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TechCrunch · September 14, 2026

A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya is a startup offering fun music apps without any AI prompting

MusicDesignEntrepreneurship
THE AI ANGLE
Being intentionally bypassed in creative tools in favor of human interaction

Former Spotify innovation head Máuhan M Zonoozy raised a $5.5 million pre-seed round for his startup, A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya, which builds playful music and sound-remixing apps that deliberately avoid generative AI prompting. Rather than relying on AI to generate songs, the company creates interactive tools like stem players, browser extensions, and its grid-based iOS app 'bop' to turn passive music listeners into active creators. This model offers music, design, and entrepreneurship faculty a compelling counter-narrative to the prevailing market trend of fully automated AI content creation.

THE TEACHING ANGLE
Students can explore the tension between designing automated generative AI tools versus interactive, sandbox-style interfaces that prioritize human agency, taste, and active participation.

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