by Chung Jaan Hao, CEO of MNC Wireless Berhad
In a matter of weeks we will be celebrating the birth of WOWLOUD, a cloud music service that will forever change how music is discovered and enjoyed in this country.
My fascination with cloud music began a little more than 12 months ago when I was moving heaps of CDs around the house due to a little flooding mishap in my house. I had no idea that I had accumulated so many CDs in my lifetime until that point of time. I still buy the occasional (audiophile) CDs even though I have started downloading MP3 like what most people do, I suddenly felt “outdated” and even “pre-historic” as I stared down on the boxes of CDs which I had to move in order to make way for my flooring renovation.
What is the ultimate music experience? For me it’s being able to discover and have access to all music in this world at an instant, while having the ability to carry all that music everywhere I go whether to my AV room or to my car. I am not a true audiophile but I do enjoy high fidelity music on a fairly good set of hifi system, so high quality recordings are a must.
Would I pay money for it? It would depend on what I am getting, but if something comes along that is able to meet my musical demands I wouldn’t mind paying. Of course if I could sample songs for free first that would be a real winner for me. But ultimately I would only pay for an experience which is unattainable from buying CDs or downloading MP3s.
Thinking caps were put on that the moment and a quick tour to the Stockholm, the birthplace of cloud music in Europe during a chilling -20 degree celcius winter unleashed my strong desires to make cloud music a possibility in this part of the world. I wanted to make something meaningful and something that would really have a positive impact on people’s lives. After all music is a very powerful medium.
Some people told me that we couldn’t do it. Some people said it will never work. But the 12 months of transformation of MNC Wireless under the banner of MNC:Playlab before that paid off. We were able to put together a crack team and while even our own people had their doubts, we pushed forward to the point where technologically there wasn’t really much that felt we couldn’t do. The feeling of being to walk among giants was overwhelming and intoxicating.
It was a long way getting here and we had our usual office dramas and issues with partners that we had to endure. Finding the right people for the right job was daunting but the core members of WOWLOUD pulled through and delivered. We are witnessing the birth of a music experience that is in tune with the progress of internet, our lifestyles and our devices. We are now finally knocking on the gates to rockstardom. And I realize that we are just scratching the surface of bigger things to come.
WOWLOUD, the first cloud music service in Asia will be made available to Malaysians for free in the coming weeks. Access to the service is by invitation only so please register your interest to receive an invitation to experience WOWLOUD at wowloud.com.
Meanwhile in a cold and dry ex-bomb shelter in an undisclosed location Stockholm, another team of MNC-ians are coding away as if it’s a “hack-a-thone” fest. Feeding on a steady diet of smelly herring their brains are working overtime as Lars which we shall call the “CTO” for now whips them and shouts “FASTER! FASTER!”. What sinister plot could be brewing and what is a bunch of MNC-ians coders doing in the Nordics. More to come.
