First-ever Music Streaming Service for Fitness Hits Market

October 12, 2022

Free mobile app creates personalized workout playlists that adapt in real time to the user's heart rate or running cadence–proven to improve performance by 20%

Seattle, Washington. /OUTDOOR SPORTSWIRE/ – Muze was launched today as the first music streaming service built specifically to enhance workouts. The free mobile app’s hyper-personalized music stations evolve in real time to match the user’s running pace or heart rate, adding a dynamic soundtrack to any exercise.

Personalization is critical to effective workout music. “The lyrics that motivate one person do nothing for another, the melody that’s right for weight lifting is wrong for running, and the beat that matches a jog will slow down a run,” says Durin Gleaves, who left 18 years as Adobe’s head of audio product to co-found Muze. “To solve this problem, we built our own recommendation engine and trained it on tens of thousands of workout playlists and countless hours of live user data. No matter your tastes, it feels like you have your own private DJ.”

Enjoying your first playlist takes less than 5 minutes. Once downloaded, the iPhone app connects to the user’s Premium Spotify account to quickly teach it on what kinds of songs and artists they like. As the user works out, the app determines which songs deliver results–all hands free. If “BodySync” is turned on, the playlists change to match the user’s steps per minute or heart rate. “Spotify had a popular SPM matching feature however it offered a limited selection of songs and didn’t adjust in real time, leaving users with one tempo for the whole run” notes Gleaves.

The app delivers more than entertainment. “Multiple studies have shown that listening to your preferred music and running to the beat can improve performance by 20%,” notes Dr. Leighton Jones, a senior lecturer in sports and exercise psychology (Sheffield Hallam University, UK) who has published extensively on music and exercise, and who is an advisor to the Muze team. “Muze helps unlock these performance-enhancing benefits of music.”

The market is significant. “We estimate that 30 million Americans listen to Spotify or Apple Music to power their workouts every week,” said cofounder Ryan Wenger. “Unfortunately, these streaming services offer only generic workout playlists or discovery features not meant for workouts. Fitness is too important for these compromises.”

The company was founded by three tech veterans with deep audio and AI expertise. CTO Michael Wei was formerly Head of AI at Aaptiv, another audio based running app. CEO Ryan Wenger built and sold an AI-based travel platform to a large public company. Advisors include Amby Burfoot, a Boston Marathon winner and former executive editor of Runner’s World.

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Durin Gleaves

durin@muze.fit

206-331-7898

Muze.fit