I took the photo above of a whiteboard outside the concert hall at the Hochstein music school in the United States during the summer vacation of 2019. I had brought my daughter there for a weeklong string music summer camp.
Music can change the world, Because it can change people.
I believe that music can change the world because it can change people.
That belief is why I want my child to learn more about music, and why I started this business.
The world is changing faster and faster, and technology is advancing every day. The gap between rich and poor is widening, and people are becoming more restless, busy, and lonely.
Humanity needs music: to soothe our wounds; to help us become quieter, more peaceful, and more composed; to help us see more beauty; and to move the world in a better direction.
If I were to sum up Violy’s 2019, I would call it a year of steady growth.
What moved us most was the support so many users showed through their actions when we announced a VIP membership price increase. More than 100 users purchased three-year memberships, even though they knew we were still a relatively small team and our revenue was far below what we were investing. We are determined to live up to that trust.
What makes us proud is the team we have built. We have brought together many talented young people who are passionate about and interested in our work, laying a solid foundation for our next stage of development.
What we found especially rewarding was organizing four free public classes and one private course for parents of young music students in China, helping more parents find a clearer direction and the confidence to keep going.
Product
In May, Simply Tuner took the lead in adding support for viola and cello.
In July, Violy added support for multiple parts.
In August, Violy received a major update, with a new logo and added support for cello and viola.
In October, Violy launched its accompaniment feature. We also increased VIP membership prices that month.
The complete redesign of our brand logo was a major milestone.
Support for multiple parts and accompaniment also made the app more enjoyable to use.
We added cello and viola to the instruments we support. We had originally planned to support wind instruments in 2019, but postponed that work until 2020.
One point deserves special mention: each time Violy adds an instrument, we have to adapt its core Audition feature, which follows the score and assesses the performance. Instruments have different characteristics, so the core algorithms differ too. Adding support for another instrument is no easy task for us, because each has its own distinctive qualities.
Users
Our biggest achievement on the user side in 2019 was Violy’s popularity overseas. Recently, the number of registered users outside China surpassed the number in China. Our users span five continents and four oceans. Beyond developed countries in Europe and North America, users in South America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East are particularly enthusiastic about Violy. Countries where users enjoy the app include Mexico, Brazil, South Korea, and Iraq.
Violy’s overseas operations team has been making a lively impression on Instagram. The man starring in our homemade videos has even become something of a minor internet celebrity in violin circles abroad.
In China, we are particularly grateful to teachers for their recognition of and trust in Violy. The number of Violy-verified teachers has reached several thousand, and teachers have created several hundred student practice groups.
We are also working with a number of music education institutions, helping them improve practice across their student groups. We all understand that meaningful progress in learning an instrument depends on students actually practicing at home.
We also provided many additional services for parents in China in 2019, which were widely praised:
- Four public classes, with total attendance exceeding 10,000 across the sessions.
- One private course livestreaming basic music theory for parents: 25 parents enrolled, and 24 completed the course.
Team
Our team family grew substantially in 2019, from six full-time members at the beginning of the year to 33 now.
Most of our team members have experience learning an instrument or studying music. Even the few who do not are drawn to music and take a keen interest in it.
However busy work gets, we still make time to play music, learn from one another, and improve together. Every day brings something to enjoy.
Thank you to every team member for your trust. I believe that, with our shared aspirations, we can keep making Violy better.
Looking Ahead to 2020
Looking ahead to 2020 is exciting.
We expect 2020 to be a year of rapid progress for Violy. Our plans at the end of 2019 include:
- Expanding support to more instruments. Digital piano support is planned to launch soon, with wind instruments and traditional Chinese instruments also on the roadmap.
- Launching Creator Studio so users can upload their own sheet music. Later, we plan to gradually allow uploads of accompaniment tracks and demonstration performances too.
- Adding automatic accompaniment, bringing this advanced technology to more young music students.
- Adding the ability to attach demonstrations by human performers to sheet music, in both audio and video formats.
- Making it easier for teachers and music education institutions to track students’ practice and interact with parents.
We also have two big surprises in the works, but we are keeping them secret for now!
Violy has always focused on making instrument practice more efficient. On one hand, we will keep improving our tools so students and parents have useful, easy-to-use support for practice at home. On the other, we will keep strengthening the connection between students and teachers, helping teachers track and guide practice more effectively.
We firmly believe that increasingly intelligent tools can help more people practice with greater ease and learn to play instruments and understand music well.
As we close 2019, we are eager to get started and look forward to the new year of 2020.
By Violy CEO Javen Fang