When Dora Jean Gillespie talks about disruption, she doesn’t mean it in the buzzword way that many entrepreneurs use to try to sell their startup. For the CEO and founder of AI-driven platform Starilum, you quickly realise that she’s merely talking about breaking into the music industry that, in her own words, “hasn’t changed an awful lot in many years”.  

“What we’re doing is challenging an industry that's well-defined. Our clients are small- and medium-sized legacy music labels, so any music that's 18 months and older. The biggest risk early on was actually verbalising what we were thinking of doing,” says Dora.  

For one, Starilum works with the original artwork associated with the legacy music and brings it to life visually. “Our business is about complementing that original artwork. So a big risk was explaining to people in the industry with something that can be so disruptive to the medium that we are here to help, that we are here for good, and that we're here to support you and make your artwork and video shine,” she adds.  

The other obstacle was verbalising again not just for those who had original artwork but for those that don’t, how Starilum uses clients’ collection of music to create interactive visuals that they can enjoy, experience and share. “We are a visual creation tech tool. So we get the data that informs our research, which we then use to create templates. The visuals themselves are created by the lyrics within those templates based on what’s happening in the world out there, what’s cool, what works and so on,” says Dora.  

An avowed futurist, another stumbling block initially for Dora and Starilum, was how they could see people experiencing either music or visuals in the future. “So the minute you start to talk about the future or what could or will happen in the music industry, especially in terms of immersive experiences and visuals, then people start to go ‘you're a little bit too futuristic, this is not the kind of thing that we're doing now’. We respect that, but it was important for us to have those conversations so we can help open their eyes to what may be needed or what may benefit them in the future,” says Dora.  

With Starilum, the key was to envision that progression and activate it. Based on the company’s description, the platform goes beyond traditional design, generating immersive visuals, gamified artwork and augmented reality experiences. It aims to help catalogue music and re-engage fans through emotionally resonant and visually impactful storytelling. “Ultimately, it got our clients better numbers and it meant I was able to pay my bills,” says Dora.  

Beyond the numbers, however, starting Starilum struck right at the heart of Dora’s core value: connections and bringing people together. “We're connecting both the user and the client. So it's not just the client that gets results, but the user too. The whole reason for starting the company is that we are bringing people together,” she adds, “We're building memories, or at least trying to. A legacy for people experiencing it, about making those connections, making memories and making music matter.”

Starilum is CBC 2025 runner-up. This article was originally published on My Creative Networks.

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