A large music library typically requires either a lot of money or a lot of illegal downloading. With the internet making piracy easier than ever, thousands of people struggle to find a solution – including one of our own Longhorns. Ayush Behere, a sophomore Finance student with minors in both MIS and Business Music, is working hard on a project that might allow for a middle ground: MusicHub.
“The basic idea behind MusicHub is to fight piracy – something I grow stronger and stronger against every day,” Ayush hopes to one day own his own record label.
Ayush explains that as a future producer, a current musician, and as an eternal music lover, he hates piracy. “Thinking ahead, I saw piracy as a big problem that I’d have to overcome. The more I thought about it the more I hated the current system.”
To fight against the piracy problem, Ayush decided to develop MusicHub, in hopes of creating a better system “which aims to provide a website that allows users to permanently download an artist’s songs for free, while giving the artists (or their respective record labels) x amount per download.”
Ayush sees MusicHub as a solution to the problem, accommodating both musicians, who lose money every year due to pirating, and music lovers, who can’t realistically afford to buy all the music they’re interested in. “My hope is that MusicHub will create a common ground,” Aysuh said. He described the benefits of the website, “For users: free music. For bands: lots of free marketing and exposure.” He continued, “I’m not going to go into the nitty gritty details about how to make money to pay the artists or even make a profit, but in short, the website will rely on ads, premium services, etc.”
For now, MusicHub is going to be very local, focusing on the Austin scene, but Ayush hopes to see his website eventually expand to include music from all over the world. “But even beyond that, I want MusicHub to be exactly what it’s name implies. A center for all your music needs.” He explained that MusicHub will be a place to download your latest CD obsession, find recommendations for new music, and read about favorite artists and the industry in general.
Ayush is currently working on designing the website and plans to have a working site up by this summer or next fall. “But in the mean time,” Ayush suggested, “people should check out MusicHubTV, our youtube channel. We interview artists, venue owners, producers, etc, all in the Austin area. We expect to have videos up in a week or so and from there have weekly additions. Subscribe!”
This music lover epitomizes the cardinal ingenuity and creativity present in all Texas students. He cared about something, saw a problem, and came up with his own solution. Ayush is a passionate student, willing to go outside the classroom to create a valuable product. No matter the music need, he declared, “MusicHub will deliver.”