CHS entrepreneurs Austin Berke and Ali Hashemi create Songnova, a social media network for music sharing

Starting off as a small dream, juniors Austin Berke and Ali Hashemi’s idea finally became a reality. Berke and Hashemi created their own social network site called SongNova that allows users to discover and share music easily. On the website, users can post music from YouTube or any other music sharing website onto their own personal profile, which can be viewed and followed by other users at any given moment. Unlike Spotify, SongNova allows users to listen to unknown artists instantly.

“We want to make it easier for lesser-known artists to promote their music to the public,” said Berke. “We are currently working on several features [on SongNova] to help us reach that goal.”

SongNova is constantly being worked on and updated so that users can share their music in the easiest, quickest manner. In Feb. 2012, the website was created solely to promote artists. Several months later, Berke and Hashemi thought of creating a social network that would allow people to share their music with others. The boys raised money and hired a freelance developer to create the basic concept of their web design and to teach them about programming. Now that they have figured out the basics of how to design the website, they spend countless hours planning, brainstorming and communicating with various developers to perfectSongNova’s design.

Berke and Hashemi are also currently working on contacting small, unsigned artists that they find on other music sharing websites such as Reddit, an entertainment, social networking and news website or SoundCloud. With the help of SongNova, many of these artists will have a higher chance of gaining popularity within the music world. SongNova currently features two electronic artists Geobound and Ch3shire. The boys found both these bands on a Reddit community called /r/whitelabels, a hub for artists without a record label.

“When we come across music that we feel needs more attention, we offer the artist a featured position on our site,” said Hashemi.

Both Berke and Hashemi have learned numerous lessons throughout the process of creating SongNova. Not only are they helping out artists by making their names known but they are also designing a website that exposes people to new types of music.

“Creating SongNova is the most fulfilling thing I have ever done,”said Hashemi. “Seeing our idea transform into a reality is truly amazing.”

The boys hope to continue renovating the website and come up with new and exciting ideas. Make sure to check out SongNova at www.songnova.com and help share the music of unknown artists around the world!