The Future Is Now: Mathias Rosenqvist Of Moodelizer On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Tech Scene
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
I wish someone had told me to learn more languages. You can never have enough language skills, especially during a pandemic when you are forced to communicate on a whim, and without the rich nuances imparted by in-person conversation.
As a part of our series about cutting edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mathias Rosenqvist.
Mathias Rosenqvist is the CEO, co-founder and partner at Moodelizer, the Sweden-based sound technology company behind the invention of reactive music. He is also currently the Chairman of the Board at Inkbay.tattoo. In 2004, Rosenqvist founded AWB Agency Stockholm along with Vice Media Nordics, where he held the position of CEO until 2010. He is an experienced leader with a demonstrated history of working in the marketing industry and within software development.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specifc career path?
I’ve been a serious music lover for as long as I can remember. I’ll never forget getting my hands on my first stereo and the Phil Collins album, “No Jacket Required” that the salesperson included as an add-on. Since then, music has been my passion but for some reason, I never got into actually playing music growing up. I’ve been working around music for quite some time, organizing concerts and festivals, and representing artists in various contexts, but I’ve never really been inside music composition or contributed to how it is made. That’s why getting the opportunity to work with Moodelizer in establishing the next-generation sound format where people like myself are brought into the creation of music is a dream job for me. I could very well see myself doing this until it is time to retire and sit on a porch somewhere.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
When using Moodelizer for the first time, I was awestruck by how I could move my finger across a screen and control the music. The technology allowed me to arrange the song in real time and it was just baffling to me that it actually worked!
Another pivotal moment with Moodelizer was during one of my first work-related trips to China. I was having dinner with my business partner, Carl-Michael Herlöfsson, in a corporate part of Shenzhen. That part of the world — in all its dizzying and dynamic ways — was a lot to wrap my head around in itself. We were trying to figure out what Shenzhen was all about and asked a waiter if he had any suggestions for good music clubs. To our surprise, he pointed to a building two blocks down and said “Good times,” in broken English. Not expecting much, we walked through a gate into a courtyard-style mall full of bars and clubs. At the center of the complex, we entered a hyper-intense club with the biggest sound system I’ve ever seen, complete with a 360° LED screen displaying epic visuals synced with the club remix of the Higher Brothers track, “Made in China”. This experience threw my preconceived ideas about Chinese music culture out the window and opened my eyes to a whole new world.
Can you tell us about the cutting edge technological breakthroughs that you are working on? How do you think that will help people?
Moodelizer is the Sweden-based sound technology company that invented reactive music. We just launched the Moodelizer app with a suite of proprietary audio capabilities and we aim to become the new industry standard at the intersection of social media and reactive music. The app is a music-forward video editing tool featuring patented
.MOO sound format: easy-to-use reactive music that fits video — not the other way around. From remixing songs in real time, to choosing from an extensive catalog of top tier music, the new features are guaranteed to enhance people’s video and social media game.
How do you think this might change the world?
Moodelizer’s purpose is to add another layer to how people interact with and consume music. Within the social media space, music has been playing catch-up with camera functionality for sometime now. We are changing that. As creators around the world realize that music doesn’t have to be merely a detached backdrop to the action on screen, the Moodelizer app takes musical creativity to new levels by handing over the power of reactive music arrangement from professionals to everyday people. We think Moodelizer will enhance people’s experience with music, which is the soundtrack to all our lives at the end of the day.
Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
One potential drawback to Moodelizer’s technology is that — because it makes for a more compelling, musically-rich experience on social media — it could lead to users spending more time on social media. Screen time is a contentious issue and people fall into different camps on the matter, but we feel that Moodelizer’s key purpose of ushering in new levels of musical creativity for all users outweighs this drawback.
Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?
My co-founder at Moodelizer is Carl Michael Herlöfsson, a Grammy award-winning Swedish music producer and film composer with over 30 years experience in the Swedish music industry and San Francisco music engineering scene. In the years leading up to the creation of Moodelizer, Carl-Michael focused on composing music for Swedish feature films, TV productions and commercials. Working with film music was when the idea of Moodelizer was conceived, and a dynamic and reactive way of scoring film and mobile video was born.
What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?
We are pursuing a scaled launch to ensure that as many creators get to play and interact with Moodelizer as possible. We are currently working with some leading voices in the creator space to ensure that people can see and learn first-hand how the app works. We are also talking with leading editors in the tech, music and lifestyle space. They are profiling Moodelizer through editorial articles, which is helping recruit new users into the brand and drive wider awareness. We also need to create even more reactive music, which is something we are currently working on with our extensive network of music producers and artists.
What have you been doing to publicize this idea? Have you been using any innovative marketing strategies?
We have adopted an integrated marketing and communications approach to raise awareness around Moodelizer. In addition to working with creators to experiment with the app on TikTok and Instagram to raise the brand’s profile, we have been doing more blocking and tackling PR work. We have been speaking with a broad range of media to generate attention and show editors Moodelizer’s possibilities in everything from short video to social media and beyond. We have been building up our owned media presence, too, to ensure creators can appreciate the various ways in which they can bring Moodelizer into their social media game. We are also in discussions with record labels to show musicians and industry executives how Moodelizer — and reactive music, more broadly — presents an exciting, lucrative and alternative form of music distribution beyond the current streaming paradigm.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
The entire team at Moodelizer has been part of making this all possible. I’m thankful for all the effort and great thinking they have put into building Moodelizer. I’m especially thankful to my business partners Carl-Michael Herlöfsson, Bengt Sjölen and Niklas Marelius, who are responsible for igniting the development of it all.
I’m also very thankful to my loving family who has allowed me to sometimes lose myself to the Moodelizer cause, especially during long periods of traveling the world to evangelize reactive music.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
We believe that Moodelizer’s mission is to spark joy and inspire people to create new and exciting things within the short video and music space. This is how we can spread a little bit of goodness around the world.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why.
While I’m sure there are many things I wish I knew earlier, there are two specific precious nuggets of advice that I wish I had heard before embarking on this career, and which I would like to share here:
I wish someone had told me that even if you know it’s going to take some time introducing real innovation, it will take even longer than you initially anticipated. Endurance is so important in this field.
I wish someone had told me to learn more languages. You can never have enough language skills, especially during a pandemic when you are forced to communicate on a whim, and without the rich nuances imparted by in-person conversation.
You are a person of great infuence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I think Moodelizer is exciting because it presents a new way for music artists to distribute their music to fans. We believe that reactive music offers a way for artists to stand out from the crowd, build a stronger following and establish a closer connection to their fanbase.
Traditional streaming offers very little creativity for the receiver, listener or fan. Streaming is static and you can simply start and stop a piece of music. That means streaming offers no interactivity between the artist and fanbase. A closer connection to fans is becoming more and more important for artists. Look at the explosion of the K-pop scene and the Korean music industry, for example.
We have a significant number of Swedish and international artists and musicians at Moodelizer producing directly into our reactive format. They are very excited about the possibilities it brings. It opens up a whole new music market and revenue stream.
To “open up” a song for anyone to explore the depths and nuances and give them the power to affect how a piece of music is put together is definitely the future format of music. At Moodelizer, we believe that being able to tailor the musical experience, whether for a purely different listening experience or to tailor it to a social media post, opens up a whole new universe.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
It’s not a quote per se, but diversity is hugely important to me. First and foremost amongst people, but also within business. Being open to — and curious about — the knowledge, experiences, viewpoints and stories that come from people different from ourselves is incredibly enriching to us as humans, societies and businesses. I guess ”Judge less, learn more,” could be my quote from now on!
Some very well known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
Future distribution channels for music will be social and they will need to offer user interaction and creativity. Moodelizer has the next-generation reactive sound format, .MOO, that allows just that. It will be the next industry standard. Vinyl → CD → .MP3 → .MOO.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook @Moodelizer. You can also download the Moodelizer app for free on both the iOS and Android app stores now.
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
The Future Is Now: Mathias Rosenqvist Of Moodelizer On How Their Technological Innovation Will… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
