Musician and entrepreneur Tom Vek is building a digital music player, but don’t call it retro

Tom Vek burst onto the segment successful 2005 pinch his medium We Have Sound, which garnered a coagulated 7.6 from the tastemakers of the time complete astatine Pitchfork. His undeniably catchy marque of dancy indietronica landed him an quality connected The OC and placement connected the Grand Theft Auto IV soundtrack. His follow-up, Leisure Seizure, had a lengthy gestation period, but arrived successful 2011 to akin success, reaching No. 79 connected the UK charts.

Vek has continued to merchandise euphony astatine regular intervals complete the past 15 years, dropping Newer Symbols successful 2022. But successful 2020 he started toying pinch this thought he had for a euphony subordinate called Sleevenote. Inspired by vinyl packaging, it was his measurement of trying to bring immoderate of the beauty and magic of screen creation and liner notes to your integer audio. Securing parts, for illustration quadrate screens, proved difficult. Plus, the original prototype was tremendous — astir the size of a 7-inch single, conscionable thicker and heavier.

Now Vek is backmost pinch a caller type of Sleevenote that’s smaller, cheaper, and, for a small while longer, disposable to purchase. The past fistful of the Day One Editions are disposable now for $349. As he turns his attraction to the adjacent section for his media subordinate passion project, he told america astir the essentials, his obsessions, and pet peeves arsenic a musician-turned-entrepreneur.

What is your astir indispensable instrumentality (analog aliases digital, app aliases hardware)?

As overmuch arsenic I’d emotion to opportunity my GMT wristwatch, because of each the connection we do pinch our friends successful Seattle, and my emotion of wristwatches, the existent reply has to beryllium a MacBook. I’m either designing UI, designing graphics, retouching photos, aliases making videos, discussing ideas, implementing ideas, aliases proceeding really my ideas spell down. It genuinely is the motorbike for my mind. I person to spot ideas to cognize whether I for illustration them aliases not. I’m very fickle regarding business creation of the tech I usage and a large instrumentality of the existent “M” MacBooks, Apple kinda mislaid it for a bit.

How galore tabs do you person unfastened correct now?

I get a batch of crap from Sleevenote co-founder Chris for really galore tabs I person open, besides successful aggregate Chrome profiles, you know, to the constituent the tabs get truthful constrictive that you person to retrieve what it is from the favicon. I for illustration coming backmost to things, arsenic good arsenic having a action of regularly utilized things successful a row. I find it useful for remembering each the societal apps I’m meant to beryllium posting my latest Sleevenote schematic to.

Which tech inclination do you wish would spell away?

This is simply a spot salty, but the inclination for caller retro-style CD players and cassette players. It is a awesome motion that group want offline dedicated euphony experiences, but I want to spot caller ideas. I’m specifically willing successful ideas that push for integer euphony purchasing because it’s acold amended for musicians than buying that second-hand CD. I want my kids’ procreation not to beryllium stuck successful a retro cycle, aliases a doomed large tech cycle. I want to spot thoughtfully created indie tech products that could not person existed astatine immoderate different time. Plus, I retrieve cassettes, they sound awful.

What is 1 point you wish you had created?

I will reply this pinch a song: 3 years aft my debut album, erstwhile I should person had my 2nd medium together, I heard “Jump In The Pool” by Friendly Fires, featuring 1 of the astir stunning synth solos of each time. I would person loved to person created that opus astatine that time. Especially since I’d pushed myself and my past head fully-clothed into a excavation astir that clip and hadn’t moreover thought to constitute a opus astir it.

What is your existent obsession?
Been an obsession for rather a while but it’s still: carports successful architecture. I’m a car guy, I’m a very visually-focused car guy. I’m not really fussed astir capacity aliases way racing aliases anything. My existent emotion is the creation of the automobile and really it’s an emotive look of movement. The cleanable abode to maine has car(s) connected show, not hidden distant successful a garage, but still protected, truthful the carport becomes this cleanable idea. I’m obsessed pinch mid-century godforsaken architecture which incorporated the automobile truthful good into the connection of the house, but moreover successful the rainy UK, being capable to get successful and retired of your car without getting bedewed would conscionable make maine truthful happy, I deliberation haha.

What’s the past portion of beingness media you bought?
I bargain tons of fabrication books. I emotion a mini paperback. I conscionable picked up a book called The Cowards based purely connected the cover. I’ve conscionable vanished a load of Steinbeck, truthful looking for thing else. It’s funny that I often usage the shortest elevator transportation “Sleevenote is simply a Kindle for music”, but I’ve ne'er liked the thought of a integer book. Most group publication 1 book astatine a time, but having each your euphony accessible astatine immoderate 1 clip is overmuch much of a logic for a digitisation of a collection, it seems to me.

What do you deliberation is worthy splurging on?
Digital euphony downloads are worthy splurging on. We’ve been led to judge there’s nary constituent successful buying thing digitally, but it’s opinionated successful plain show arsenic the champion point to do pinch things for illustration music. Not only does it nonstop acold greater support for artists, but it gives america euphony fans offline and time-stamped entree to awesome art, and being encouraged to walk immoderate clip pinch a curated action of art, we each cognize is bully for the mind and soul. I want Sleevenote to alteration this.

What would the tagline for your biopic be?

Encompassing each my work, I fishy it would beryllium “Nothing But Green Lights”, the sanction of 1 of my songs, which I’d besides use to my activity pinch different projects. It’s good, not ever easy, to effort to deliberation there’s thing successful the measurement of going wherever you want to go.

What’s the past GIF aliases meme you used?