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APRIL 15, 2012
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What do you get when you cross a Grammy
Award-winning songwriter and producer with
the former global head of emerging mar-
kets at J.P. Morgan? You get the duo respon-
sible for the California-based startup Music
Mastermind, Inc.
On paper, they sound like an unlikely pair:
Matt Serletic, the former chairmanof VirginRe-
cords, is amusic-industry vet who has worked
with everyone fromCarlos Santana toCourtney
Love.BoBazylevsky isan IvyLeaguegrad touted
as afinancial superstar by both
TheWall Street
Journal
and
Asset
magazine. But whenSerletic
bought Bazylevsky’s house inNew York roughly
10 years ago, they made a connection, and
they have been friends ever since. Years later,
they would become business partners as well
when they launchedMusicMastermind in2008.
It all startedwithasimplequestion:Why is it
that themusic industry iscuratedby themusical
eliteat record labels andpublishers?Why can’t
music fans help shape the musical landscape
and decide what rises to the top? Bazylevsky
wanted toknow. Seeingpotential there, thepair
set out to create “anew instrument for the 21st
century” that would bring music and its con-
sumerscloser together.
The result is Zya, a cloud-based platform
that makes it easy for anyone with a computer
to make their own studio-quality music. Users
logon, andusingavatarsbasedondifferentmu-
sical genres, theyhead to thestudiowhere,with
thehelpofZyaproducers, theyrecord lyrics, add
hooks, mix beats and play with other musical
effects until they’ve laid down a new track. It’s
then time to share the songwith theworld and
watchwhere it landson thevirtualmusiccharts.
It’spart songmaker, part videogame.
What’s revolutionary about Zya, however, is
that unlike other music-creation software out
there, it allows users legal access (thanks to
unique licensing deals with major music pub-
lishers like EMI, Universal Music Group and
Sony/ATV) to a library of famous songs from
some of their favorite artists. Say, for instance,
you’re a big Lady Gaga fan. You can take bits
from recordings of her hit songs “Just Dance”
or “Poker Face” and incorporate them into your
own toe-tapping tune.
Zya is currently available toPCusers across
the United States, but Serletic and Bazylevsky
plan to make it available to Mac, tablet and
smartphone users within the year and to also
expand to Latin America, Asia and other inter-
nationalmarkets.
“In five years, we hope that Zya is a name
that invokes creativity, quality and fun for mil-
lions of people across theworld,” says Serletic.
“We aim to provide content to give people the
chance to collaboratewith themusic that mat-
tersmost to them.”
Serletic perhaps best summed up Zya and
MusicMastermind—or at least the ideabehind
them— in a taped interviewwith Fox Business
last December. “Technology provides us with
new instruments,” he said. “You think about
even back to the days of Bach. He hated the
piano because it wasn’t like the harpsichord.
There’s always been this rub between technol-
ogy andmusic-making and the way we deliver
it. But ultimately, they’re all tools andways for
us toexpressourselves.”
MusicMastermind
To download Zya, go to
Go to
for more
informationaboutMusicMastermind.
Additional Information
CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT
FROMLEFT:TerrySolomone,RezaRassool,MattSerletic,BoBazylevskyandDeanSerletic
For extended coverage on Music Mastermind
and other featured startups and small busi-
nesses, pleasevisit usatAA.com/Innovators
