Dedicate your music using RadioMe: a collaborative project run by graduates and students!

RadioMe is a mobile social network that allows you to dedicate your music to your friends, an innovative project initiated by graduates and developed by four students on the MSc Entrepreneurship programme: Simon Wahnich, Gaétan Jegoux, Louis Comolli and Maximilien Masson.

How did RadioMe come about?
The RadioMe project is based on an observation we made about sharing music content. While mobile phones are the preferred medium among 15-24 year olds for listening to music, none of them share content using their phone as the process is not really intuitive and remains quite impersonal. Two artistic directors got together and came up with an application to simplify and personalise the sharing process. Having found a developer to take care of technical aspects, the project founders got four students from the MSc Entrepreneurship programme on board to act as the driving force behind the project. Just prior to graduating, we decided to launch the application in July 2015 and are soon hoping to receive support in the form of incubation.

Can you briefly explain the principle behind RadioMe? 
RadioMe is an application to dedicate music to your friends. Often as you listen to a song it might be associated with a memory: holidays with friends, a romantic encounter or a wedding for example. That’s where we come in. RadioMe allows you to record an audio message for your friends, select a track in the media library on your phone and share it in 15 seconds. Your friends can then stream the track via our platform. What we offer:  - Your audio message makes the dedication unique, personal and sociable.  - RadioMe allows you to search the media library on your phone directly, a function that is not available on any other mobile application. - The community aspect of our app is designed to create a new way to communicate with your friends. Although text messaging continues to be the main means of communication, we hope that in the future smart phone users will share cultural content such as music in more fun ways to make their interaction more original and easier than text messaging. This is a vision that reflects the reality of communication today, when you consider the success of Snapchat and the rapidly increasing number of photos being sent via apps such as Whatsapp, Facebook or Instagram.

What is your initial assessment of this entrepreneurial adventure?
This entrepreneurial initiative has been both an academic and professional adventure. At the beginning of the year, we applied in real time what we had learned in class. This was very valuable when setting up our structure, as well as to finance the project (even though we still need more funding). Our friends were initially sceptical; the opportunity came to us with such ease and our first steps in the project took place so quickly that some people had doubts. Then as the project moved forward, we used our motivation to convince our friends, classmates and the administration that the project had a solid foundation. Now we regularly receive messages of encouragement both from friends and the EDHEC administration. That’s always a boost when you’re in the early stages of a project.

Have you ever benefited from the network of EDHEC graduates?
The EDHEC network and the involvement of Alumni were the key to successfully bringing professionals from the music industry together with final-year EDHEC students. Arthur Dietrich, an EDHEC entrepreneur who graduated in 2013, was contacted through Jérome FAGNET, a musician and entrepreneur and graduate of 2014. Arthur teaches a class on the MSc Entrepreneurship programme at EDHEC, and invited his students to get involved in the project. Four students with a passion for music and digital technology jumped at the opportunity: Louis, Maximilien, Gaétan and Simon took their first steps in the RadioMe adventure.

What advice do you have for young entrepreneurs?
The first advice we would give is to encourage project initiators to discuss it with those around them. Naturally, the fear of sharing one’s idea can often be disruptive. But in reality, the project initiator will lose more by keeping his idea for himself than by sharing it and getting feedback/advice from his interlocutors. So we advise people to call on other entrepreneurs and the EDHEC network; at EDHEC we were fortunate to be able to tap into a network of entrepreneurs that continues to grow. You have to make the most of it.

What’s next for RadioMe?
The project was exclusively launched for the first time to EDHEC students on the Lille campus on 23 April. It will be presented to the media on the evening of 2 July, followed by the main project launch at La Bellevilloise in Paris on 3 July, where more than 2000 participants are expected. 

What are your expectations from the community of EDHEC graduates?
As an entrepreneur, you face a great many questions: the advice of professionals both from the digital sector and the music industry was essential. As for financing, we are currently looking for grants before setting about raising funds. We recently joined the Club Entreprendre, which should help steer us towards financing in the future. We would also like to approach the EDHEC Business Angels, who could help us secure investments from private and professional investors. 

Download RadioMe !

Contact
Website : www.radiome.fr
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Twitter : @RadioMe_App
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