✍🏼 New content series
The Humans Behind the Music Algorithms:
Meet the people behind the AI tools changing music. This content series shares the stories of founders, thought leaders, and teams — how they’ve overcome struggles, built tools, and now help musicians find their voice and create with confidence.
Sometimes the most transformative career paths begin with the simplest of needs: paying the bills. For Einar Helde, co-founder of the AI-driven music search company AIMS, his journey from law student to music tech innovator started with an empty wallet and a job listing.
The Law Career That Wasn’t
Growing up in Kristiansund, Norway — a city uniquely built across four islands — Einar had set his sights on a sensible career path. At 21, he moved to Denmark to study business law, a field that seemed to offer stability and clear professional direction.
“I think in any case I would have realized that straight law was not for me. I kind of already knew, that’s why I went to business law school,” Einar explains, reflecting on his academic choices.
Even then, he sensed the traditional legal path wouldn’t satisfy him. While he appreciated the intellectual framework law provided, the day-to-day reality of legal work — repetitive nitpicking, the hours spent poring over contracts — didn’t align with his natural inclinations.
“It’s just too much reading, to be honest. It’s so much revision and you have to sit down for hours,” he admits. “Some people’s brains are geared to it and mine is geared to more… explosive things.“
A Side Job That Changed Everything
Then came the moment that would inadvertently set his life on a different course. Like many students, Einar found himself short on cash. When a music company advertised for a Norwegian salesperson, he applied with a simple philosophy: “I can sell something.”
“I got into the music business by chance, basically because I needed a job. I needed money like any student,” Einar recalls with refreshing candor.
What began as a financial necessity quickly revealed itself as something more. Einar discovered not only that he could sell music effectively, but that he genuinely enjoyed the industry’s creative energy and business challenges. The temporary solution to his money problems became the first step in an unexpected career.
“I tried it and it worked out, and I stayed in the music business,” he says, making a life-changing pivot sound deceptively simple.
Why He’s Glad He Left Law Behind
Today, Einar can clearly articulate the bullet he dodged by not pursuing traditional law. While he completed his master’s in commercial law — knowledge that would later prove valuable in navigating music copyright issues — he knows courtroom life would have been a poor fit.
“I probably would never be in a courtroom presiding and trying to win court cases. And I would definitely not be sitting head deep into contracts and details,” he says. “I like things to move fast.“
Instead of watching his professional satisfaction slowly erode through work that didn’t match his temperament, Einar found himself in an industry where his legal background became an asset rather than a constraint. His understanding of contracts and copyright gives him an edge in music licensing, while his business instincts can flourish in more dynamic ways.
When asked if he ever misses the courtroom drama, Einar laughs: “I can look at Lincoln Lawyer or Suits and be like, yeah, I find it interesting.“
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Finding Purpose in Music Tech
The real turning point in Einar’s career came in 2018 when he began working with Martin Nedved, who would later become his co-founder at AIMS. Together they started Neighbouring Rights Group, a company focused on collecting royalties for production music performers — money that was being collected but never claimed.
“That was when I went from selling music or doing smaller business to actual entrepreneurship, building something with a bigger purpose,” Einar explains.
This venture revealed something crucial about Einar’s values: he genuinely enjoys helping others and creating systems that bring value to artists. The satisfaction of telling musicians they had unclaimed money waiting for them — and then helping them collect it — tapped into something deeper than just business success.
“Bringing value to these artists actually gave me joy,” he says. “You’re not peddling something bad, you’re actually bringing value to them.“
This experience laid the groundwork for AIMS, where Einar and his team are revolutionizing how professionals discover and search for music. Their AI-powered music search tools help music supervisors and creators find the perfect tracks in a fraction of the time it would normally take.
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And it’s all done with ethical AI that empowers human creativity — something that teams at Universal Production Music, BMG Production Music, APM Music, Hipgnosis and many others now find irreplaceable in their day to day.
The Accidental Path to Purpose
Looking back, Einar’s journey illustrates how financial pressure — often viewed as a negative — can sometimes push us toward better outcomes than careful planning. Had he not needed that student job, he might have continued on a path that wasn’t right for him.
Instead, a simple need for rent money led him to discover his true calling: building innovative solutions in the music industry, where his unique combination of legal knowledge, business acumen, and genuine desire to help others creates real value. He understands the real-world impact of tools like natural language search or finding songs based on the meaning of lyrics, and he makes sure every feature is tailored to the people who use them every day.
Today, as co-founder of AIMS, Einar’s life revolves around his family and growing startup. When he does find free time, he enjoys golfing with friends — a far cry from the courtroom career he once envisioned, and all the better for it.
Sometimes the most meaningful careers aren’t planned — they’re discovered by accident when necessity forces us to try something new.
