There are cose to 3 milllion apps available today – nearly 3 times as many as there were a decade ago – and they are designed to do everything imaginable, whether it’s helping us buy a house, track a hurricane, rent a car or remember to breathe. In other words, there is nothing that cannot be digitized and commodified with the right software and a creative entrepreneur.

One of the popular fields of app by numbers downloaded are apps that marry the worlds of music and tech. You’ve no doubt heard of Spotify and Pandora, but you are less likely to have heard of music industry apps Tipzy and Bloom.

Brandon Harris, his app Bloom Booking allows musicians and live music venues to meet virtually and seamlessly arrange everything from booking to contracts to payment

Brandon Harris is founder and CEO of Bloom, a booking app that bills itself as an Airbnb for the music industry by centralizing the live event booking process.

Users – principally performers and venues – communicate, schedule and organize upcoming events, negotiate payment terms, and execute transactions through the app. And they can use app to discover each other.

Brandon also has another tech company,  Hareseca, that is focused on serving the space industry, specifically NASA, with software and AI products.

Brandon is a native of Baton Rouge with a passion for space exploration and music; seemingly diverse interests that inspire his tech driven initiatives.

Tenley Gorman, her app, Tipzy, is a kind of AI jukebox that keeps the party going by deciding on the fly what song to play next to enhance the vibe of a bar

Tenley Gorman is cofounder and Chief Operating Officer of Tipzy, a Baton Rouge startup that also operates at the intersection of music and tech.

Tipzy uses AI to curate the perfect playlist of background music to set the desired vibe for bars and nightclubs. It’s a niche service but an important one: music plays a key role in shaping a bar’s bottom line and patrons’ overall satisfaction and Tipzy makes it easier for establishments to excel at both.

Tenley has firsthand experience in this area: she worked as a bartender and also has a background in mathematics and data science.

Tenley Gorman, Stephanie Riegel, Brandon Harris, Out to Lunch at Mansurs On The Boulevard in Baton Rouge

Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at Mansurs On the Boulevard. Photos by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez.