Weejay.fm Puts You in Control of Your Favorite Bar’s Music

Ronald Barba

Ambience is everything – it truly is. When it comes down to visiting a venue (whether that be a retail shop, gym, restaurant, bar, whatever or whatever else), our experiences are ultimately affected by the kind of environment to which we're exposed. For instance, if the lighting is too dark at a clothing retailer, then you'll likely hate the experience and may never want to visit again. From the visual to the tactile, our real-world engagement with businesses are largely influenced by the overall feeling we get while visiting said businesses. Among all else, though, the music being played can make or break the customer experience.

Weejay.fm is a rewards-based application that gives users the capability to change the music at whichever venue they find themselves in. Targeted to help people control their experiences at bars, restaurants, and special events, Weejay.fm allows users to actively affect their audio experiences with taps of their fingers.

Prior to Weejay.fm, there really was no efficient way to control, change, or influence the music being played at your favorite restaurant or bar. Even if there were, the so-called methods of doing so are too expensive to really implement. With Weejay.fm, people simply get on the application, browse through a venue's pre-selected list of songs, and choose the song they want to hear.

For every song a user selects through the app, he or she will earn a preset number of rewards points; these accumulated points can then be redeemed for rewards through that restaurant or bar in the form of specials, such as 2-for-1 deals on drinks.

According to Blake Miller, one of the co-founders of Weejay.fm, the ultimate goal for the app was to provide a really unique experience for customers that encouraged them to engage with local businesses, hence, the rewards system. “There was a huge gap on how to close that loop of knowing who your customers are…[Weejay.fm] creates more engagement with customers while providing businesses with good customer data.”

Such engagement with the Weejay.fm app gives businesses insight on the kinds of music and offerings their patrons prefer, allowing them to really provide people with an optimum environment. While the company is currently aimed at bringing this social jukebox to bars and restaurants, I can potentially see them implementing it through general retailers – I mean, when you think about it, where isn't there music playing in the background? Over the course of three months, the company hopes to launch the Weejay.fm service in 25 restaurants across Kansas City.

Weejay.fm was most recently featured at Tech Cocktail's Kansas City Mixer & Startup Showcase.


