Toju Ometoruwa is a Northeastern University student studying entrepreneurship and music industry. He is also the founder and ‘creative genius’ behind Pickasound, a “collaborative platform aiming to change the way people interact with music.” We asked him a few questions, check out his answers.

Tell us about Pickasound.

Pickasound is a collaborative music platform that provides a more engaging and interactive experience between artists and fans through music remixing (we can be compared to a Soundcloud and Garageband crossover).

The core problem we are trying to solve is that musicians want to have a more interactive experience with their fans around music creation. Instead of just receiving likes, comments, and shares whenever an artist uploads a new song online, on Pickasound, fans can actively contribute, remix, and collaborate with their favorite artists’ work. Artists can also create their very own customized ‘Featured Artist’ page, where they can upload their stem tracks from fans to sample and remix, while they simultaneously promote concert events or new song releases on the same page (our ‘John Legend’ featured artist page is a great example). Our vision is to create an ecosystem where artists can share their music with an interactive audience of fans who want to remix and contribute to it in order to get closer to the music they love.

What inspired your project?

In today’s digital music industry, streaming is a passive experience, and as a music fan and amateur music producer, I have always been inspired by the ability to manipulate my favorite songs through remixing. I feel that a song can have a longer lasting impact on the fan if they can creatively contribute to it.

Being able to create music online is not a new idea, but being able to contribute and remix sounds in a social network just like you add comments or upload photos on Facebook is a completely new experience that was unavailable before Pickasound. The fact that you can actually communicate with artists or other users through music creation (for example: I sample your sound, I save a remix within your project, I contribute a sound to your project) gives new meaning to the phrase ‘social music creation’, and Pickasound is on the forefront of this innovation.

We saw in news@Northeastern recently that you had the opportunity to meet John Legend. How did that come about? Do you have any plans to work with him in the future?

Based on a BostInno article that Pickasound was featured in, I was invited by the DMA (Direct Marketing Association) to a marketing conference called &Then where I was introduced on stage to an audience of 2,500 people, including innovative and well-established marketers and industry professionals.

The event organizers profiled Pickasound as the ‘next generation of digital marketers’ for the innovative work we are doing to enhance music collaboration and artist/fan engagement, and they also saw the music/entrepreneurship connection to John Legend as a perfect fit for the event. I (along with CNN contributor Mel Robins and Moses Foster, CEO of the West Cary Group) helped introduce John Legend as he went onstage to make his keynote speech.

Afterward, I had a few minutes to speak with John backstage. He showed great interest in Pickasound and the approach we were taking toward connecting music creators online, and providing value for established artists to connect with their fans as well. The exposure and feedback from this event really helped validate the direction we are going in, and we hope to utilize the connections we have made as we move forward to establish our vision.

Stay tuned for information about the Pickasound remix contest beginning November 2!