/ ERIC MUNIER
2011 - METAVOLUME
Tech startup providing dedicated soundtrack and ambiance sounds for e-books.
I love reading.
After a 10 years in the music industry I was beginning to see parallels between the questions that book publishers were asking themselves and questions that record companies were just starting to answer.
I saw an opportunity to enter the burgeoning e-book industry with a new digital offering, one that would delight serious readers.
I founded MetaVolume and created an extension of the .epub format allowing to sync music and text on an ebooks. The music is synched with the chapter, page and paragraph that the user is reading but it is also synched with the user's own speed of reading. It works a lot like the music of a video game.
I then went on to put in touch authors, music composers and book publishers to create some new art.
The end result is an experience allowing you to read a book with an added layer of perception and enjoyment.
During that time, I learned a lot about business planning, pitching, networking, entrepreneurship, perseverance, and ultimately about myself.
Unfortunately, I also discovered that timing to bring a product to market is as important as the product itself. Raising capital to survive lasted only for some time and I finally had to consider other opportunities.