The music education program in this country is in dire straits, and no person knows that more than Alexa Parker. Parker, a recent graduate from the close School of Entrepreneurship at Drexel University and recent award winner from a pitch competition last November, is combining her love of teaching and artificial intelligence to bring us Tech Tunes, a Duolingo inspired app currently in beta.

Access to music is the heart of tech tunes since the music programs are the first to get cut across public schools, hitting a sour note. Parker found herself paying for three different apps to play the guitar and she noticed a rise in AI and thought to herself why is this happening? She noticed traditional apps were all for profit and weren’t giving back to the community. While enrolled in her undergrad, Parker took a low code class called Build Measure and Learn and thus created her first MVP of tech tunes alongside mentor and professor John Wilson. While here she received much encouragement to keep working and won $19,000 as a grant to start her company as a single member LLC. She has even brought on her classmates which were all Drexel students as contractors and employees of her business project.

A self-proclaimed Jill of all trades, Parker has become a well rounded individual, citing she feels like a project manager and draws inspiration from being a waitress. She sees people as a “table”, adhering to their needs and customizing what they would like on their entrée. The 26 year old Delco native says her app is freemium business model with a portion of her proceeds going to local non profits that specialize in music education to help “shine a light”.

At the current moment, Parker is dealing with licensing agreements on songs and having to pay royalties to artists. This has held her back from growing her startup for a couple months. Being open minded and flexible has helped grow the company.

There’s plenty more to see in the near future. Stay tuned.

www.TechTunes.ai