“Cloud heaven for your CDs”

One of the beauties of music technology is its constant progression forward. But like most other technological evolutions, certain mediums suffer from the success of its newer counterparts. The audible example of a medium in slow decline is the Compact Disc album, as MP3 sales surpassed the CD in 2008. As the pre-21st Century medium continues to fade, many are left wondering what to do with their collections of optical storage discs for which they have no use or space.

Matt Younkle, founder of Murfie.com, faced this problem head on.

“I was looking at all the CD’s I had thinking that it was kind of interesting because I didn’t have a CD player anymore,” he said. “I listened to all my music digitally, and so there was this moment of recognizing…what does it mean, not having a CD player but having all these CDs?”

Younkle’s answer to this problem was Murfie.com, a new company headquartered in Madison that markets itself as a throwback to your neighborhood record store — with a digital update.

How it Works

Users interested in sending their physical CD collections to Murfie’s Madison warehouse simply have to request a kit via the website and the company will ship you a box, return postage and packing materials.

“One way to think of Murfie is a cloud heaven for your CDs,” said Younkle. After your CDs are sent and placed in the inventory, the customer is empowered to make the right choice for them, whether it’s listening to these CDs that Murfie converts to MP3s, or selling them on the website marketplace. There, you can make profit from your CD collection by selling them to other listeners, or use the profit you make to buy different music from other sellers in the company.

“You turn your collection into an online account. It’s up to you to determine what you do with your music once it’s there,” Younkle explains.

Company Growth

As one of the first start-ups in the nation to answer the “what to do with old CDs” question, Murfie.com is a significant standout. Founded just last year, the company already has 5,000 active customers storing their CD collections and trading online. For Younkle, the business growth is welcomed and yet poses a challenge when organizing the CDs.

“We’re finally getting caught up, but we’re dealing with a lot of physical inventory.”

Younkle also notes that the dominant demographic for his company are people between the ages of 35-50, but anyone who has CDs lying around can benefit from Murfie’s services.

Younkle found prior success with the invention of the TurboTap, the world’s fastest retrofitting beer tap. He finds joy in the practical services his creations provide for people, whether it’s serving beer efficiently or providing a CD alternative service.

“The most rewarding thing for me is seeing my product in use,” says Younkle.

Murfie prides itself under three concepts: community, discovery, and ownership. It fosters a community of music lovers to share the music they want to sell, allows discovery of new music between customers, and instills ownership of users who want a place to store their old CD collections. All this allows customers to choose what the next logical step is for their music, which is a refreshing business model for the modern music industry.