Technology
Spotify Alum Launches Playful Music Apps to Let Users Create Rather Than Just Listen
A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya, backed by $5.5M, is building a suite of interactive music tools that emphasize hands-on creation and experimentation over passive consumption.
TechCrunch — AI
A new startup called A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya is rethinking how people engage with music by offering them tools to experiment with sounds, remix tracks, and build mixes through interactive play rather than simply stream and listen.
The company, co-founded by Máuhan M Zonoozy—who previously led innovation efforts at Spotify before departing in 2024—has secured $5.5 million in pre-seed funding. The round was led by investors including Mantis VC, SV Angel, and Boxgroup, and notably counts former Spotify executive Dawn Ostroff among its advisors.
A Series of Musical Experiments#
Rather than release one monolithic product, the startup is rolling out a collection of small, focused apps and web tools designed to let people tinker with music creation. Each experiment explores a different angle on audio interaction:
- Speed Surfer is a Chrome extension that lets you adjust the playback speed and apply filters to sound playing in your browser
- Usersound turns your username into an "audio" identity where each letter maps to a musical note
- Stacks functions as a stem player, enabling users to create remixes by toggling bars on or off within a 3×3 grid
- Drops takes a more playful approach: you arrange musical plaques to redirect falling marbles, with each collision triggering notes
- Sampler transforms YouTube videos into music samplers by isolating and looping different beat sections
The most ambitious offering is an iOS app called bop, which lets users place instruments and effects onto a grid to generate new arrangements of existing songs. The app supports tempo adjustments and one-off audio effects, and makes it simple to share creations directly to TikTok or Instagram. The team is also developing a multiplayer remix mode.
Why Creation Over Consumption?#
Zonoozy's vision stems from observing how younger audiences engage with culture. "Everyone's growing up playing with culture through games, through filters, through creation tools," he explained to TechCrunch. He sees music streaming as solving the access problem—listeners can now hear almost anything—but believes the next frontier is letting people actively participate in and reshape the music they encounter.
