Remembering EMBA alumnus Alan Juristovski

Alan Juristovski, Beedie School of Business Executive MBA alumnus and co-founder of MetroLyrics, the most comprehensive database of music lyrics in the world, passed away on Friday November 22.

Under Alan’s leadership, MetroLyrics became the world’s first fully licensed lyrics site, paying artists and rights-holders to display their work. The site now has words to more than 1,000,000 songs, and generates over 25 million unique users a month across the globe, with nearly 12 million of those in the United States alone.

Alan graduated from the Executive MBA program at SFU in 2001, co-founding MetroLyrics with Beedie undergraduate student Milun Tesovic in 2004.

In 2008, MetroLyrics became the inaugural client of SFU’s startup incubator Venture Connection, using its mentor services to provide outside-expert review, exit strategy and other business advice.

In 2011, with Alan as CEO, MetroLyrics was acquired by CBS Interactive Music, in a deal that allowed it to greatly expand its audience and create additional revenue sources.

A passionate supporter of SFU and the Beedie School of Business, Alan encouraged his wife Radmila to enroll in the Beedie Management of Technology MBA, based on his positive experience in the Executive MBA program.

Alan is survived by his wife Radmila, daughter Ada, and son Filip. A memorial service will be held for on Sunday, December 1 at 10.30 am at Forest Lawn Memorial, 3789 Royal Oak Avenue in Burnaby.

Live tweeting will be encouraged at the funeral to honour Alan’s passion for technology and digital communications. The official hashtag will be #CelebratingAlan due to his wish for the service to be a celebration rather than a mourning.

For those unable to attend the memorial service, the Juristovski family encourages messages to be sent via Twitter for all to see and celebrate our friend, and brilliant innovator.