virtualmusic.TV » Apps

2011 Mobile Internet Usage

Ryan Van Etten — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:36:59 +0000

Over the past year (and longer) Luke Wroblewski (@lukew) has been tracking mobile usage and posting lots and lots of statistics. The overall trend is undeniable: mobile is exploding. If you need convincing, scroll on down. Luke is a leading thinker in the mobile space, well known for popularizing the concept of mobile-first design, and he is great at helping people understand just why mobile matters. (The headers below link to his original posts.)

NOV

55% of Twitter’s traffic comes from mobile devices. (source)
60% of Pandora’s traffic comes from mobile devices. (source)
54% of The Weather Channel’s October page views came from mobile devices. (source)
Movie ticketing service Fandango is getting close with 40% of their traffic on mobile. (source)
Facebook is also on it’s way with 33% of total traffic on mobile. (source)

NOV

Adult mobile users who have downloaded an app to their phone nearly doubled in the past two years – rising from 22% in September 2009 to 38% in August 2011. (source)
The average iOS device owner will download 83 apps in 2011 vs. 51 in 2010, a 61% increase year over year. (source)
A US/UK study found that the average smartphone user adds just 2.5 new apps per month. (source)
In March 2011, 26% of all apps downloaded were opened only once and then never used again. 26% were used 11 times or more. Of the remaining 48% of apps: 13% are opened only twice, 9% are opened only three times, all the way to 2% that are opened 10 times and never again. (source)
38%  iOS & Android users stick with an app after one month. 14%  iOS & Android users stick with an app after six months. After 12 months, only 4% are left. (source)
Roughly half (51%) of mobile owners use a handful of apps at least once a week, while 17% report using no apps on a regular basis. Almost a third (31%) could be called app “power users” in that they use 6 or more. (source)
The top 10 Android apps account for 43% of all the time spent by Android consumers on mobile apps. The top 50 apps account for 61% of all time spent. (source)

OCT

From the second quarter of 2010 to the second quarter of 2011, mobile data traffic more than doubled. (source)
Research suggests that the industry will go from six billion connections today to more than 12 billion by 2020. (source)
In North America, high-end smartphones generate twice the traffic of comparable smartphones in Asia and Europe. (source)
Almost half of UK internet users are going online via mobile phone data connections in UK. (source)
While 71% of 16 to 24-year-old who went online in the UK said they used mobile broadband, just 8% of UK internet users aged over 65 made use of mobile broadband. (source)
The mobile media user population in the US (those who browse the mobile web, access applications, or download content) grew 19 percent in the past year to more than 116 million people at the end of August 2011. (source)
72.2 million Americans accessed social networking sites or blogs on their mobile device in August 2011, an increase of 37 percent in the past year. (source)
Nearly 40 million US mobile users, more than half of the mobile social media audience, accesssocial networking sites or blogs almost every day. (source)

OCT

In 2009, 1% of Dungarees’ (an apparel retailer) web traffic was from smartphones. In 2010 it grew to 4% and this year it’s at 8%. (source)
JetBlue Airways’ smartphone Web traffic is at 10%. Crutchfield’s is at 12%. And Fandango’s is at a hefty 40%. (source)
The increase in shopping on Gap’s mobile site is one of the major reasons why the site tripled its online conversions in the last year. (source)
Blue Nile sold a diamond ring that cost more than $300,000 via mobile and sees large jewelry purchases, running from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars, via smartphones happen quite frequently. (source)
eBay is on its way to process around $4 billion in mobile sales in 2011, double the number it logged last year. Three purchases are made through eBay’s mobile applications every second. 2,600 vehicles are purchased through eBay’s core iPhone apps every week. 13 pieces of clothing, shoes or accessories are sold every minute through eBay’s mobile apps. (source)
It’s not just buyers using eBay’s apps. As of September 2011, eBay sellers are listing over 700,000 new items through their mobile applications on a weekly basis. (source)

SEP

Slightly more Americans (36.4%) use their mobile browser than access applications (34.4%). (source)
More than 700,000 people use the Financial Times’ Web-based mobile application to access news and other content, making it more popular than the version sold in Apple’s App Store. (source)
Facebook’s top mobile client is m.facebook.com (Facebook’s mobile Web site) with 18% of total new Facebook posts. Android, iPhone, and Blackberry are next each with about 4% of total new Facebook posts. (source)
Twitter’s top mobile client is m.twitter.com (Twitter’s mobile Web site) with 14% of total unique users. SMS is next with 8% of total unique users. Then Twitter for iPhone (8%) followed by Twitter for Blackberry (7%). (source)

SEP

Worldwide mobile data traffic is due to increase 26-fold to 75 exabytes annually. That’s the equivalent of 75 times the amount of global Internet IP data in the year 2000. (source)
Mobile data traffic is now outpacing fixed broadband traffic. Last year, it grew 4.2 times as fast. (source)
By 2015 more U.S. Internet users will access the Internet through mobile devices than through PCs or other wireline devices. (source)
25% of U.S. smartphone owners, about 22 million Americans, say that they mostly go online using their phone, rather than with a computer. (source)
The average U.S. mobile data user will be consuming 675MB of data per month by the end of this year. (source)
Almost half of UK internet users are going online via mobile phone data connections. (source)
22-25% of US and UK mobile Internet browsers never or infrequently use the desktop Internet. (source)
More than 50% of Asian and African mobile internet users as well as more than 20% of users in developed markets, such as the UK and US do not use the internet on a PC. (source)
In India 49% of people who are using the mobile Internet either never, or infrequently, access the Internet from a computer. (source)

JUL

Games continue to be the most popular smartphone app category. (source)
93% of app downloaders are willing to pay for the games they play. In contrast, 76% of downloaders are willing to pay for news apps. (source)
The average mobile gamer plays an average of 7.8 hours a month. (source)
Those with iPhones tend to play around 14.7 hours each month while those with Android smartphones play around 9.3 hours per month. (source)
Apple’s iOS is the most popular gaming platform on the planet. There are more than 100,000 game and entertainment titles in the App Store. (source)
In just 9 months Apple has over 50 million Game Center users. To put that into perspective Xbox Live has been around for about eight years and they have around 30 million users. (source)

JUN

After the Verizon iPhone launched in the U.S., Android suffered its first quarterly decline. Apple’s share of the U.S. smartphone market gained 12.3% to 29.5% in the March quarter while Android’s share in the U.S. fell from 52.4% to 49.5% — its first sequential loss in any region of the world since early 2009. (source)
Mobile devices, led by the iPad and Android phones and tablets, have overtaken computers on Wi-Fi networks. In 2010, Windows and Mac OS X accounted for 64% of devices that accessed Wi-Fi networks, while iOS accounted for 32% and Android was just 1%. A year later, iOS and Android now represent 58% of Wi-Fi devices, while Windows and Mac OS X account for 36%. (source)
The iPhone was the most popular device on Wi-Fi networks, with a 32% share. Android accounted for 11% of devices, equal to the iPod touch alone. (source)
The iPad represents 89% of tablet traffic across all markets. In the US the figure is 97%. Apple has sold roughly 25 million iPads to date globally. (source)
January to March 2011, 37% of mobile subscribers in the US used Apps, and 39% used a mobile browser. (source)

APR

In December 2009, Morgan Stanley Research released their Mobile Internet Report that boldly predicted global shipments of smartphones would surpass global shipments of desktops, notebooks, and laptops sometime in 2012. That transition happened almost two years early as global shipments of smartphones and tablets surpassed shipments of desktop PCs and notebooks in Q42010. This gap is expected to increase over the next few years. (source)
Home usage of the PC is down 20% since 2008. As people use smartphones for more simple computing tasks like web surfing, they use traditional PCs less. (source)
Worldwide PC shipments fell 3.2% during the first quarter of 2011 the first year-over-year quarterly decline since the end of the Great Recession. In the U.S. shipments were down 10% in the quarter. Media tablets are capturing a portion of the consumer spending that previously went toward traditional computers. (source)
22-25% of US and UK mobile Internet browsers never or infrequently use the desktop Internet. (source)
In about a month or so, Apple’s iPhone 4 will become the most popular camera used to take pictures uploaded to Flickr. The current most popular camera the Nikon D90 is nearly three years old. The iPhone 4 is not even a year old. (source)

Oh wait my phone is ringing ;]

Best Music App (can Spotify do that?)

Ryan Van Etten — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:53:49 +0000

In NJ, summer 2011, I witnessed a violent conversation about what is the best mobile music app. It pretty much sums up the state of mobile music streaming in 2011:

Brandon: Rdio is where it’s at in music right now.

Kerry: I. Don’t. Care. I love Spotify.

Brandon: Name anything. I’ll play it right now.

Kerry: Play me The Beatles, bitch.

Brandon: Ok ok. Can Spotify do that? No.

Jamie: I use Pandora. It’s sooo cool.

Others: (Laughs)

Alternatives that come to mind are MOG and Grooveshark—both of which share the same main attraction as Rdio and Spotify: on-demand streaming. They are fundamentally different from discovery-centered apps like Pandora. Last.fm and exfm are in the cross. Who’s back do you have…what’s your vote? ▼

App Me Up, Call Me Mashup—Music Trends 2010–2011

Ryan Van Etten — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 04:33:08 +0000

Get the app…Get on bits…Cover it…Check the remix. Cut the intro…Launch campaigns…Connect with fans…WTF is SoundExchange? These were the war cries of musicians in 2010.

Get On Bits.

Digital is the bomb. When I say ‘get on bits’ I mean get digital. Get on YouTube. Get on Facebook. Get indexed. Become bits. Bits outlive memories. Legacies live on bits. ‘All we are is bits in the cloud.’

Bring Me The Horizon singer Oliver Sykes pushes the edge of the Vans Warped Tour 2010 stage in Dallas, TX.
Photo: earlylove/Flickr

YouTube it.

In 2010, YouTube takes the cake as being the sweet spot for music. Their fact sheet reads currently that “people are watching 2 billion videos a day on YouTube” and that “52 percent of 18-34 year-olds share videos often with friends and colleagues.” Vevo, which launched in late 2009, saw screaming growth through 2010 largely due to its integration with YouTube. It’s pretty understandable why video is so engaging—it combines multiple senses: sight, hearing, and—if you’re pressing a keypad or touchscreen—touch. Triggering the brain from multiple angles makes for strong communication and vivid memories. Video influences people. Last month in Wired, TED curator Chris Anderson and Jon Chu talked about how access to free online video accelerates innovation. Chu used the example of kids who learned dance moves by watching videos of other dancers, “Kids in Japan are taking moves from a YouTube video created in Detroit, building on it within days and releasing a new video, while teenagers in California are taking the Japanese video and remixing it to create a whole new dance style in itself. This is happening every day. And from these bedrooms and living rooms and garages with cheap webcams come the world’s great dancers of tomorrow.”

App me up.

“Mobile is no longer that thing you need to start thinking about in the next few months. It’s that thing you needed to be taking seriously yesterday. The iPhone is doing well and is very strongly rumored* to be launching on Verizon shortly. Android sales are absolutely booming. If you’re not doing something about mobile, you’re doing it wrong. There is so much good music out there—if you won’t go where fans are, they won’t think twice about dropping you for that other band that will.” –Steve Klein, Sound Around founder, now w/ ReverbNation.

Live is unique.

Seeing a live show is an experience—it’s not a product, but that’s not to say that it can’t be captured on one. Ask Aderra, a company who “records live concerts to flash drives and MicroSD wristbands which are available to the audience immediately after the performance.” Their USB drives can also be used to access exclusive content on the web. It’s important to realize that experiences have more intrinsic value than products.

Earshare.

“As an artist, what makes getting your music on radio (internet or terrestrial) or in a commercial so great is the repetition—great songs worm their way into consciousness and allow listeners to discover (or re-discover) tracks or artists without actually seeking them out. Environments and platforms that encourage and properly distribute this repetition cycle will be the ones that find success, by enabling the most great music to find the greatest number of appreciative ears.” –Greg Nisbet, Founder, Mediazoic.

Cut the intro.

Get right to the hook. Two time lessons in 2010 were seconds and clicks. At NMS NYC 2010, Jay Frank (@futurehitdna) said that artists have, “10 seconds to engage someone—to impress them.” He said to “clicks to content,” because the more clicks it takes, the more it’s bye-bye attention span. In a way this explains the addiction to YouTube, whose videos are one mere click beyond Google search results. “Anything more than two clicks and you’re missing out on the majority. … Impress them fast.” If you’ve made it this far into the post, you’re a champion, and deserve a video for the rest of the ride.

I n e q u a l i t i e s

API breakout.

Expect to see more mashups based on music APIs. Most notable IMO are mashups built on APIs from The Echo Nest and from SoundCloud. The Echo Nest is a data-driven startup that launched in 2008. Its platform is in use on MTV Music Meter, MOG All Access, Indaba Music, Bandintown, exfm, and more. Based on data from Compete, web visits to SoundCloud were up 850% in 2010. A number of apps—many mobile ones—support integration with SoundCloud. Keep Grooveshark on the radar, their web visits were up 235% based on Compete, and unofficial Grooveshark API documentation is available on APIshark. The Grooveshark library is also accessible through the Tinysong API. Spotify too has potential for a mashup explosion. See the API list: 30 Music APIs.

Be bulletproof.

“I want a bass player who can fix the van. I want a keyboard player who can screenprint some shirts. I want a drummer who can shoot some video, throw it into iMovie, and put a YouTube thing together—second largest search engine now—and fuckin’ sell some more tickets. I want a lead singer who can shag the world.” –Martin Atkins at NMS NYC 2010.

Mystery tour.

There are several events/ticketing services out there beyond Ticketmaster/Live Nation, such as Eventful, Songkick, Ticketfly, and Live Music Machine. Ticketing is mysterious and because of that I think less music startups have gone in its direction. But live music is really what music is all about, and I think we’re going to see a lot more action in this space, especially when more people have smartphones and are using location-based apps. But the question I’m asking about ticketing is, ‘what could possibly stop Facebook from wiping away the entire online ticketing industry with an official ticketing service within Facebook Events?’

One day…

“Facebook will have a killer music section. Why? It’s simple. Time spent on site. Music is the best way to increase the amount of time that users spend on Facebook. When Mark Zuckerberg talks about reforming the content industries in five years, this is what he means. Music is vital to making people stay on Facebook longer. This is why 30 to 90 second song previews in Facebook apps aren’t enough. ” –Kyle Bylin, Editor, Hypebot/MTT, in this article

Brainmelt.

I’d like to write about licensing, but it’s just so boring and complicated, still, in 2011, and this article is already way to long for the YouTube Generation. I do think something about the licensing needs to change, especially in the U.S. where “WTF is SoundExchange?” is the typical reaction, and many musicians believe that receiving payouts from rights organizations is a straight-up myth—it’s not, but setting it up may melt your brain. For now what I think is worth knowing is that the majority of money that SoundExchange pays out comes from Pandora. So if you’re on Pandora, then you definitely want to be registered with SoundExchange. If you’re asking “how do I get on Pandora?” then read this. First, push to the end of this article. You made it this far. I promise you it’s worth it.

Mindshare.

“I’m not going to lie. It’s not easy. It’s hard to make money, and to get people to really cough up money for music at this point. They have a lot of things they can spend their—not just their money on—but their attention on. So you really have to do something that stands out above everybody else. No one’s going to settle for a mediocre experience anymore.” –Ian Rogers, CEO, Topspin Media, in this video.

Born free.

If you asked Austin Powers what he thought about the internet, I know exactly what he would say..: “it’s freedom, baby, yeah!” His nemesis, Dr. Evil, would be saying “throw me a frickin’ bone here!” Who would you rather be? Free is the nature of the internet and what makes it such an advance. If you’re not embracing that free spirit, then you’re in the wrong industry. It’s like the accelerated innovation I mentioned at the start of this rap. Everyone is building on each other’s work. It’s human nature. Pablo Picasso would tell you that “good artists copy—great artists steal.” Picasso didn’t become famous by making a few great paintings. He became famous by making thousands of them. He only sold the ones that he needed to, keeping the rest in his possession, and nowadays I can’t help but wonder if he’d be getting them on bits. Really it comes down to more than creating fresh music, but being innovative on every front, and living it. That, my friends, is art. // @ryanve

30 Music APIs

Ryan Van Etten — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 08:26:34 +0000

Mashup City: 10 miles. Modern music infrastructure is built on APIs. Developers are programming the future as we speak. We can bet they’re using some of these 30 music APIs to do it.

<div id="music_api_list" style="width:100%"><style>li.api{margin:0;padding:0 5px;text-align:left}li.api a{color:#fff;text-decoration:none}li.api a:hover{color:#3399cc;text-decoration:none}</style><ul id="apis" style="list-style-type:none;font:bold 10pt Arial,sans-serif;line-height:145%;background:#000;color:#fff;padding:30px 15px 15px;text-transform:lowercase"><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:300%"><a href="http://www.last.fm/api" title="developer link: Last.fm" rel="external">Last.fm</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:300%"><a href="http://developer.echonest.com" title="developer link: The Echo Nest" rel="external">Echo Nest</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:300%"><a href="http://soundcloud.com/developers" title="developer link: SoundCloud" rel="external">SoundCloud</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:300%"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/dev" title="developer link: YouTube" rel="external">YouTube</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://apishark.com" title="developer link: Grooveshark - note: unofficial - see both apishark.com and developers.grooveshark.com" rel="external">Grooveshark</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://tinysong.com/api" title="developer link: Tinysong - note: accesses the Grooveshark library" rel="external">Tinysong</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://developer.jamendo.com" title="developer link: Jamendo" rel="external">Jamendo</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://developer.billboard.com/" title="developer link: Billboard" rel="external">Billboard</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://api.eventful.com" title="developer link: Eventful" rel="external">Eventful</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://developer.emusic.com" title="developer link:  eMusic" rel="external">eMusic</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://webservices.rhapsody.com" title="developer link: Rhapsody" rel="external">Rhapsody</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://www.streamnetworks.no/en/realradios/api" title="developer link: RealRadios" rel="external">RealRadios</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://developer.spotify.com" title="developer link: Spotify" rel="external">Spotify</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://www.songkick.com/developer/" title="developer link: Songkick" rel="external">Songkick</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://www.mp3tunes.com/api/" title="developer link: MP3tunes" rel="external">MP3tunes</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://dev.aol.com/SHOUTcast/" title="developer link: SHOUTcast" rel="external">SHOUTcast</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://www.streampad.com/embed-api" title="developer link: Streampad" rel="external">Streampad</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://bandcamptech.wordpress.com/2010/05/15/bandcamp-api/" title="developer link: Bandcamp - note: preliminary version" rel="external">Bandcamp</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://api.beatport.com/" title="developer link: Beatport" rel="external">Beatport</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://www.deezer.com/en/api" title="developer link: Deezer" rel="external">Deezer</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://www.ilike.com/developer" title="developer link: iLike" rel="external">iLike</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://wearehunted.com/api/" title="developer link: We Are Hunted" rel="external">Hunted</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://www.ticketfly.com/about/api/" title="developer link: TicketFly" rel="external">TicketFly</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://docs.topspin.net/tiki-index.php?page=Topspin+APIs&structure=Dev+Center" title="developer link: Topspin Media - note: multiple APIs" rel="external">Topspin</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://www.discogs.com/help/api" title="developer link: Discogs" rel="external">Discogs</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://api.blip.fm" title="developer link: Blip.fm" rel="external">Blip.fm</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://access.napster.com" title="developer link: Napster" rel="external">Napster</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://developer.7digital.net/" title="developer link: 7digital" rel="external">7digital</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://developer.yahoo.com/music/" title="developer link: Yahoo Music" rel="external">Yahoo</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;font-size:200%"><a href="http://www.bandsintown.com/api/overview" title="developer link: Bandsintown" rel="external">Bandsintown</a></li><li class="api" style="margin:0;padding:0;font-size:100%;text-align:right"><a class="citation cc:attributionURL" href="http://virtualmusic.tv/2011/01/30-music-apis/" title="view source on virtualmusic.TV">VM</a></li></ul></div>

Top 10 iPhone Music Apps | 2010

Ryan Van Etten — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 07:07:13 +0000

The end of the year is rolling in…the current most popular iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch apps in the iTunes App Store are below—one grid is the top free apps and one is the top paid apps. So…who’s using them? C’mon tell us which apps you just can’t live without!

Top FREE Music Apps
iTunes – 2010 End

Top PAID Music Apps
iTunes – 2010 End

Best Xmas Gifts For Musicians [Poll] Get On Bits

Ryan Van Etten — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 20:56:45 +0000

Anyone who’s already finished their Xmas shopping is an overachiever!

Okay so I obviously “planned” to write this post a little earlier. I even planned to write it last year. ;)

Giving gifts can be really hard, but if you really know someone, it’s much easier. Everyone is different.

virtualmusic.tv/polls/

Especially for a musician who is eager to promote themselves and be out there, I really like the idea of a pocket HD camera. If you want people to find you YouTube is the place. Get it on tape—not literally. Get it on bits. I won a Kodak Zi6 from Mashable in 2008 and the quality is unreal. Now there’s also the Zi8. I think the right book could be really good, like something on mixing for someone who does that. The best non-fiction book I read this year was Rework by the people from 37signals.com.

More Ideas:
Audiofanzine » Christmas Shopping 2010
Hypebot » 10 Christmas Gift Ideas For Old-School Record Execs

Merry Xmas (or whatever your holiday of choice is:) and be safe! My end of the year posts are coming up next week. If you’re not already, tune in via RSS or Facebook. I better go start my shopping. Don’t worry I steer clear of the mall and I’ve already done some mental preparation. I’m going to hit Barnes and Noble, Campmor, the Polish store (for chocolate), and Total Wine. That should cover everyone!

FL Beat It: why FL Studio is the best deal in the house.

Ryan Van Etten — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 19:07:27 +0000

Image-Line, maker of my favorite beat-making software, FL Studio a.k.a. FruityLoops, have liberated their 50% off sale. I’ve had the producer version since 2007, but I wanted to give you all the heads up on the deal. The best part about buying direct from Image-Line is that you get free upgrades for life, which is huge. The software is reasonably-priced to begin with, and every time a new version comes out you get it. Talk about a gift that keeps on giving. Compare that to other music software companies that charge you hundreds of dollars every time a new version comes out, and crash your system on a daily basis. I’ve used FL Studio since 2004 and it never crashes. Talk about solid. It’s easily the best money I ever spent on music software. The direct link to the sale is right here—it ends January 6*.

New features available in FL Studio 9.7 Beta.

I had used a free, probably pirated version initially for 3 years to create over 100 drum tracks. In 2007, I decided that if anything in this world was worth paying for, it was FL Studio. You have to respect how they address the issue of piracy head on. They know how to make a compelling offer. (Initially the current sale was available via the GroupBuy tab on their Facebook page.)

These are buttons in an elevator in Belgium, where Image-Line is based. They look like a drum pad—don’t they? photo: joaomoura/Flickr

In 2010, I hadn’t worked on many drums this year until FL Studio 9 came out. I installed it and within minutes I was ripping away with the new samples. I’ve rethought and evolved my whole philosophy on drums. Instead of making rock songs, I want to bring out the beat! I want to roll with The Chemical Brothers and bounce like turbulence. Inspired—by software.

Update 1/3/2011: The discount end date was changed from 12/30/2010 to 1/6/2011. Image-Line emailed, “This is your last chance to get in, or get back in, if you maxed out the CC last month.”

BandApp: Your Band, In Their Pocket [Launch]

Ryan Van Etten — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 08:03:17 +0000

UK startup BandApp is hell-bent on becoming the indie mobile replacement for MySpace and record labels. Similar in concept to Sound Around (now part of ReverbNation) or MobBase, BandApp’s monthly service gives musicians a platform to create and manage their own iPhone apps. But BandApp is taking a different approach in that they’re sidelining the paralyzing iTunes App Store approval process and delivering their apps via the web, and in 2011 will launch their own retail outlet, a digital storefront, called the BandApp Store.

Perhaps the most intriguing thing about BandApp is who’s behind it. Have you ever heard “The Ballad of Chasey Lain” or freak danced to “The Bad Touch?” [iTunes link] Don’t lie.

Actually BandApp founder Adam Perry (a.k.a. The Yin) was a drummer for the band ‘A’ until circa 2005 when he joined The Bloodhound Gang, who released those two particular sonic treats in 1999.

Pricing: Bands: £20 startup fee plus £7/month with 1-yr contract or £75/year. Fans: Free.

I gave a quick test run on my iPhone of one app, and it worked pretty well, nice features, especially the fan wall, but an issue with going horizontal (no landscape mode yet maybe). The fan wall gives a direct connection between the band and the fans, and has nice Twitter and Facebook shareability.

To try out the apps point your iPhone’s Safari browser to one of these: bandapp.com/theblackout – bandapp.com/zebrahead – bandapp.com/wearetheocean – bandapp.com/a. Once there, just use your menu to “add to home screen” and you have instant pain-free mobility. Can you pocket it?

Band Apps Get Sound Around [Launch]

Ryan Van Etten — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:26:51 +0000

Last week I told the story behind the new band apps-as-a-service startup, Sound Around, whose mantra is ‘iPhone apps for every band.’ Today they rock their full-on launch:

Sound Around: 2 Bros, 1 Mission.

Ryan Van Etten — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:54:16 +0000

Sound Around: iPhone apps for bands.

Gee, Scott, what do you want to do tonight? The same thing we do every night, Steve—try to help music take over the world by building better mobile apps for bands and their fans!

In 2009, in a little place called Raleigh, North Carolina, brothers Scott and Steve Klein had been brainstorming tech startup ideas. Both were students at NC State, but with opposite majors—nearly yin and yang. Add entrepreneurial DNA, and they’re Pinky and The Brain. Scott (Brain) was preparing to graduate as a computer engineer, and his younger brother, Steve (Pinky), was studying business management/marketing. Their startup would be born, but the question was, what kind? Taking advantage of their student resources, they had access to mentoring and networking through the NCSU Engineering Entrepreneurs Program.

Pinky and The Brain: Scott and Steve Klein.

They started 2bros1blog.com to blog about what they learned on the startup road. Many early ideas were solutions aimed towards the university community. Scott had learned Objective-C, the programming language for iPhone apps, and they decided they really wanted to get involved with mobile apps. Everyone has a phone, and they always have it with them, right? But they needed to find the right niche. They thought about campus sports or news apps, but when they proposed building a news app for the college paper, they were met with perplexed stares. Scott and Steve realized that for their app service to fly, they needed to find people that were really interested in expanding and engaging their audience. Being music fans themselves, they took what seemed to be a logical turn that summer—towards musicians. Next stop, Sound Around.

December 11, 2009 from Steve: What have I been up to for the past 4 months? Customer development. I’ve been talking with bands, bloggers and record labels trying to validate that there’s a market for this. The results have been satisfying. Record labels range from sufficiently interested to overjoyed at the prospect of their band getting their very own iPhone application. It almost seems trivial to me because we’ve been talking about the idea for the last 6 months. But to them it’s like a dream come true.

Scott graduated in December, gave a speech, and started a job at an TransLoc—a startup that provides realtime location information to mass-transit users. He built their iPhone app. At the same time he and Steve (who was still in school and working part-time in Macaroni Grill) were developing what would soon be called Sound Around. At the turn of 2010, they took on 15 bands as closed-beta testers. In February Steve learned the ins and outs of web design and built getsoundaround.com.

With people skills and resourcefulness, they’d bootstrapped their expenses so far, but in early 2010 they got involved with TechStars in an effort to raise seed capital. In March they flew to Boulder and found themselves surrounded by like minds in the tech scene. Of 600 startups, TechStars funds only 10. Sound Around made it to the top 27 but not the final 10, and it was back to bootstrapping.

March 7, 2010 from Scott: This weekend was an absolute whirlwind of data points about our idea, the target market, team dynamics, future of the product—we talked about it all. We talked about it all with some of the brightest minds we’ve met to date. Raleigh isn’t necessarily a breeding ground for software startup people; you can imagine our fascination with the warm tech scene that Boulder had to offer. They just get it.

In a typical college scenario, the two brothers were living in a 4-bedroom apartment with two other students—David and A.J.—but when David moved out to live with his fiancé, Scott and Steve commandeered the empty room and converted it into a workspace—their current headquarters.

Having success with the beta apps, they started recording videos to demo the Sound Around platform, and, in the meantime started the application process for funding through another (more local) startup incubator, called LaunchBox Digital…which pretty much brings us to the present. Last night was a milestone for Sound Around. Their first apps were approved by Apple and are now live in the App Store. The party was on, but it’s only the beginning for Sound Around.

Scott is on a 3-month sabbatical from his job at TransLoc to focus full-time on Sound Around. Steve would love to be able to dropout next semester and get Sound Around rolling without distractions. Funding would help them “scale faster” but with or without it they’re expecting to launch in public beta this summer. They considering finding a 3rd team member experienced in web and/or Android dev.

The ‘band apps as a service’ market is a wide-open frontier. There’s some fundamental characteristics about Sound Around that really make them stand out.

1. It’s the DIY mindset. Sound Around’s young, two-brother team is the core of all their development. They’re building it all from the ground up. By not hiring out their programming or design, they’ll be able to constantly address feedback and improve their platform. When demands of the app market change, they’ll be able to adapt the fastest.

2. Sound Around purely focused on developing apps for bands/musicians. They’re not leaving the music niche—immense as it is—and they plan on rocking it. MobBase is their only direct competition right now, and there’s plenty of room to coexist in this space.

3. In what I’ve learned about Scott and Steve, I can tell that they understand the importance of people in the mix. They plan on creating an interface for interaction—not one-way communication—and they have a lot of innovative ideas on deck.

4. Their pricing is user-focused. It’s not based on installs. Bands pay based on the number of fans that actually use the app each month. The starter $14/month plan covers 1000 unique app users per month. Above 1000 is $0.01/user until the next tier—$29/month for 5000 unique users.

5. Their mascot is a giraffe named Shirley. She’ll make you smile. :) Giraffes are a symbol of evolution, you know. She doesn’t always travel with the team of course, who’ll be attending events this summer, including Warped Tour in Charlotte, and would love to meet up.

// update // October 19, 2010 from Scott:

I know it hasn’t been very long since we officially launched back in July, but we’ve been working on something really cool behind the scenes that we’re finally ready to tell everyone about. One of our fellow local music companies, ReverbNation, has acquired Sound Around and will be moving quickly to launch the product to their more than 900,000 artists.

Steve and I are both super excited to be joining the ReverbNation team to work on providing mobile products that will continue to move the needle on acquiring new fans, and engaging existing ones on a deeper level. We’ve been heavily vested in creating useful technologies in the mobile space, and we have no doubt that these efforts will only be amplified as we move into our new roles working alongside an impressive and passionate team of individuals.

For everyone that had a hand in touching, shaping, or otherwise influencing our foray into building a product and launching our first company, we can’t thank you enough for all of the hours of mentoring, being a cheerleader, and (most importantly) bringing us down to size when we needed it.