Open Younk’s website and see a bright homepage directing users if they are artists or “HitHunters.” Younk, a startup, is a blockchain platform that enables anyone to upload music as an artist, and the public can become “producers” by choosing what music they deem worthy of funds.
Behind the website’s facade, BU alum Mariia Yelizarova works as the head and vice president of strategic communications. She said she used experience she gained while at BU to help launch this company.
“People are uploading every five minutes,” Yelizarova said.
People are free to upload their own music or support the ones they like. Currently, Yelizarova said the platform has gathered 150 independent artists to share their original demo piece, and if the community likes their music, they have the chance to receive funds to produce it.
Yelizarova, who graduated in 2015 from BU, said Younk is the first international music blockchain startup based both in the United States and Ukraine and the third startup she has worked for.
“The reason I like to work for startups is that you get to wear a lot of different hats, a lot of different positions,” Yelizarova said. “I love my current job. It’s exciting.”
Within the month of October, Yelizarova said she has been balancing travel and meetings with people interested in Younk with time spent “heads down working.” In the last week, Yelizarova said she went to a fair in Cambridge to look for new fresh talents, and while there, she met with artists and initiated the negotiation process.
Yelizarova said she first began looking into the startup experience in one of the communication courses she took at BU that involved brainstorming communication plans for startups.
Instead of creating an imaginary one like her classmates did, Yelizarova said she helped Worthy Jerky, a food company that was founded by her high school classmate, during her class.
Yelizarova later applied to a medicine startup because she read an article about the mission of the company. Having worked for three different startups, Yelizarova said it was important she resonated with the company’s goal.
When her friend asked her to join Younk, she said she was intrigued by Younk’s idea of giving the community of users the choice of producing music.
“It’s really powerful,” she said.
Yelizarova explained she felt the need to change the way artists are discovered by labels in the music industry, which has been commonplace “for many, many years.”
“It’s very outdated,” Yelizarova said. “It’s a really subjective way. We are trying to take the subjectivity out of it. You have a say in what you listen to and on your radio.”
Boston has a lot of young professionals and students who are “open to new changes,” making an ideal location to work out of, Yelizarova said. LIYA, an artist from Younk, uploaded an original song and, within one day, it climbed from 143rd place to fifth, according to Yelizarova.
Yelizarova said she enjoys moments where she feels she made a special connection with the artists. She specifically mentioned a time the Younk team went to Berklee College of Music to promote their platform, and when they played the first music video the platform ever made, some students cried.
“It was so meaningful to them that we are providing this kind of alternative to artists,” Yelizarova said.
She said that experience was also meaningful because “you see the product of your work impacts people every day.”
Younk stepped into the Boston scene when it sponsored the annual Boston CollegeFest this year. Yelizarova met Jack Beck, a sophomore in School of Hospitality Administration and College of Arts and Sciences, at the fest, where she said she discovered he worked at BU’s radio station WTBU.
After hearing the company’s mission, Beck was intrigued by the idea and volunteered to help as an intern to the program, Yelizarova said. He became a link for Younk and WTBU.
On his WTBU show “Danny Devishow” that centers around actor and filmmaker Danny Devito, Beck and the other hosts would play some music from Younk, according to Alex Lynch, a sophomore in CAS and intern on “Danny Devishow.”
Lynch said the hosts used Younk’s website for the show, often going on several times during a show to see if there was anything new.
“It’s a pretty practical website,” he said.
Beck said he believes Younk can be a great resource for students, especially those in smaller bands who may be overlooked by labels.
“It’s something you really need right now because how hard it is for a lot of smaller bands to make it successfully,” Beck said.
Yelizarova said she frequently listens to Younk’s website for the wide range of genres, and knowing the artists’ stories makes the music special for her. For the time being, Yelizarova said she is content working as head of Younk.
“I might slow down some time later in my life, but right now I love it,” Yelizarova said.
