“Turning Every Space in the World into a PLAY Space… Bae Jeong-jin, CEO of APLAYZ”

-Innovation in ‘AI-driven spatial intelligence–based music technology’ that reads spatial data and automatically curates music

-Evolving into a ‘spatial operations infrastructure (OS)’ company expanding beyond music into stores, buildings, and even vehicles 

Restaurants, cafes, exhibition halls, even vehicles—music flows through every space like air. Yet most spatial music remains in the realm of “looped playback.” Music-tech startup APLAYZ is reinterpreting this everyday background noise through data and AI. The service ‘APLAYZ’ analyzes home environment, time, weather, location, and visitor characteristics to curate the optimal music for each space.
 

APLAYZ (AI-driven spatial music platform) CEO Jeongjin Bae
 

Startup challenges, setbacks, and the rebirth of the ‘spatial music’ idea at Hyundai Motor Company
CEO Jeongjin Bae’s entrepreneurial journey goes back to his time at KT. While planning digital services and designing data-based user experiences, he founded a location-based SNS startup. But due to rising outsourcing costs, lack of a full-time team, and an unclear business model, he had to close the business within two years—an experience that revealed structural limits of an early-stage startup. He recalls:

“A business is made not by ideas alone, but by the alignment of execution, team, capital, and market fit.”

Later, while working at Hyundai Motor Company in mobility and service planning, one moment—hearing the same music repeat in a restaurant—became a turning point. Spaces differ, yet music flows in a standardized way. Store operators had no technology to design music matched to space, time, and customer characteristics. Due to copyright, staffing, and cost constraints, most relied on simple streaming. From this reality, the concept of “space-optimized music” began to form.

To solve this, he worked nights and weekends with developer colleagues to build an MVP, testing the feasibility of an AI-based curation engine that maps spatial data to audio data. But without full-time focus, market entry speed was limited. He then applied to Hyundai’s in-house venture program ‘ZER01NE,’ where his combined model of “music promotion + automated space music” earned high scalability recognition and won second place. After eight months of tech and market testing, APLAYZ officially spun out as an independent corporation in 2023.

The APLAYZ platform provides AI-curated spatial music on various devices including mobile, tablet, desktop, and in-store displays.

When AI reads a space, the music changes

After the spin-out, APLAYZ began advancing its technology that combines spatial data with music. Seeing stores not as static ‘locations’ but as sets of data, the company developed a proprietary AI engine that merges 76 spatial context factors—like time of day, weather, lighting, congestion, visitor profiles—with 230 detailed music attributes.

This engine automatically generates playlists based on visitor patterns, preferred ambience, or whether a store’s purpose is relaxation or fast turnover. By integrating with POS, IoT, and CCTV data, APLAYZ uniquely automates music according to the “purpose of the space.” Major clients like Terarosa, Eland Eats, and Hyundai Motor Company have seen significant improvements in brand identity consistency, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

These changes are structurally different from existing music playback services. CEO Bae explains: “Music may seem emotional, but in reality, it is a matter of data and purpose.”

“Playing music is simple, but determining which music to play, when, and in what tone within each space is decided by data. APLAYZ is the technology that automates that ‘purpose.’”

Beyond stores into buildings and vehicles—becoming a ‘spatial operations infrastructure’

APLAYZ’s expansion naturally followed the expansion of “spaces.” The company extended from store-focused services into building and automotive environments. It developed a building-level solution that controls different zones—parking lots, lobbies, lounges, cafeterias, meeting rooms—within one platform. It automates sound types, volume, playback timing, brand sounds, and announcements, enabling holistic management of a building’s acoustic experience. This technology is already deployed at Hyundai Motor headquarters, group offices, and workplaces, and is expanding into large commercial and residential facilities.

Its in-vehicle service also goes beyond music playback. By analyzing vehicle data—driving speed, AC system state, lighting, presence of passengers—it can automatically adjust music mood and volume, or change tracks based on drowsiness patterns, creating a “driving-situation-based sound experience.” After its reveal at PLEOS 25 in March, commercial service is set to launch in Hyundai Motor vehicles in Q2 next year.

CEO Bae calls this “an operating system (OS) for offline spaces.”

“It may look like a music service, but it’s fundamentally an engine that understands spatial data and converts it into content. We are building infrastructure that moves spaces.”

APLAYZ CEO Jeongjin Bae stands at the company office in front of major partner logos.

 

The ‘spatial music market’—a blue ocean

The current Korean store music market is dominated by 20,000–30,000 KRW streaming services, with innovation stagnating due to copyright, operational, and labor-cost constraints. CEO Bae emphasizes that this market is fundamentally a legacy industry and innovation must come from technology, not content.

“Most stores play music simply because they ‘have to.’ But music directly affects sales, dwell time, and branding. Few companies design this strategically based on data.”

APLAYZ built its business model around this gap. Instead of simple playback, it supports branding, marketing, and customer experience design simultaneously—leading to rapid adoption across franchises, exhibition halls, hotels, and offices. Especially its building-type solution, with almost no alternatives in Korea, is recognized as a dominant technology and is expanding to corporations, municipalities, and resort industries. 

APLAYZ is also developing new revenue models by combining music with advertising. Automated in-store announcements, branded sound cues for specific situations, and smart-bus-stop projects with local governments enable space-data-driven marketing centered around audio.

APLAYZ’s next step: toward the global market

APLAYZ first gained attention overseas. After showcasing its unique “AI spatial music” concept at CES Eureka Park, collaboration proposals arrived from North America, Japan, the Middle East, and Brazil.

In Japan, discussions are underway for a joint venture (JV) with a local company. The Middle East has shown strong interest in sound systems for smart bus stops and public buildings. Brazil is reviewing PoC collaborations for malls and bus terminals.

CEO Bae states, “We aim to become a global hub for spatial content,” and shares the following vision:

“Music is just the beginning. Spaces require many types of content—podcasts, travel information, ambient sound, branded sound, even visual content. Our next step is to build infrastructure that automatically delivers the ‘optimal content’ to every space.”

The future APLAYZ envisions is not simply a “better music service.” It signals the beginning of an era where AI understands the purpose of a space, and content shapes the experience of that space—an era of automated spatial operations. Music is merely the starting point. Technology that reads the emotions, information, and situational context of spaces and converts them into real-time content may become core infrastructure for the offline industry. CEO Bae adds, “We want to create an era where AI reads spaces and content completes them.” Sound flowing through spaces is no longer just background—it is becoming corporate strategy. APLAYZ’s challenge is the process of building this new standard.