FEATURED PROFILE: CEO, DARIUS FONG
With a decade of experience in the music industry, Grammy-award winning audio engineer and producer Darius Fong has noticed a growing shift over the years. The focus has changed from sales to streaming, and music has been reduced to algorithms that translate songs into Internet radio. Though data scientists have meticulously categorized songs by style and sound, Fong believes music has been fragmented and we’ve lost one of its most important elements: creativity and collaboration.
That’s why he created weeSPIN, the musically-driven app that constantly evolves around your social life. weeSPIN brings the emotion and creativity Fong experiences in the production studio right into the app so that users, their friends and their social community become the curators. Plus, weeSPIN incorporates popular music services to make playlist creation streamlined and simple. For the first time, users can take one playlist from their Spotify library, another from their Soundcloud library and throw in a few songs from iTunes to create an entirely new weeSPIN playlist.
Fong’s ultimate vision for weeSPIN is an app that’s dynamic and personal. Unlike services such as Pandora, which suggest sounds you may like, weeSPIN actually sounds like you.
q: Darius Fong in one sentence:
a: Award winning record producer-engineer and founder of weeSPIN.
q: What motivates you to do what you do?
a: I’m motivated by people around me. By both culture and communities. I care about how we connect and relate to each other. I love music. But I care more about how music brings people closer together.
a: My piano teacher survived the cultural revolution in China. He’s my inspiration. He instilled in me a passion for music that went beyond piano.
q: What differentiates you/your company/brand from others?
a: I’m a musician with a strong desire to communicate visually. I’m very technically inclined and have a deep understanding of technology and equipment. But i treat gear more like paint brushes.
q: How does music influence your work?
a: Regardless what I’m doing, whether directly related to music production, listening to music always seems to keep me honest, and true to what I’m communicating or designing.
q: What’s your favorite piece of work?
a: My favorite works are a wide spectrum of things I use and experience daily. I’m a huge fan of Bar Nine Collective, ex-Handsome Coffee and Hex bags and briefcases. I love things that inspire me to focus on what really matters: people.
q: A song on your current playlist & hashtag to describe your mood
a: Hands, Be Still by Olafur Arnalds (#morning #love) Listen here.
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