Most music apps are a matter of code, but every once in a while, someone tries to do something that only hardware can handle (see also: recording, DJing, and some instruments). Such is the case with Backbeater, an intriguing iOS app whose goal is to teach drummers to stay on time without resorting to a click…
Way back in August 2008, when apps were still in their infancy, Tapulous Tap Tap Revenge – a rhythm game that many likened to “Guitar Hero for the iPhone” – ruled the school. Over 1.2 million iPhone users installed it in the first month it was available, back when that was still a ridiculously big number. (Remember, the iOS…
Many successful apps tend to encourage little bursts of activity, for when you’re waiting for the bus, the doctor, the coffee, whatever. Maybe that’s why Apple chose Band of the Day, a free iOS app that brings you one undiscovered, up-and-coming band each day, as its iPhone App of the Year Runner-Up of 2011,behind Instagram. Even Robert Scoble…
We Are Hunted, the music discovery service, takes the iconic notion of the music chart and reinvents it for the digital generation. Rather than tracking music sales (a la the Billboard Hot 100), We Are Hunted combs through blogs, social media, message boards, and P2P networks to chart the top 99 tracks by emerging artists at…
Everybody’s wondering what Spotify pays artists, but we already know the figures, based in part on a leaked report: Spotify pays out somewhere between .6 and .9 of a cent every time a song is played. Whether that money actually makes it through middlemen to artists is as tricky a question as it has ever been,…
In Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2008, I spotted an interesting piece of hardware called Pacemaker, featuring two circular controls for remixing and DJing music, with the option to add all sorts of effects, and generally tweak the sound. In that video, which I posted on Wired.com back then (note: I only…
It’s an idea that’s been kicking around for years — that maybe people don’t want to subscribe to music in general. Maybe, in cases of extreme fandom, they want to subscribe directly to the artists they love, without all of the layers of record labels, distributors, online music stores, and so on. The fan pays,…
The ColorHits web app was designed to let you “discover new music with color,” quite literally, based on the color of its album cover. There are plenty of ways to find music that make musical sense. Why not try one that doesn’t? You might find something you never would have otherwise. Fire up ColorHits (after requesting…
Grooveshark is getting it from all angles. Not only did its only major label deal (with EMI) collapse, but the company is now being sued by all four major labels for large-scale copyright infringement due to its policy of letting users upload music into its system, where over 30 million people stream it for free…
We really enjoyed the music game app Techno Kitten Adventure and its dizzying psychedelic world. The same developer, 21stStreet Games, ups the ante with Nyan Cat Adventure, continuing the developers’ visual antics in the spirit of Nyan Cat, a meme that began as a viral video and now has over 70 million views. 21st Street Games is about to…
Spotify has received plenty of attention for its app platform, and rightfully so. Rdio also has an app platform, offering access to the same songs, more or less. Evolver.fm caught up with Rdio vice president of engineering Todd Berman to discuss the one-year anniversary of Rdio’s developer API; the service’s approach to third-party apps; and his belief…
This is the second part of an interview with the legendary Sean Adams, founder of the Drowned In Sound music reviews site. “I spend about 60 hours a week ploughing through music, to try to prevent those who don’t have as much time from wasting it listening it to things which aren’t as good as…
MP3 bloggers were the revolutionaries of music criticism, taking on established outlets like Rolling Stone and Spin by being faster, cooler, and more musical — in that they could embed what they were talking about. Readers could hear it for themselves as they read the blog, rather than looking for it on Napster or waiting…
AUSTIN, TEXAS — As the Music leg of SXSW approaches, we chatted with the nationally-syndicated American Public Media’s Marketplace about how artists are grappling with apps, and the revolutionary nature of music apps vs. previous forms of physical playback devices. You can tune in here: (photo courtesy of flickr/H. Michael Karshis)
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Evolver.fm caught up with Spotify’s chief content officer and managing director of North America Ken Parks at the Austin Convention Center during SXSW 2012 to hear his latest thoughts about the artists and labels who refuse to license their music to Spotify; the company’s burgeoning app ecosystem; and the possibility of an open…
