Finnish startup PlayMySong, the crowdsourced music DJ’ing service that lets a store’s customers remotely program the stereo, has just closed a round of seed funding totaling $350,000. The round was led by Lifeline Ventures, a Helsinki-based accelerator focused on funding web and gaming startups and includes participation from Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation. Though relatively small, the company says it’s enough funding to open an office in New York and head out to San Francisco for meetings and other fund-raising efforts.
PlayMySong, which is live in Heleski and a handful of U.S. locations, has also just launched its service in New York as of today.
For those unfamiliar, PlayMySong is a mobile application that allows you to remotely control the songs being played on a venue’s stereo system, while also simultaneously checking in to Foursquare or Facebook. The service has a bunch of competition, from startups to side projects, like Jelli, TuneTug, Roqbot, Spartify, AutomaticDJ, DJtxt, StereoPill, Hey I’m Like, Diskly, and many others.
To use PlayMySong, venue owners connect their iOS device running a special app to their stereo sound system using a standard 3.5 mm audio cable. Customers can then connect to that device over the Wi-Fi network or a 3G connection and choose which songs from the venue’s playlist they want to hear.
For businesses on the premium service, they can also communicate with customers via ads and messages. They also have better listings in the search results, complete with logos and other features.
The company is also now inking a deal with a major beer brand that will put PlayMySong in hundreds of bars, but the deal isn’t closed yet.
Founded in Finland in 2011 by Rami Korhonen (CEO) and Timo Kari (CTO), the company arrived in the U.S. this just month.
