#15: The music industry, selling the company to SoundCloud, and the unflashy side of the CEO role - Hazel Savage
The way we listen to and create music has been undergoing a massive change with the rise of technology.
To discuss this change and what it feels like to build and sell a business, we invited Hazel Savage. She co-founded Musiio, a music technology company, in 2018. In spring 2022, after having received a few offers, Hazel and her co-founder Aron Pettersson sold Musiio to SoundCloud. Prior to that, Hazel was an early Shazam employee and worked at major music companies like Pandora and HMV (British music retailer). With 15 years of experience in the music industry, Hazel is a true music-tech lifer.
Shall machines create music… or only describe it?
What is the difference between descriptive and creative AI? Hazel and Darya are looking at examples of descriptive artificial intelligence replacing humans’ work. A monotone process of tagging music is not something humans really want to do, and that’s where AI replacement of humans is ethical and needed. Music writing is in turn a very creative process that humans enjoy. So, do we really want machines to replace humans here?
How technology shapes the way we listen to music
Hazel describes how people are still unaware of how technology influences their listening experience behind the scenes. We follow the recommendations streaming platforms suggest to us and form our preferences based on them. Opposite to the video streaming platforms with unique content, we listen to the same 90 million songs through different streaming platforms. The product experience plays an essential role in music streaming, and the relationship between fans and artists is constantly evolving. In these two areas: product experience and fan-artist ecosystem Hazel expects to see more innovation in the future.
Hazel’s founder journey and the acquisition of Musiio by SoundCloud
After 12 years in the music industry as a marketer, Hazel took a calculated risk to become a founder. She participated in the Entrepreneur First talent incubator program where she met a future Musiio co-founder Aron Pettersson.
In 2022 Musiio was acquired by SoundCloud. We discussed with Hazel how it happened and what are the components that could make a one-billion euro music company. Hazel shares the unseen side of being a CEO and why she is not tied to the company’s hierarchy and the CEO title.
“It seemed like an easy bet to make. In two years’ time, I’ll either have a failed startup or a successful startup, or I’ll just be a marketer with 14 years of experience.”