Encinitas native mastermind of new online music service

Sajan Sanghvi was merely in his freshman year at UCLA when he had an idea.

“I was always thinking about creating an application that sources music from every major music platform,” he explained from his home in Encinitas. “I was still an amateur since I had only taken two quarters of computer science classes at UCLA, but I wanted to figure out a way to program something like that.”

Sanghvi then recruited his friend, Ryan McCurdy (who both graduated from Canyon Crest Academy in 2013), and the two budding application developers masterminded SoundWave, a service that aggregates a variety of online music services into one slick platform.

“What originally inspired me was the fact that music services right now don’t cater to lesser- known artists,” said Sanghvi, who is a musician himself. “There are so many talented artists out there that deserve more spotlight, and SoundWave is something that could be that very spotlight.”

SoundWave, which will be available on the Mac ap store on Oct. 30, compiles music from places such as YouTube, SoundCloud and Spotify regardless of popularity. Songs chosen for a playlist could have thousands of previous views, or just five or six.

“You can search by song, artist or genre, and SoundWave spits out a variety of different results,” Sanghvi said. “You can find anyone, like if they’re just a DJ at home with only a few fans.”

Once SoundWave is released, it will be completely free to download and use. There is also no need for accounts, subscription fees, or even ads, so a Kickstarter was recently launched with the goal of raising $35,000 by Sunday, Sept. 25, to support the service.

“Music and engineering is my passion, and I won’t really be able to work on this application if I continue with UCLA,” explained Sanghvi, who could start his sophomore year at the university in October. “I want credibility, and show that I’m dedicated to this. The money raised from Kickstarter would pay for staff, continue development, and for coding the application for Windows, Andriod and iPhone.”

Until the application’s late October launch for Mac’s OS X ap store, Sanghvi and his team will continue to be hard at work perfecting the service.

“We’re trying to target the smaller 10 percent of artists who are trying to get their music out there,” said Sanghvi, who envisions a SoundWave future promoting official shows and having artists and musicians pay for the promotion of their songs.

Sanghvi, summed up his plea in a recent press release. “We know music,” he pledged. “We believe we can make the music experience better for everyone.”

For more on SoundWave, or to donate to Kickstarter, check out https://soundwavesd.com.