Interview with Elias Roman, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Amie Street

BrownHEN interviewed Elias Roman, Brown '06, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Amie Street, Long Island City, New York.

1. Eliot, please explain the model used by Amie Street. Why is it different from other sites where one can download music?

Amie Street uses word of mouth as the dominant filter to provide users with music recommendations deemed relevant by their social network. We use dynamic pricing (with all songs starting at zero) to both allow price to serve a quality metric and to encourage people to experiment with music they may never have heard of. We also forbid DRM on our songs. Digital Rights Management in some ways causes consumers to only lease what they thought they had purchased.

2. Amie Street has had really remarkable growth, even before the recent investment by Amazon. Please analyze the reasons for the growth. Is it sustainable? (We know, of course, that one reason is that you and your co-founders, Josh Boltuch and Elliot Breece, are very smart.)

I certainly believe it is sustainable. We have been focused on building a product that markets itself. We continually upgrade the product to be a good and fun experience so people will share it their friends.

3. So what kind of music do you prefer?

Thanks to Amie Street, I'm loving a lot of music I didn't think I liked before: country, folk and indie rock in particular. I've always been a fan of blues, rock and hip-hop.

4. Does Eliot (and/or the rest of you) contribute songs to the Amie Street list?

I do  have music on the site for sale, but under a nickname, since I'm too embarrassed to have it under my name. (I don't think my singing is quite there, yet).

5. You must be using some sophisticated computer algorithms. How did you get these written?

We had months and months of free time during college to think them through.

6. Are the offices for Amie Street in one of your parents' home—the stereotype basement or garage?

Our offices started in Brown University housing. Next, we moved to two other houses in Providence, then to a house in Hicksville, New York, and finally to offices in Long Island City. At this point, the founders have been living together 24/7 for 16 months straight.

7. Would you speak about fear as a motivation or hindrance toward accomplishment? How has that played a factor in your path, if any?

It certainly has been a good motivating factor, in that I left an offer for what I thought was my dream job to stay with Amie Street. That being said, since I love getting up every morning and working on Amie Street, the only real fear is letting our supporters down.

8. What is the latest insight (about life, work, play) that you picked up and would like to share with BrownHEN?

I have found that taking the extra few seconds to make decisions, and then going with what seems to be the dominant move at the time, saves me a lot stress later on. I can look back and know I did my best. That's all you can really ask of someone.

9. The music business is rumored to be very competitive—cutthroat and lacking trust. How are three nice young Brown graduates doing so well?

We have received a lot of positive feedback for doing business so honestly. We have also dealt with some true sharks. In particular, saving the "I'm walking away if you can't agree to this" threat for only when you truly mean it, and only late in the negotiations, gets you a lot of mileage, too.

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