What does it take to build a music streaming service around culture, access, and long-term value?

In this episode of Sound Connections, we sit down with Faraan Irfan, Founder and CEO of Saarey Music, to unpack how he’s solving one of music’s biggest access problems.

Saarey is a streaming platform dedicated to South Asian classical music, built on exclusive rights, deep cultural metadata, and a business model that challenges traditional streaming economics. With strong engagement and global users, the platform is proving that underserved genres can become powerful digital businesses.

Faraan shares his journey from personal frustration as a listener to building a company that works directly with artists, preserves rare recordings, and creates meaningful access for a global audience.

A grounded, honest conversation on building in music tech beyond the mainstream.

If you want to learn more about Saarey music:

Socials:

Saarey website: https://www.saareymusic.com

Saarey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/saarey/

Saarey Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saareymusic

Saarey Insta: https://www.instagram.com/saareymusic

Freddie Moross, founder of Myndstream, joins Sound Connections to unpack the growing role of functional music in wellness, hospitality, and care environments.

This conversation explores how intentional audio can shape experiences inside spas, hotels, and treatment spaces, and why music should be treated as infrastructure rather than background noise. Freddie explains how soundtracks can guide guest journeys, influence emotional outcomes, and help wellness spaces create more meaningful environments.

We also discuss the economics behind the global wellness industry and why wellness-focused consumers represent one of the fastest growing and most engaged segments in hospitality.

Along the way, Freddie shares lessons from building a music technology startup in a niche category, including the advantages of starting with owned assets, the challenges of licensing and distribution, and what it takes to scale a focused product in a complex industry.

Now live on Sound Connections Podcast.

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Produced by Amplitude Ventures AS.

Mark Bamford joins Sound Connections for an open discussion on startup building, video monetization, and the hard truth about innovating in music. As the founder of Viktrs, Mark is working on a new model for video that aims to unlock more value from every view by focusing on engagement, discovery, and data rather than the traditional advertising-driven approach used by major platforms.

Mark unpacks his path from a career in construction, consulting, and strategy into the world of founders and music technology. He reflects on what surprised him most about entering the music space, why innovation often struggles inside established systems, and how founders are forced to make difficult choices when a meaningful vision meets a difficult market.

This episode dives into the economics of music startups, the limits of pure storytelling when fundraising, and the importance of reaching tangible results with as little capital as possible. Mark also shares why Viktrs has expanded into non-music categories such as food and politics while keeping music as a long-term mission, using those adjacent markets to build leverage, revenue, and proof before coming back stronger.

For anyone working at the intersection of technology, media, and culture, this episode brings a sharp and honest perspective.

Watch the full episode on your preferred podcast platforms!

[Links in bio]

If you want to know more about Viktrs visit: https://viktrs.com/

Produced by Amplitude Ventures AS.