Ever been sitting in a club and thought, “wow, I really wish I could change this music and put on my own playlist?”  Robert Pigue has, and he’s found a way to solve the problem. Pigue is a graduating fifth year CS and ALIS (Spanish) double major from Alabama who got involved in a music-themed startup in May 2023.  Tipzy is an AI-powered music platform for nightlife venues that allows for paid song requests without the need for a physical jukebox. Through Tipzy’s AI DJ, bars and clubs can create a tailored music experience for their particular venue. Tipzy was founded by a Tulane alum named Josh McCoy who brought Pigue on as the first developer in 2023.  Since then, four others have been added to the Tipzy team.  All of them have stories about how bad music turned them off from a particular venue, and one team member saw things from the other side as a bartender who was routinely hounded to “please change the music!”  Pigue said that Tipzy is a “win-win-win” that lets patrons hear the songs they want, spares bartenders the annoyance of personally handling requests, and makes the venue owner some money. 

Competitors for Tipzy (such as Touchtunes) do exist, but they have a potential flaw: venue owners can lose control of the music that is being played.  Pigue said that:

There are viral Tik Toks of people playing “Monster Mash” eight times over at crowded sports bars. We separate ourselves from these services through our ability to maintain the “vibe” at each bar. Employees can configure their “preferred vibe,” set through genre configurations, and we use this vibe, alongside the current playlist, to algorithmically decide if a song request should go through or not. That way the bar can still take requests while sticking true to the style of their venue. 

The team now is programming, networking, marketing, and designing to get Tipzy into more venues.  So far, their website and app have accepted over 2,000 song requests at four venues in New Orleans, with plans to expand to other cities.

Pigue graduates from Georgia Tech this week and will be starting to work full time for Tipzy.  While he’s ready to leave, he acknowledges that it will be hard to leave Georgia Tech and his friends behind.   He did a co-op while at Tech in addition to working at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI).  He was active in a variety of intramural sports, as well as with the Juggling Club and the Seek Discomfort Club, where he experienced skydiving and getting painted up with GT’s “Gold Fellas” for a freezing cold football game.  He took a variety of Honors Program classes and fondly remembers events like Whirlyball, visits to the Atlanta Zoo, and boba tea nights.  But what matters most to him are the friends that he made.

The most important aspect of HP to me was the people I met in the Honors Program dorms my freshman year. My freshman year started in 2020 and all my classes were online. Despite that, I made many friends who stuck with me for all five years at Tech and even as many of them have moved on from GT, have stayed close. 

We wish Robert the best as he embarks on his next adventure! You can learn more about Tipzy on their website and use its services on the web app.