What is your product, service or experience?
WeJam is the world’s first and only immersive rock star experience - a tech-enabled group activity letting you start your own band even if you have no musical knowledge. Often described as a cross between Guitar Hero and Karaoke, each session is led by a professional musician and by the end of it, players will have learned to perform one of their favourite songs. We started by opening our own studio open to the paying public, and have sinced branched out by taking our experience on the road into schools and corporate events.
How does it deliver on the outlined criteria?
WeJam uses proprietary patent pending technology. Colour-coded musical instruments are plugged into our computer system, and players are shown which notes to play on their personal tablet device via our custom app. Unlike other systems that attempt to teach people how to play a piece of music in full, our customers only have to play one single note at a time, and this in turn generates a more complex audio output from the original song. We believe this is both creative and original, and it certainly hasn’t been done before!
The traditional method of learning an instrument takes many years, and young people especially are put off by the length of time it takes to learn the songs they love. WeJam solves this problem by enabling complete beginners to experience playing their favourite songs in as little as 15 minutes.
Our product is geared towards both the educational and entertainment industries, and in the words of Richard Parry (Head, Experience Economy. Creative, Lifestyle and Learning, Department for International Trade) has “significant international potential”.
We have already proven the commercial viability, with sales under our belt to schools and the education sector, as well as bookings from the corporate team-building market.
How and when did it start, and where has it got to now?
The business began whilst the founder was still studying for his MBA at London Business School in 2019. After a three-month research trip to Tokyo, and much experimenting, the concept of WeJam was born! Since then we have grown to a team of 11, secured funding from the Mayor of London, and have turned a prototype into a system that is now ready to be exported all over the world.
What is its future potential?
Right now, we are focusing on three main areas of growth. Firstly, we are rolling out the original concept both nationally and internationally. Our aim is to be in 100 locations worldwide by 2025. Secondly, we are launching a B2B arm – partnering with major companies across the leisure, cultural, and entertainment industries to co-create permanent installations, pop-ups, brand activations and much more.
Thirdly, we are rapidly expanding the educational version of our product that can be used in schools. Based on feedback from teachers and pupils we are excited by the huge potential to disrupt classroom music learning.
How do you think being a CIC CreaTech One to Watch 2021 can benefit your business?
Whilst we have made modest inroads on the local and national front, the Ones to Watch scheme will give us the opportunity to showcase our product internationally. Domestically too it will also help boost our credibility, especially in the B2B space when we are pitching to big organisations. The additional publicity in the UK via the CIC website and social media channels will also be invaluable.
