Max Fergus knows what his audience wants.
“How do millennials want to interact?” he asks. “They want to be dialed in to what their friends are doing, tagging and sharing all of it.”
That’s how Instagram and SnapChat work, so that’s also how LÜM, a new music streaming app Fergus and a group of recent UW-Madison grads are about to unleash into the wild, will work as well. LÜM — it stands for “live undiscovered music,” with an umlaut strategically perched, ostensibly, to help ensure the “oooo” factor — is focused on promoting emerging musicians, both here in Madison and across the country. It leverages the power of social networking, adding a gamification angle to a music-streaming universe that’s traditionally been about established artists and algorithm-driven playlists served up on platforms like Spotify and Pandora.
With LÜM, new users create an account and find their feed filled with music by budding artists, which they can share, rank and comment on with their network of friends. By interacting with the app, users can earn (or spend real-world dollars to purchase) tokens that they can use to boost the profile of a band they like. Both the app and the ability to upload music are free.
UW grad Max Fergus turned down a job at a New York City bank to serve as LÜM’s CEO.
“The first versions of the app will be about engaging the community,” says Fergus, who turned down a post-graduation job with a major New York bank to stay in Madison and serve as LÜM’s CEO.
Of course, the million-dollar question, in an era when the more established music-streaming platform SoundCloud needed a timely infusion of cash from Chance the Rapper just to stay solvent, is this: How the hell are they gonna make money on this?
By eschewing a traditional subscription- or ad-based business model, Fergus is relying on the value of the data and analytics the company will collect from its users.
“That model is even more valuable to the music industry,” Fergus says. “We’re not as focused on monetization.”
Like Twitch, the game/video streaming platform that’s turned Fortnite ace Tyler “Ninja” Blevins into a multimillionaire, LÜM’s focus will be on fans and users cheering and supporting their favorite content creators.
“The fans who’ll use LÜM, they all want to be tastemakers,” says Fergus. “They want to find the next big thing. It’s truly controlled by the tastes of the fans on the platform.”
LÜM has already registered 3,500 users for early access, 1,000 of which are musicians. The biggest risk, says Fergus, may be navigating the minefield of music legality. Given that his kitchen cabinet of biz advisers includes reps from Clear Channel and Live Nation, Fergus and his dev team may have to worry more about an eventual corporate buyout than a fair use complaint.
Myles Frank, a Milwaukee-based EDM DJ who performs as Dreambay, is one of the musicians to register for early access, which went live on July 31. He’s already found it a useful tool… for finding musical collaborators.
“I can’t sing,” Frank admits. “I need to find vocalists.”
Within the first day, he’d already connected with two possibilities. He’s hoping the app eventually evolves to include direct messages and host artist videos.
LÜM’s kickoff event will coincide with the annual Forward Fest, which ought to offer a tailor-made opportunity to build the app’s user base. LÜM is one of five companies selected to participate in this year’s Pressure Chamber, the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce’s local version of Shark Tank.
“LÜM can only be successful if the community adopts it,” Fergus says.
