages of the site. We’ve also recruited a few very important sponsors for our project. Earnie Ball, Esoteric Guitars, Rock N Roll Industries Magazine, and there should be a few more coming. Our latest milestone is the launch of our Indiegogo campaign.
We have decided to reward our contributors with exciting perks and a whole lot of music-related gear, apparel, and accessories to raise the capital necessary to fund the programming and production of CollabMachine. Contributors can receive everything from guitar strings and magazine subscriptions to having your name featured in a song recorded by us, Alex and Dan! We really want to get people involved and have fun while we raise the necessary capital to bring the world’s first social music collaboration platform to life.
8) What are your next milestones?
The next milestones include assembling the technical team to assist with the coding and implementation of CollabMachine. All of the technology that we need already exists. Now it’s a matter of combining these technologies in an innovative way to make CollabMachine a reality.
Our website, www.collabmachine.com, is a great source for information regarding our project. Our indiegogo campaign just launched and can be found here: http://www.indiegogo.com/
