New music streaming app uncovers the stars of the future

Limelight Music matches new artists from all genres with potential fans. The app is developed by two just graduated bachelor students from the IT University of Copenhagen and might help record labels identify the next big star.

Entrepreneurship Education apps startups

Written August 16, 2018 11:57 AM by Vibeke Arildsen

"Limelight is going to be the most attractive place for upcoming musicians to upload their music as well as the easiest place for music lovers to discover the upcoming segment," says Qadar Ahmed, who has co-founded Limelight Music with Anders Nygaard.

The app lets users browse through music by more than 800 artists and has just been released for iOS and Android. Upon choosing their favorite genres, listeners are presented with new music from these genres in the app's radio.

Users can rate songs with a thumbs up or down, which allows an algorithm to customize the music flow to his or her particular taste.

Both Qadar Ahmed and Anders Nygaard have just completed their Bachelor’s degree in Global Business Informatics at ITU, and the two entrepreneurs have developed Limelight alongside their studies. They now plan to dedicate all their time to developing their business.

During the start-up phase, Limelight has received support from ITU Business Development, which for instance helped with refining the business model.

In June, the company landed its first major investment of DKK 1.75 million from the investment company Capnova. The money will primarily be used for marketing the app in the coming months.

Uncovering new talents with data

Limelight is free to use for both music fans and for artists who want to gain a bigger audience.

»
We measure everything, so based on concrete data we will able to spot the next Lukas Graham, for example
Anders Nygaard, co-founder of Limelight
«

The pivotal point of Limelight's business model are record companies and booking agencies, who will be able to purchase valuable data about promising artists and users' listening habits once the company launches its analytics tool later this year.

"We measure everything, so based on concrete data we will able to spot the next Lukas Graham, for example," says Anders Nygaard.

Some of the major record labels have already said that they want to use the tool to discover new talents.

"The record labels we've been talking to are extremely positive and think it's a very innovative way to approach the market," says Anders Nygaard.

Further information

Vibeke Arildsen, Press Officer, phone 2555 0447, email viar@itu.dk

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