(Zya/Music Mastermind)

From Calabasas-based entertainment company Music Mastermind comes an innovative music mobile game named Zya. Zya makes it possible to produce studio-quality music just like the pros. Zya is the only game where one can mash-up top-selling, world-famous songs by artists including OutKast, Maroon 5, Madonna, and Lady Gaga. 

Zya recently announced a new contest, the #ZyaStar Contest, which will present a winner with a recording contract from Emblem Records, $10,000 in cash, and select tour performances on DigiTour 2015. Emblem Records is the record label home to award-winning artists including Matchbox Twenty, Rob Thomas and Gloriana. 

This first-ever game-based music competition will be picking finalists every month starting this coming May until the end of the year. Each month’s finalists will be evaluated based the originality of the songs they share using the #ZyaStar hashtag, the highest level they achieve on the mobile game, and the number of their song views on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, among other factors. 

Zya is now available to download for free in the App Store and works across iOS devices.

Music Mastermind CEO, former Virgin Records Chairman and CEO, Grammy award-winning songwriter and producer, and founder of Emblem Records Matt Serletic spoke to Neon Tommy from the South By Southwest Gaming Expo floor.

How has your experience been at SXSW and the Gaming Expo so far? What has been your favorite part?

We’re really enjoying SXSW. We feel lucky to be here. It’s such a cool nexus of technology and entertainment that’s really unlike anything else in the world. One of the best parts about being here is seeing people react to the thing that you worked so hard to build. We’re at the Gaming Expo and we’ve got the Zya truck front and center when you walk in. Watching faces light up when people play with Zya makes all those long hours and months and years we spent building this technology [to pay off]. 

Had you ever been to SXSW for the Gaming Expo before, or just for the music side of SXSW?          

Well, it’s funny. I’ve got kind of a long history with SXSW. I was in a band called Collective Soul. I think we were there in ’98, one of the first years [of SXSW] ever…We drove all the way from Atlanta. SXSW has come a long way since then. With Zya, we were an unknown company a couple years ago [when] we put out our PC beta…[we had] great excitement at SXSW a couple years ago. [We were told] that [Zya] was one of the highlights of SXSW [that year]. What’s so cool about coming back to SXSW now is that we fully realize we’re available to people now in a way that [the beta wasn’t]. We took it off of a PC, moved it up into the Cloud, and made it available everywhere. 

Can you talk a bit about how you came up with the idea for Zya and the #ZyaStar Contest?

I started the company a few years ago with a friend of mine named Bo Bazylevsky. He and I were talking on the phone about what was going on in the music industry. [We thought that] we needed to mix it up, and [come up] with new ways for people to interact with music. We hit upon this idea that some people are creative and some people aren’t, and [we really wanted to] let everyone be creative. The idea was born that we could break down the walls between everybody and their own creativity.

As a multi-Grammy award-winning songwriter and producer, did your songwriting and producing experiences play a role in the motivation to create the app? 

They really did. From my standpoint, I [aim to] be passionate about [my music all of my life]. I know that’s not an uncommon feeling, so I wanted to help people get closer to that joy that musicians get to feel and creative people get to feel when they make stuff. Everything we know about music theory, to hit songwriting techniques, to music production techniques…all of this comes into play with Zya. 

How are you tying Emblem Records into the ZyaStar Contest?

[Emblem Records has had] a long-standing belief in finding unique voices and finding people who jump off airwaves where we might run across…guys like Rob Thomas. I think that with the new digital world, [there is] this whole new methodology to discover that kind of talent. We feel very strongly that Zya provides a creative enough experience that, over time, we are really going to uncover some incredible talent. We’re already seeing the beginnings of it even just launched a few months now. So, I think we’re going to find a new digital star—[someone who gets known] for the music he or she makes on Zya. 

Since Music Mastermind is headquartered in Calabasas, what do you think about the area exploding in regards to tech?

It’s really exciting. We’re so fortunate that [we’re based] in Southern California. When we first started [Music Mastermind], it was different…it was hard to find people who had enough experience building high level digital products. In a matter of really two or three short years, it has really changed. The whole Silicon Beach phenomenon is a reality. I think this is a great tech hotbed. There is a lot more investment coming into Southern California. There are a lot more job opportunities. [The area has] the big companies, the film companies, and the entertainment companies that need expert gear, but [also has] new startups that are [coming up with] new technologies. It kind of feels like a mini San Francisco. 

Where do you see Zya, Music Mastermind, and yourself 10 years from now?

We want to change the way people interact with music. We build technology that I think will keep getting better, and will allow people to experience music in new ways. The power of the technology we built is just getting started now with Zya. Zya is going to grow, and add more features and powerful ways of discovery. In a few years, we see ourselves helping people interact with music in ways that right now could barely be imagined. 

What advice do you have for aspiring songwriters, artists, and producers?

Try to find your own voice. Whether it’s writing a new song, or coming up with a new sound of a band, or a new technology, don’t try to do what’s around you. Try to do something different. There’s no textbook for how we came up with Zya. We had to figure it out ourselves…Transformative experiences take belief, dedication, and uniqueness, and I think you have to find those in yourself and believe in yourself. 

Lastly, if Neon Tommy were to go into your Top Ten Played list in iTunes, what would that consist of?

It’d be pretty eclectic. It’d be all over the map…some Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis…certainly “Symphony No. 3”. I get a heavy rotation of what’s going on now. I try to stay aware of the different trends emerging, certainly following the offshoots of electronic music and all of the directions it’s going to now. I just go exploring using Spotify and other services just to see what’s going on. 

Reach Contributor Alex Aftalion here. Follow her on Twitter.