Tinder fatigue meets festival culture
Why solo festival-goers are bouncing off generic dating apps and why music-taste matching beats swipe-by-looks for actually finding your people.
Press kit
Find your festival crew — matched by music taste.
Everything you need to write about FestivalMates — founder bio, key facts, story angles, and brand assets. Built by a Dutch raver, for European festival culture.
The one-liner
“FestivalMates is a free social app that matches EDM festival-goers by Spotify music taste — so you arrive at Tomorrowland, Defqon.1, or Awakenings with a squad instead of alone.”
Key facts
Snapshot as of April 2026.
170
Festivals tracked
1,130
Artists in the database
549
EDM artists
62
Genres covered
39
Countries
41
Dutch festivals
Founder bio
Jules Kozak — Founder, FestivalMates
Jules Kozak is a Dutch festival-goer with 50+ events across Europe — Tomorrowland, Defqon.1, Awakenings, ADE, Mysteryland, DGTL, Loveland — and the founder of FestivalMates. He started the project after years of running into the same problem: his friends weren't always into the same genres, and the existing apps (Radiate, Tinder Festival Mode) matched by looks or location instead of what actually matters at a festival — music taste.
FestivalMates is built solo, evenings and weekends, with Next.js, Supabase, and the Spotify Web API. Every Mate Score comes from real listening data (60% shared genres, 40% shared artists) — no self-reported interests, no guessing. The platform launched in private beta in early 2026 and opens publicly on Product Hunt in April 2026.
Jules is available for interviews about solo-founder workflows, the European EDM scene, music-taste matching, and building consumer social products without VC funding. Based in the Netherlands. Speaks English and Dutch.
Story angles
Pitches we think your readers will care about.
Solo founder, built in public
Dutch founder Jules Kozak built FestivalMates evenings and weekends with Next.js, Supabase, and the Spotify API. No funding, no team — just shipped.
Why music taste is the strongest compatibility signal
Self-reported interests are unreliable. Spotify listening data is honest. Mate Score weights 60% shared genres + 40% shared artists — no guessing.
Europe-first, EDM-native
Tomorrowland, Defqon.1, Awakenings, Mysteryland, Sonar — 41 Dutch festivals, 170 across 39 countries. Built by a Dutch raver for European festival culture.
What Radiate got wrong
Radiate hit $40K/month with 20K downloads but ships bugs, no music-taste matching, and a spam-filled feed. FestivalMates fixes all three.
Squads, not strangers
You don't meet someone 1-on-1 in a dark tent. Squads form weeks before the festival in groups of 3–8 — pre-vetted, music-matched, and ready to roll.
Brand assets
Logos, OG card, and app screenshots — direct download links.
Press contact
Interview requests, quotes, and press inquiries.
Email Jules directly. Replies within 24 hours on weekdays.
press@festivalmates.com →