CitizenGroove

CitizenGroove

What it does: Software for digitizing music school applications
Founders: John Knific, 23; Marc Plotkin, 24; Eric Neuman, 24; Kyle Napierkowski, 24
Website: citizengroove.com
Based: Cleveland

Music schools and university music departments typically receive hundreds or thousands of recorded auditions on CD or DVD from candidates. These have to be manually labeled and sent to reviewers who can't come in to hear them. Four friends from Case Western University­—John Knific, a pianist, Marc Plotkin, a saxophonist, Eric Neuman, a computer science major, and Kyle Napierkowski, a finance major—want to streamline the process. In March 2010, after raising $350,000 from angel investors and a state innovation grant, they designed a tool that music schools and applicants can access through each school’s application website. There, candidates upload and label their own auditions for administrators to access and review, eliminating the need for equipment, physical storage, and personnel. Schools pay fees based on the size of their applicant pools: Prices range from a few thousand dollars to over $10,000 per year. CitizenGroove launched the tool this fall and so far has seven clients, including the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Knific expects revenue to reach $100,000 by December. —VW