Michael Michael Breidenbrücker (born 6 January 1972) is an Austrian entrepreneur, artist and engineer. He is best known as the co-founder of ''
Last.fm'', a founder of
RjDj
RjDj (Reality Jockey Ltd.) was a startup founded in late 2008 by last.fm co-founder Michael Breidenbruecker. The company was based in London and was run by a small team of four employees.
Its mission was to create sonic experiences specifically ...
and a partner at the venture firm
Speedinvest. He has worked with musical artists such as
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Oscars and four Grammys, and has been nominated for two Emmys and a Tony. Zimmer was also named on the list of Top 100 Living ...
,
Imogen Heap,
Air and
Booka Shade
Booka Shade is a German house duo. It is made up of Walter Merziger and Arno Kammermeier, described as veterans of the Frankfurt electronic music scene. They have released 7 studio albums including Memento (2004) Movements (2006), The Sun & The ...
. In 2011, he produced Inception The App with
Christopher Nolan
Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American filmmaker. Known for his lucrative Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling, Nolan is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. His films have grossed $5&n ...
and
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Oscars and four Grammys, and has been nominated for two Emmys and a Tony. Zimmer was also named on the list of Top 100 Living ...
, which reached number 5 in the US
App Store charts. Between 2000 and 2002, he headed the masters programme in interactive digital media at
Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication Ravensbourne may refer to:
* Ravensbourne, Queensland, in Australia
* Ravensbourne National Park, in Australia
* Ravensbourne, London, in the London Borough of Bromley
** Ravensbourne railway station, serving the above area
**Ravensbourne (UK Parl ...
in London. He studied digital art at the
University of Applied Arts Vienna
The University of Applied Arts Vienna (german: Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, or informally just ''Die Angewandte'') is an arts university and institution of higher education in Vienna, the capital of Austria. It has had university sta ...
with
Peter Weibel
Peter Weibel (; born 5 March 1944 in Odessa, USSR) is an internationally known Austrian post-conceptual artist, curator and new media theoretician. He started out in 1964 as a visual poet but soon jumped from the page to the screen within the se ...
.
Business ventures
Last.fm
In 2002, Breidenbrücker co-founded the Internet radio site for streaming music
Last.fm Ltd. and managed it as CEO from 2002 until 2005. Using a recommend system called Audioscrobbler, ''Last.fm'' records users' different musical tastes and makes recommendations. The site also offers different social networking features, allowing users to share their tastes. In May 2007, the company was acquired by
CBS Interactive
Paramount Streaming (formerly CBS Digital Media Group, CBS Interactive, ViacomCBS Streaming), a division of Paramount Global, oversees the company’s streaming technology and offers direct-to-consumer services, free, premium and pay. These inc ...
for US$280 million (UK£140 million). In 2003, ''Last.fm'' received an Honorary Mention in the
Prix Ars Electronica
The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the best known and longest running yearly prizes in the field of electronic and interactive art, computer animation, digital culture and music. It has been awarded since 1987 by Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria).
...
in the category Net vision.
RjDj
In 2008, he founded RjDj (Reality Jockey Ltd.), a London-based music technology startup. RjDj produced and distributed a network of mobile applications and sold additional musical content within this network.
Mobile applications created with RjDj:
* RjDj App
* Trippy Replay
* Rj Voyager
* Inception The App
* Dimensions The Game
* Situ
* The Dark Knight Rises Z+
Speedinvest
In 2011, Breidenbrücker joined the founding team of the Vienna-based venture firm Speedinvest. He was originally in the investment committee of Speedinvest. In the second Speedinvest Fund, he joined the partner team and headed the company builder Speedinvest Studio.
42matters
In 2012, he joined the team behind the Zurich-based app discover startup 42matters.
Life
Breidenbrücker was born in
Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label= Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the ...
, Austria, and lives there with his wife and children.
References
External links
Last.fm websiteRjDj company websiteVideo from talk at MLOVE conference 2012Lovely Books website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breidenbruecker, Michael
Living people
1972 births
Austrian businesspeople
Investors
Academics of Ravensbourne University London