Starchild Music's founder Bryan Fenchel's work recognized alongside Google DeepMind's SpaceDJ

It has been a privilege to work alongside the founder of Starchild Music, Bryan Fenchel, as he shapes an idea that has lived inside him for most of his life. What makes the post below remarkable isn't just the work itself, but the context for how that work is being recognized. When a respected analyst places a startup like Starchild Music alongside Google DeepMind’s newest experiment (SpaceDJ), it signals something important: the future of adaptive, generative music will not be driven solely by institutions with limitless resources. It will also be shaped by founders who carry a deep personal story, an original perspective, and a willingness to do the hard work of building from zero. What stands out in this comparison isn't parity of scale, but parity of 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. DeepMind’s SpaceDJ is an extraordinary technical demonstration. Starchild Music is something different: 𝙖 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙙𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙚𝙧𝙖 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨. As someone who works closely with early founders, I know how rare it is for emerging teams to have their work referenced in the same breath as global leaders. It doesn’t happen casually. It happens when the 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭, the 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭, and the 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 to pull the attention of people who study this space seriously. To see Bryan’s work mentioned in this context is meaningful — not because of the comparison itself, but because it validates the substance of his journey. Starchild Music is still early and building its path. But this kind of recognition tells me he’s working on the right frontier at the right moment. For those curious about what’s developing in adaptive, real-time music: the landscape is moving quickly, and these early signals matter. I look forward to seeing where both DeepMind and Starchild carry this next.

Google DeepMind just dropped SpaceDJ, a latent spaceship simulator where every star produces its own AI music. 🤯 The experience is up online for free, powered by Google Magenta’s Lyria RealTime music model. I’ll link to it in the comments below. Props to Adam Roberts and Jesse Engel for bringing this to life! 🛸 Flying between AI music prompts This isn’t a song generator. It’s an experiment in continuous, adaptive music. SpaceDJ assigns a unique genre to every star and places you within a cluster. Your proximity to each star determines how much influence it exerts. As you drift from one star cluster to the next, the music changes accordingly. It’s an ever-evolving stream of sound based on your position in latent space. 👩🚀 Nurturing the spirit of music exploration Today's standard "prompt-to-song" UX is linear by design. Users take the quickest and most direct path to their desired outputs. SpaceDJ offers a refreshing departure from that mindset. Players wander through virtual space without an agenda, exploring for the simple joy of it. 🎮 Generative-adaptive video game music Modern game developers already use audio middleware like WWISE, FMOD and Reactional Music to create adaptive soundtracks. As you approach a boss, the music dynamics gets more intense, the tempo speeds up, and so forth. Adaptive music of that kind is typically written in advance and blended together algorithmically. Google’s Lyria RealTime model might be used by indie game developers to create the first modern, fully AI-powered adaptive score. 🌺 🥽 🌲 Implications for augmented reality AR/XR developers could pick up where Google left off, combining Lyria's RealTime API with geolocation to create immersive physical experiences. Imagine a large outdoor park where each location is tethered to a genre that reflects the feeling of that place. As you stroll down the path with your headphones on, the flower garden offers a peaceful, ambient soundscape. You pass by some trash cans and the music shifts to a more percussive, metallic timbre. Finally, at the basketball court, the tempo picks up, mirroring the movement of athletes as they run back and forth. Art galleries, museums, warehouses, and amusement marks could also make for interesting venues. Music quality is the greatest barrier to adoption. If Google can improve on model outputs, I think we'll have a winner. 🚀 AI music startup Starchild Music launches soon On a related note, Bryan Fenchel announced last week that his company Starchild Music has entered public beta. It's an AI powered, adaptive music app with a similar galactic-travel theme, but an entirely different UX. I've hit my character count limit for this post, so you'll need to check out their website to learn more. Bryan let me know that users will soon be able to upload and remix their own music, so we'll stay tuned for that!

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Humbled and grateful for these words Tonya J. Long Building Starchild has been a journey — one that’s only possible because of the people who see the vision and believe in where music can go. Thank you for the recognition and for highlighting what truly matters here: imagination, humanity, and the future of music 😉. Excited for what’s ahead. 🚀

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