MyStrands Interview

After Paul Glazowski published a post about partyStrands, I had a chance to talk to people from Oregon-based MyStrands – the company behind partyStrands and other projects. I have had a talk with Gabriel Aldamiz-echevarria, Vice President of Communications, and Trevor Legwinski, Marketing Manager for PartyStrands.

Svetlana: Can you first of all tell me about history of MyStrands as a company? Who were the founders and how have they come up with the idea?

Gabriel: MyStrands was founded in 2003 by Dr. Francisco J. Martin, a European scientist and entrepreneur. We started using heavily iTunes and soon realized that there was too much music available out there. So it was difficult for people to really find what they might like, even difficult to manage their own digital music libraries (if I have 10,000 songs, how do I decide what to play?).

So Francisco started developing a recommender engine that: (1) would understand people’s tastes and behavior (Amazon for example recommends based on what people buy, but that does not really reflect your tastes). (2) The recommender he wanted to design had to understand context and provide instant recommendations based on what we want to listen “now”. We all have eclectic tastes in music, and although I might like AC/DC, I don’t always feel like listening to AC/DC. This is especially critical for the mobile industry.

(3) Another characteristic of the recommender was that it should be able to recommend and connect people to any connected device, not only computers, but very important, mobile phones. (4) He wanted to build a scalable technology that would be able to connect millions of items to millions of individuals. (5) And the technology had to be content agnostic, meaning it should be able to recommend all kind of items, based on people’s behavior.

Svetlana: So you call it behavior-based recommendation system. Does it mean your recommendations are based on behavior of individuals at any given moment?

Gabriel: MyStrands technology is based on human-generated links between items (songs, movies, games, ads, etc) much the way Google uses human-generated links between web-pages when you are connected to Internet thru mobile or computer.

Svetlana: And what was more difficult: creation of the concept or its implementation?

Gabriel: That’s a tough one! I would say Francisco had this idea, the concept, and it evolved in its implementation.

Svetlana: But was the development difficult? How long did it take? And how many people?

Gabriel: Francisco had the idea at the end of 2003, then gathered the team and started working seriously in mid 2004. We launched the first version in February, 2005, in February, 2006 we launched MyStrands mobile, then API, then partyStrands in September. It was not easy of course, but I think our team did a great job working together, constantly in contact with the industry and academia.

Svetlana: And have you reached those millions of individuals you mentioned as your goal?

Gabriel: The idea is to build a technology that is able to do that, there are lots of consumer-facing industries that need this technology, especially the mobile industry, and that is our focus now, together with partyStrands.

Svetlana: It seems that going mobile was your biggest move judging by all the press coverage you received.

Gabriel: There is a big opportunity in the mobile industry, and a big need from users. Until now we have used the cell phone to talk, but as MyStrands mobile and partyStrands demonstrate, a mobile device is for much more – look at Google’s dodgeball for example. Mobile phones and music were made for each other, and the importance of mobile communities will increase in the next months.

Svetlana: Yes, the number of people using their mobiles for various purposes other than talk is constantly growing. Do you see it as a market more promising than the traditional internet users?

Gabriel: In my opinion users will do some things through the mobile devices and other through computers; or something at home, other on the go. So companies will need to serve people both through mobile devices and traditional Internet. But of course the growth in the mobile industry is amazing. In the US Internet and mobile penetration are very similar. In Europe, the penetration of mobile devices is much higher. We will see more and more offline/online tie-ins.

Svetlana: And have you broaden your audience by going mobile?

Gabriel: Yes, partyStrands is broadening the audience. Maybe it is not people that go online often, but it is people that are always connected to a device, and have a huge social life. There are lots of partyStrands users, and it also depends on the number of bars running partyStrands.

Svetlana: And that is? And what countries do you cover? And users from what countries are more active?

Gabriel: Right now we cover Spain and US, and are evaluating other European countries, such as Germany, France and UK. Use is different in US vs Spain, maybe in Spain are heavier mobile phone users, and US use of mobile and internet is more similar. There are approximately 50 bars in Spain using partyStrands, and many private parties. And in the States we started a bit later, we are in approximately 10 venues, in Boston, Seattle, NYC and Oregon. And many parties, especially in NYC.

Svetlana: And are bar owners usually enthusiastic about using partyStrands? Does it bring some additional attention to them?

Trevor: partyStrands is a service we provide to bars, that have screens, PCs with digital music, an internet connection and sound systems and is free of charge.

Svetlana: So there are only advantages for them?

Trevor: Correct, partyStrands increases the levels of interactivity in a bar or a club, prompting partygoers to stay longer in a venue, consume more and have a more rewarding nightlife experience.

Svetlana: Do you have any figures (percentage maybe) of relevant revenue increase for bar owners?

Gabriel: That is a good one! We actually don’t have that, but maybe we should try to ask for it, it is a good point! Basically what they say is that partyStrands gives them (1) more attention, so people go more to their venues to check them out, and (2) people have more fun during the night/parties.

Svetlana: And what about users’ feedback? Do they generally appreciate the service? Do they want you to add something new?

Trevor: Users love the service, they like the interactive element, especially the ability to influence the music, send text messages to the screen along with voting all create a more rewarding experience for them. We are always adding more features based upon customer feedback, currently we are adding the ability for users to send their pictures to show on the screen. In the future we will be adding the capability for video as well as texting between partygoers.

Svetlana: And in general what are your plans for future of the company?

Gabriel: We will be launching several application in the mobile space connected to partyStrands.

Svetlana: Will you give a hint on the nature of the applications?

Gabriel: I would say that is the big push for the next months and also making it easier and more convenient for people to use partyStrands, to party, and to connect to others through mobile devices, and to mix and merge physical communities, mobile and online worlds.

Svetlana: And as for broadening the existing chain of bars?

Gabriel: Yes, right now the focus in the US is very strong and also Spain. And there will be more and more bars using partyStrands. So if any of your readers is a bar manager, a DJ, a event promoter, they should talk to us. We are looking also for affiliates, normally event promoters, DJs, guys with a strong night life, to help us spread the word and also benefit from partyStrands. partysStrands is really a cool service for bars and partygoers, fun guaranteed.

P.S. I think this was quite an interesting and informative talk. And I certainly will be looking forward to going to a party in a partyStrands-enabled venue.