“We want to bridge the gap between creativity and technology, revolutionize the music creation landscape, and make it more accessible to aspiring musicians worldwide.”
Entrepreneurs Today recently had a candid conversation with Sourabh Pateriya, a deep tech entrepreneur with a rich background in tech giants like Samsung and Spotify, who is making waves with his latest venture, Soundverse, by democratizing music creation through AI.
With over seven years of experience as a music producer blending Indian folk music with electronic beats, Sourabh is on a mission to empower the next generation of creators.
Soundverse serves as an AI assistant tailored for content creators and musicians, offering an innovative approach to music production. The platform distinguishes itself with its AI-first approach.
Unlike traditional digital audio workstations (DAWs) laden with complex interfaces and steep learning curves, Soundverse simplifies the music-making process. Through natural language interaction with the AI assistant, users can effortlessly create music without the need for extensive training or technical expertise.
About Sourabh
Born in Jabalpur, MP, and growing up surrounded by his father’s love for music and his mother’s artistic talent, Sourabh developed a deep appreciation for both visuals and sound. Sourabh tells us,
“By the age of 18, I had done three major things: create immersive comic books, establish my own metal band, and build software and games. I was pretty good at all three, always looking for a way to harness my expertise in these areas. I later went on to study Interaction Design at IDC, IIT Bombay.”
Interviewer: What sparked your interest in music, and how did you initially get involved in the industry?
Sourabh: “I inherited most of my interest in music from my father. While listening to classics from Pet Shop Boys or A. R. Rahman, I always found myself humming along and tapping my feet to the melodies. Soon, I realized that I had developed a great taste for music. At 8, I taught myself how to play the piano, and by 17, I had picked up the guitar. In 2008, I formed a metal band called Afterlife, where I was the lead guitarist. We performed at many places across India. While dealing with event managers, I learned about stage setups, performed live, and explored the intricacies of mixing. Eventually, I became interested in music production and started releasing Indian Folk Electronic songs as BlueNucleus, both independently and through labels. I learned production entirely through YouTube. However, I realized that current music creation software is highly complex.”
Music Creation Made Easy
Interviewer: What inspired the creation of Soundverse?
Sourabh: “The idea for Soundverse had been brewing for a while. When I was at Samsung, I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of the inception team for the voice assistant Bixby. I was highly impressed by how beautifully these assistants were crafted and their ease of use. You simply speak to them, and they do the job! However, such innovation seemed absent in the music industry, where most tools are still highly complex software. I soon realized that the audio and music creation paradigm needed a revamp. After working at Spotify as an AI/Collaboration product manager, where I crafted product experiences for music artists, I felt highly confident that I could add significant value to this space.”
I had met Philip Srebrev in New York back in 2018 at a music event. He worked at Meta, Robinhood and was deep into Machine Learning. Since we became such good friends over the years, we decided to go on this journey together!
Sourabh reveals that the music-making process in Soundverse revolves around three core pillars: the Soundverse Assistant, AI Magic Tools, and the Arrangement Studio.
The Soundverse Assistant serves as a conversational interface, allowing users to articulate their creative goals and intents naturally. Pioneering the concept of conversational creation, the assistant comprehends user input, breaks down goals into tasks, and leverages AI processing to guide users through the music-making journey.
The AI Magic Tools is almost like an audio app store hosting cutting-edge AI models and technologies. Users can access a variety of tools, such as Text-to-music functionality, where the AI interprets prompts like “create deep house music with tabla” and swiftly generates music based on the user’s input. This streamlined process enables rapid iteration and experimentation, empowering users to refine their musical ideas efficiently.
The other feature pillar, Arrangement Studio, provides a lightweight, user-friendly interface for arranging compositions and creating multiple sections of music. Sourabh notes,
“The feature can actually enable even a 10-year-old to create music; it can enable a 70-year-old who has always had a passion for music but never got the opportunity or time and investment to get into it. It enables everyone to become a musician.”
Interviewer: What does the future of music creation look like?
Sourabh: “The future of music creation is poised for a transformative shift, driven by the accessibility of AI technology and innovative platforms like Soundverse. Much like Canva revolutionized design, making it accessible to millions worldwide, Soundverse aims to democratize music creation, offering intuitive tools that simplify the process for creators of all levels.”
Looking ahead, Sourabh envisions music creation involving the seamless integration of AI assistants into everyday workflows. He says,
“Imagine a future where creators can simply hum a melody or describe a musical idea, and AI assistant generate multiple variations tailored to their preferences. This conversational approach to music creation empowers creators to express themselves effortlessly without the need for complex interfaces or technical expertise.”
Crucially, for Sourabh, the future of music creation is not about AI replacing human creativity but augmenting it. AI tools serve as collaborators, enhancing the creative process and enabling artists to explore new ideas and workflows.
Navigating Challenges
During the conversation, Sourabh acknowledges that building Soundverse has been a journey fraught with various challenges.
On the technical front, developing a deep-tech platform like Soundverse required assembling a talented team capable of building a global-scale product from scratch. With limited resources and a short timeframe, the team faced immense pressure to innovate and deliver results swiftly.
Moreover, Soundverse had to reimagine traditional music creation processes and design an intuitive platform that catered to the needs of creators. This involved extensive interaction design and careful consideration of the user experience to create a unique and user-friendly platform.
Despite these challenges, within a short span, the platform has attracted thousands of creators, with over 20,000 tracks generated as of January 24 and over three hundred hours of content generated.
Future Projects
Soundverse is gearing up to launch several groundbreaking projects that promise to revolutionize the music creation landscape.
The first project, Autocomplete Song, aims to streamline the music creation process for creators who have existing musical snippets or ideas. By uploading a clip to the platform, creators will receive suggestions and directions to complete a full song, whether it’s in the style of Deep House, Lo Fi, or other genres. This innovative workflow is set to be a game-changer, offering creators unprecedented ease and efficiency in bringing their musical ideas to fruition.
The second initiative focuses on leveraging voice as a central tool in music creation. Soundverse aims to simplify complex technologies like MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) by shifting the focus to natural voice inputs. Through technologies like conversational creation and voice-to-instrument conversion, creators will be able to harness the power of their voice to generate realistic instrument sounds and compose music effortlessly. Sourabh explains,
“Everyone carries a musical instrument with them and it is “voice”. Through humming, beatboxing and singing we aim to convert them into music or realistic sounding instruments using AI.”
Soundverse is also committed to empowering creators with new revenue opportunities. The platform plans to introduce Data Attribution for artists, ensuring that creators receive fair compensation when their information is utilized during the music-making process.
In the next five years, Soundverse aims to lead this evolution by pioneering new workflows that empower creators with AI-driven tools. The goal is to enable creators to achieve greater productivity, profitability, and work-life balance, ultimately enriching the music-making experience and shaping the future of the industry.
Lessons Learned
In terms of the lessons he learned, Sourabh asserts,
“Always build value in a domain or space that you genuinely admire and are passionate about. The journey can be daunting and has the potential to break entrepreneurs when they don’t see progress. This can lead to companies shutting down and co-founders parting ways. To stay hopeful, the most important person is you, the founder. Remain positive, hopeful, and committed to achieving the success you’ve always envisioned.”
Lastly, as he signs off, he reminds everyone that there will be moments when you surpass your expectations and achieve things you never thought possible. The value you create becomes evident when your customers express admiration for your product, acknowledging its groundbreaking nature. Such feedback makes the journey truly fulfilling, affirming that you’ve made a meaningful contribution.
