Wavefront 2024
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Yesterday I attended a local event called Wavefront which was sort of like a mini networking/conference meetup that was centered around the intersection of technology and music. It was pretty cool, hoping they do more in the future.
I’m into music, but I’m not in music if you catch my drift. So it was fun to get to talk with people who are in music.
Here’s my quick, personal opinions on all the presentations in their chronological order.
Campfire Music Foundation
Johannes Larson, cfmusic.org
tl;dr MN 501c3 nonprofit trying to solve the ethics of music streaming & distribution.
Paul’s take: cool local 501c3 nonprofit. Appreciate that it’s exclusively young folk e.g. recent college grads. Taking on the (music) streaming industry is a tough challenge.
My favorite takeaway was the use of the statistic that it takes 10m+ streams to cross the US federal poverty line of $29k. It’s really not that lucrative for most musicians.
CoLabs
Patrick J. Amunson, colabsinc.com
tl;dr Software for doing remote recording collaboration.
Paul’s take: super rad demo—Patrick was working with a studio in Brazil and did a live ~30 second track recording. Honestly, it would be a great solution for recording a podcast. I’m just really interested to know if it can solve for clock drift as well. I reached out to Patrick asking that very question.
ConcertHub
Sam Weiss, concerthub.app
tl;dr Concert “companion” app for viewing the live setlist and buying merch.
Paul’s take: cool idea, I’d personally love being able to view the setlist for a show live. Also, buying merch is a meh experience, would love to improve that. (Disclaimer: I’ve been consulting on this since late last year and will likely help build the MVP.)
Gig Boss
Adam Meckler, gigbossapp.com
tl;dr Mobile app for managing a freelance business, targeted towards musicians.
Paul’s take: great idea that really emphasizes on “gig” being anything in the freelance space. Of course, for the event, music was the focus so the demo was all about using it as a member of a band. I spoke with the founder after and he mentioned it has traction and is being used in other niches too like with photographers.
Voloco
Patrick Flanagan, resonantcavity.com
tl;dr “Autotune” aka pitch correction plus so much more right from your phone.
Paul’s take: hot damn, cool to see such a popular product have local roots. I have definitely seen it used in short format videos for voice distortion. It’s incredible how much audio processing can be done in software—especially with builtin microphones that are mediocre at best.
Jamstik
Jimmy Granger, jamstik.com
tl;dr Guitars that do MIDI.
Paul’s take: cool live demo. Wicked fun to see guitar chords but hear a piano.
Caedence
Jeff Bernett, caedence.io
tl;dr “Google Docs for music” or “Guitar Hero for IRL bands.”
Paul’s take: this is my 2nd time seeing Caedence demo, the first was last year at Minnedemo so it’s cool to see the demo progress and the product being at the point where they’re in beta and looking for users to sign up and give feedback.
Sound Creation: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Michael Cain, ekwe.app
tl;dr An academic take on how we’re innovating on things that are much older than we realize.
Paul’s take: why was the keynote at the end? Otherwise, loved the history on just how old some methods for creating sound are. Nifty plug for the app too, love the take on education and showing the history and appreciation around instruments from various cultures.
Aside: I saw Beats Antique last year and wow they had some interesting & unique instruments I had never seen or heard before.
Closing thoughts & overall feedback:
- Nice venue, hadn’t been in the building before.
- Great selection of beverages & food.
- Why was the keynote at the end and not the beginning?
- The schedule was more of like a suggestion; it went over by 30+ minutes.
- Hope it happens again—refreshing content & format.
Free idea: make an app / service / venue / something that lets you order a drink and get it delivered to you in the venue. Yes, I know, some places will have reserved tables that have service, but for the majority of normies like myself I’d happily pay a couple extra bucks to not have to deal with maneuvering through the crowd and potentially losing whatever general admission spot I was able to find. Especially if I’m alone at a concert.
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