OMG! First-Ever GeoLocation & Music Smartphone Application
The marriage of geolocation and music seems like a no-brainer to me, so I’ve toyed with it in the past. I live at Neutral Milk Hotel, I checked into Tipp City via Instagram + Mog + flickr, and Neutral Milk Hotel by integrating Instagram, Rdio, flickr & foursquare. The end result was always the same: multiple clicks, copy and pasting music urls, it’s wonky to force an integration that doesn’t exist, and I wasn’t able to actually hear any of the music I was using in the check-in process.
Last week, Rdio and The Recording Academy announcedMusicMapper, a brand new web & smartphone application that popularizes the first integration of music and location.
The app allows users to match songs to places. Music lovers can create a log of their travels which directly correlates to music , all powered by Rdio. In other words, every time I’m at Ali and Todd’s house, I can’t get this song out of my head; so l check in at her house with the song I associate with her location.
Or perhaps she and I are there now, listening to this song. If so, I can check in, with the song. All actions are shareable via facebook and twitter.
If you use the app, your location log is also your music log, in any way you see fit. Of course, this is a promotional effort focused on the Grammys, but I see it as the first-ever opportunity to build geographically based playlists powered by an ad-free on demand music subscription service available in the USA and Canada.
Superfans have stalking options, too: once you sign up you can follow the travels and correlating playlists of the artists you love. The Rdio-Grammy powered MusicMapper is available for iPhones, iPads, iPods, Androids and works just as well on your personal computer.
Sony Doesn’t Fix Spotify’s Failure To Launch
The recent announcement from music service Spotify about signing a deal with Sony was barely shocking to music insiders. While Spotify has a wide array of major indie content by way of Merlin, they still do not have deals, rumored or otherwise, with majors Warner Music Group or Universal Music Group.
Complicating the cost, as Greg Sandoval reports, “The impasse that has prevented Spotify from acquiring U.S. music rights for more than a year has forced the streaming service to make significant concessions to the record labels.” So before you get excited about one major label down, and two to go, I suggest reading more of Mr. Sandoval’s astute analysis here.
Spotify’s problems are further exacerbated by sites that give step by step instructions on how to lie your way into Spotify. As the cost of Spotify adds up, a cost effective launch in the USA seems less likely than ever.
SF Embassy Preps For SXSW
Making last minute decisions about SXSW? I’ve been a big fan and friend of the SF Embassy since it’s inception (last year) (it was awesome, as you can see here) and highly recommend that any and all San Franciscans making last minute SXSW decisions consider staying at the SF Embassy during SXSW Interactive (they are all filled up for Music).
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