[StartUP] ‘Aplayz’ Automatically Plays Songs Based on Customer Gender and Weather

Hyundai Motor Company Domestic Business Strategy Team employee Bae Jeong-jin (42), now CEO of Aplayz, came up with the idea for his startup at a restaurant. While dining with colleagues, he found it strange that singer Park Boram’s song “Got Prettier” kept repeating as background music. This sparked the idea for a business where artificial intelligence (AI) would curate and play music suitable for cafes, bars, or offices according to weather, season, or visitor data.

On the 15th, at the Seoul Startup Hub in Mapo-gu, Seoul, CEO Bae, founder of Aplayz — an AI-based personalized music service company — shared his story.

Aplayz was established in 2022 as an in-house startup of Hyundai Motor Company and spun off last year. The company currently has 10 employees. Aplayz’s AI analyzes 230 audio characteristics and 76 store characteristics to find the best music for each environment. Audio traits include genre, song title, artist, tempo, lyrics, and pitch, while store traits cover location, business type, nearby commercial areas, customers’ transportation modes, and visitor preferences. Real-time factors such as season, time, and weather are also considered when selecting music.

Bae said, “The atmosphere of a space can completely change depending on the background music. A store frequented mainly by people in their 20s needs a different sound than one for customers in their 50s. Even in the same café, the music should differ between a bustling lunchtime and a calm evening.” Store owners simply input their store situation, and Aplayz automatically selects matching tracks.

Aplayz also views automobiles and buildings as key markets. Bae noted, “Just as the recently launched Mercedes-Benz E-Class includes NHN Bugs’ playlist ‘essential;’ built-in, adding curated music content to vehicles is a growing industry trend.”

In the building sector, Aplayz has begun offering its services at several Hyundai Motor Group sites, including the company’s headquarters in Yangjae, Seoul, and Hyundai and Kia dealerships nationwide.

Aplayz secured clients such as coffee brand Terarosa and E-Land Eats’ restaurant chains Ashley, Nature Kitchen, Pizza Mall, and Rowan, generating 280 million KRW in revenue in its first year after spinoff. The service is priced at 9,000 KRW per month for stores and 2,000 KRW per month for vehicles.

Bae explained, “These franchise clients require new franchisees to use Aplayz as part of their contracts. We plan to expand our customer base by targeting franchise businesses first.”

Aplayz received a 100 million KRW investment from Hyundai Motor Group’s creative talent platform ‘Zer01ne’ and a 1.2 billion KRW strategic investment from the automotive software platform company Obigo. In September last year, the company also signed a proof-of-concept (PoC) agreement with Hanwha Vision to deliver customized store music services based on CCTV data. Once validated, the technology is expected to diversify revenue streams.

Reporter: Go Sung-min (kurtgo@chosunbiz.com) [[Startup UP] ‘Aplayz’ automatically plays songs tailored to customer gender and weather], Chosun Biz, March 23, 2024