Do you think the App will replace the Album in the near future? Has it already happened?

[via Eliot Van Buskirk @ wired]

The iTunes music store sells single songs at approximately the same price, with artist presented in more or less the same way.

Apple’s app store, however, is still somewhat like the wild west (at least as far as music goes), where the rules are being made up in real time. Artists and labels can sell music alongside other digital offerings through the app store at any price from zero to $999.99.

As we suggested last summer, this creates an opportunity for artists and labels to distribute a new type of product, especially because the app store concept is spreading to other mobile phone platforms.

On Monday, six of the 20 most recently submitted music apps to appear in the App Store featured a single artist: Jason Carver, Jessica Harp, Jimmy Cliff, John Butler Trio, Kadence, or The Cribs. Each showcases music videos, photos, news, photo-jumble games, concert listings, and/or community features that let fans share photos with each other. And all of them were made with iLike’s iPhone app toolkit — as was Ingrid Michaelson’s app, pictured to the right.

Since iLike launched the service in May, about 250 of the over 300,000 artists with access to iLike’s dashboard feature have launched customized iPhone apps through the system.

“We’re encouraged by the positive response our create-your-own-app platform has generated, and this is only the beginning,” said iLike CEO Ali Partovi. (The company also announced a new version of its Local Concerts app on Tuesday, with concert listings based on your music library, push notification for shows, maps to venues, and concert information sharing.)

These artist-specific apps, which labels also develop in-house, place a constantly-updating tattoo on fans’ phones. It’s like having a music subscription, but in the sense of a fan club, rather than in the sense of subscribing to music in general as one would with Rhapsody.

Many of iLike’s music apps are free and promotional. Other apps contain full songs, and cost money.

Dave Dederer, former singer and guitarist for the Presidents of the United States of America and current Melodeo business development vice president, released one of the first of these, which charged $3 for four albums plus exclusive material. His company sells another $3 app containing streaming versions of top 100 hip hop songs in the iTunes store (iTunes link).

The app store broke the rules for selling music through iTunes, and the ramifications of that are beginning to be felt. Now that iLike has allowed app creation to scale across hundreds of thousands of bands, and other mobile platforms are emulating Apple’s modular app concept, the artist-specific app could — in addition to being the new MySpace page — become a formidable music format in its own right.

If that happens, the idea of buying a bundle of music won’t die with the album — it will survive with the app.

The Album Is Dead, Long Live the App is a post from: wax&wires

The thing that impresses me most about the iPhone App is the ability to load  a playlist to your phone for offline listening. That’s a must-have feature to make the application viable for travelers. Can you imagine having access to all that music, which you pay a monthly subscription for, and then not having any music on your dreadful 5-hour flight across the country? It would kind of defeat one of humankind’s primary listening environments right off the bat. Good heads up to the Spotify team for catching that before it was a problem.

Spotify iPhone App Preview is a post from: wax&wires

Related posts:

1. Coldplay Snubs Spotify

The song and video concept isn’t half bad either. Guess who just gained exposure to tens of thousands of new listeners that would have never heard his music otherwise? Brilliant.

Play by BJSR. This Music Video was shot entirely on the new iPhone 3GS. Produced by Showdown Productions, LLC. Check out myspace.com/bjsrmusic and krop.com/kennymosher for more music and videos. Music mixed and mastered by Connor Smith.

Music Video Shot On iPhone 3Gs is a post from: wax&wires

Sonik Architects and BT have teamed up to create Sonifi, a sweet little iPhone App that lets you remix four tracks (Bass, Beats, Synth/FX, and Melody) by using the iPhone’s accelerometer and touchscreen. Here’s the official word:

Remix, Record, Control dynamic live FX & beautiful visualizers

AND Stutter Edit™….

LIVE.

Create and explore stunning live remixes, FX and visuals with a true first-of-it’s-kind portable remix engine. Sonifi™ is the world’s first true audio and visual remix application and protocol. Created by electronic superstar BT, this application showcases futuristic new music and remixes of The Rose of Jericho from his forthcoming 2009 artist album.

Sonifi™ is a powerful, portable, real-time remix engine. There are an infinite number of permutations of remixes you can create, mix, save and share….live, and anywhere!!

For iPhone and iPod touch 3.0 users, a revolutionary new multi-player feature has been added. Jam Link gives 3.0 users the ability to link with a friend (via Bluetooth) and remix live….TOGETHER. The mixmaster selects control over “Beats and Bass” or “Melody and Harmony”. Once JamLinked you and your buddy can remix, select tracks and Stutter Edit™ live. This is a first for any application, on any device.

In Sonifi™, four channels of four unique tracks allow extreme flexibility and remix possibilities. The (4×4 matrix of) tracks can be mixed, muted or soloed and contain four completely unique elements and arrangements per-channel. There are four tracks of ripping beats to choose from, four tracks of fat bass lines, four tracks of glitchy synths and FX, and four tracks of cutting edge melodies.

Everything in Sonifi™ happens in-time and on-beat; so making a mix is both fun and effortless. If you are a musician or DJ the sky is the limit! Currently, three discrete real time effects are controllable using the X/Y axis of the iPhone or iPod touch screen : Lo-Fi, resonant high pass filter, and resonant low pass filter.

There are mesmerizing visual elements that respond elegantly to user touch as well as the frequency and amplitude information of your remix. You are not just remixing, you’re visualizing what you are creating.

Finally, Sonifi™ contains BT’s patented Stutter Edit™ technology and is the first application to showcase to its abilities. Instead of using a mouse, USB device, or other input peripheral (like you would with a computer), your phone becomes an instrument!! Simply shake the phone in one of six vectorial directions (left, right, forward, backward, up, or down) and at the next 1/8th note the Stutter Edit plugin will perform an incredible micro-note or fill pattern repeat, some with release crashes and hits. Basically, you shake your phone and sound like a genius.

Endless fun ensues!

Planned upgrades will include downloadable Sonifi™ media packs containing other artists songs and remixes, new visualizer elements and band & artist links.

Let the live remixing BEGIN!!

LANGUAGES:
- English

FEATURES:
- Four channels of four tracks (Bass, Beats, Synth / FX and melody) with arrangement
mapping for true and limitless remix options
- Three studio class X/Y controllable FX (Lo-Fi, High Pass Filter and Low Pass Filter)
- Stunning and interactive visualizers that respond both to music and touch
- Numerous visual behaviors and screen-sets
- Save, Edit and rework your mix
- First ever use of BT and Sonik Architects Stutter Edit™ technology

REQUIREMENTS:
iPhone OS 3.0
Compatible with iPhone and iPod touch (first and second generation)

Sonifi International LLC
Patent Pending Sonik Architects ©™2009

Website : www.btmusic.com

By forcing effects to end on beat, it really makes it an intuitive and easy to use app. The visuals are what really make this App stand out. I think it’s pretty funny that they added in a dramatic pause before …. “STUTTER EDIT.” I’m not sure what the hype is about with that; it’s a great effect, but so are the visuals of the app, the filters, etc.

Here’s a link to the iTunes store to pick it up (it’s $5). And a little video to boot:

BT’s Sonifi iPhone App is a post from: wax&wires

Not to be outdone, Depeche Mode has released a free iPhone App that lets users play with samples from tracks on their new album, Sounds Of The Universe.

We’re happy to announce that the all new Depeche Mode “Sounds Of The Universe” app is now available in the iTunes App Store. This app allows you to make your own “Sounds Of The Universe” by turning the album art into a musical instrument. All of the sounds are from the “Sounds Of The Universe” recording sessions and make for endless combinations that you can control. Also, keep up on tour dates and news within the app. Best of all it’s free!

Grab it now in the App Store!

Depeche Mode – FREE iPhone App is a post from: wax&wires

From Coldplay.com:

Good morning. We’re very pleased to announce that a special Coldplay game for the iPhone and iPod Touch arrived in the iTunes App Store this morning. Tap Tap Revenge: Coldplay Edition is the latest release in the wildly popular Tap Tap Revenge series, which allow you to tap along to songs on your iPhone/iPod Touch. Click here to check it out.

This special edition features ten full Coldplay songs to play along to, with graphics and effects inspired by the band’s videos. It also includes a Coldplay news feed (taken from this very website) and Facebook Connect, so that you can flaunt your scores to the world. The songs included are as follows:

- Lovers In Japan (Osaka Sun Mix)
- Lost!
- In My Place
- Fix You
- Life In Technicolor ii
- Clocks
- Yellow
- Shiver
- Speed Of Sound
- Viva La Vida
- Vida La Vida (Thin White Duke Remix)

The game is available in iTunes stores worldwide and is retailing for £2.99p in the UK, 3.99 Euros in Europe and $4.99 in the US. Click here to purchase it from your local iTunes store. (By the way, we’ve played it and it’s really very good.)

Players can also enter the Tapulous Coldplay Edition Contest to win some rather impressive prizes. Grand prize includes front row tickets to any Viva La Vida Tour concert this summer and an autographed copy of the Viva la Vida Prospekt’s March edition. Find out more about the Tapulous Coldplay Edition Contest here.

Anchorman

ps – If you want to pit your scores against ours, look out for ColdplayAnchorman on the Global leaderboards…

Coldplay Intros Tap Tap Revenge For iPhone is a post from: wax&wires

Related posts:

1. Coldplay Snubs Spotify

You can find more over at wired.com.

NIN iPhone App Demo is a post from: wax&wires

Where I could see the app picking up some steam would be if they built in a recommendation engine. They could then load your profile from your standard Bandloop account, and find local shows that have similar styles to your favorite music. You could even have some sort of “tolerance” filter to force the app to stick more closely to bands you like, or show any band if you open the filter up all the way. I talked about that a bit in my article on Squeakerbox. Basically, users need a way to find music that they’ll actually like, not just the random 100 bands that are playing in your city at any given moment (which quickly proves a problem in busy music cities like SF, NY, Chicago, etc). Filtering by genre would even be a step towards a better product.

The Bandloop App is still worth it though, as it’s free. You can download it from the iTunes App Store here.

Bandloop iPhone App is a post from: wax&wires

Here, they cover the MGMT hit Kids, using the iPhone Apps Ocarina, Retro Synth, miniSynth, DigiDrummer Lite. I don’t know if it’s just the RetroSynth app or the finger that’s driving it, but that bass part being off time was a bit naggy to me. I know it’s being too picky, as the overall job on the song is solid.

Is your best play to get noticed covering somebody else’s song? It wouldn’t be the first time. Mark Ronson’s full album Version is comprised of interesting covers. Yael Naim’s cover of Toxic, plus her song’s use in the MacBook Air commercial, put her on the musical map.

New business plan: make a viral video.

The Mentalists Cover MGMT’s Kids Using Only iPhones is a post from: wax&wires

What they need to do, is figure out a way to create a network that will let you select your friends’ Sonos system to listen to whatever they’re listening to simultaneously. That… and make it affordable.

Sonos iPhone App is a post from: wax&wires

You can plug in a headset with a microphone to sing and modulate your voice through the amp sim, or hook in a cable with the proper pin-out to play your guitar through it. The tough part is finding a cable that will route the signal from your 1/4″ unbalanced guitar cable to the iPhone’s 1/8″ TRRS connector.

A guitar cable sends ground down the sleeve, and signal down the tip of the cable. Putting a simple 1/8″ adaptor on the other end won’t cut it, as the iPhone pin out sends headphone left audio down the tip, headphone right audio down the first ring, ground down the third ring, and microphone input down the sleeve. What that means is that your ground from the guitar cable would actually route to the microphone input of the iPhone, and the signal from your guitar would route to the left output designed for headphone signal from the iPhone.

That’s not to say the app isn’t usable, but simply that finding the right cable to actually hook up your guitar might prove a bit more difficult that it’s worth. Essentially, you need a cable that enables headphone use too. You would thus need the 1/8″ TRRS end to be:

Tip: Left Headphone Out (to some sort of output jack to plug in headphones)
Ring 1: Right Headphone Out (to same output jack as above)
Ring 2: Ground from the sleeve of 1/4″ (guitar) end
Sleeve: Guitar input from the tip of 1/4″ (guitar) end

And then, even if you click all of that in to place spot on, you would still be pumping the line level signal of your guitar into the mic level input on the iPhone, potentially causing a lot of digital clipping. You might then need to figure out some sort of pad to incorporate to get the signal down to an acceptable level. All that likely means more work than it’s worth.

So if you find a cable that will do the job, and are wiling to fork out the $16.99 for the app, you’ll gain access to:

• 6 amp types
• 5 cabinet emulations
• Hi, Mid & Low tone controls
• Gain & Drive controls
• Stereo Echo with LFO modulation
• Tap tempo
• Presets
• Recording and playback
• Built-in file server for downloading recordings
• And a built-in audience if you need someone to perform to

I really like the GUI and the features it lists, especially with the tap tempo, LFO modulation, storing of presets, and ability to record clips. Mark’s Recording Studio really did a great job thinking through what a guitarist would want in an amp sim, and worked in all of the most desirable features. Again, if you can’t get your guitar signal into the device properly though, all of that is moot.

You can check it out here. Let me know what you think, or if I’m way off base with my cable talk.

Amp Simulator For The iPhone is a post from: wax&wires

Tech Crunch UK mentions rumors of the app only being available to paying premium Spotify users, versus their standard ad-supported users. Said rumors have Spotify mobile offering over-the-air streaming of the entire Spotify library, and access to playlists.

My guess is that Apple will never let this into the app store.

Spotify iPhone App is a post from: wax&wires

Related posts:

1. Coldplay Snubs Spotify

Clearly, Jet Daisuke didn’t seem to have any trouble with it though. Whether the app works or not, I could watch this character all day long:

iPhone Vocoder App is a post from: wax&wires

Remember that song Peaches from way back when? What about Lump, or my personal favorite, Dune Buggy? I can recall my Jr. High P.E. class having the Presidents of the United States of America album on heavy rotation while we stair-stepped our way to being fit.

Now Prez’s frontman Dave Dederer is a VP at Melodeo, the makers of nuTsie, a software app that lets you stream iTunes playlists onto your PC, mobile device or facebook profile. Melodeo has now released a $3 app for the iPhone and iPod touch that lets you stream 4 Presidents of the United States of America albums, the 4 that the Prez own the rights to for themselves. The application also includes rare and exclusive material that the band can update from their end, and your phone will automatically pick up.

This presents an interesting marketing strategy, as it filters money directly to the band from the app, but undoubtedly detracts from album sales on iTunes or other MP3 retailers. Why spend $40 on 4 albums when you could stream all of them for just $3? While you do have to be connected to the internet to hear the albums, unlike if you owned the mp3s themselves, with 3G ever-expanding, I don’t see that being too much of a problem; especially with the added incentive of exclusive content that the band could update at any point in the future. We’ve already seen Pandora take off with music streaming, so clearly listeners don’t mind needing to connect to the net to listen to their music for the most part.

I think that as more bands implement apps like this, it presents a great opportunity to heighten the level of connection between the fans and the band. Imagine a band that uploads tracks of their weekly rehearsals, quick audio notes to fans or other things of the like to purchasers of their iPhone app. The band makes a little extra money from the app, the fan gets to name-drop a bit more about some exclusive content, everybody wins… except iTunes who would only get a small cut of the app price rather than a big cut of the $10 album price.

I could even see record labels starting apps and piping new artists to fans to rate, so that they could better judge who was catching on.

How can you harness the expansion of net availability to promote your band?

The Presidents of the United States of America Unleash Multiple-Album iPhone App is a post from: wax&wires

Touching the screen causes the robot to move and make sounds controlled by your movements. Play it like a musical instrument, or just have fun watching the robot and making noises with your fingers.

Features 4-voice multitouch polyphony, multiple synthesis modes, tweakable sound parameters and echo effects, and hypnotic interactive backgrounds.

This app is awesome. It presents such a creative interface that really sets it apart from all other iPhone synth apps out there. It’s only $1.99 too, so I expect to do pretty well. I noticed it on the front page of the App Store and had to bring it to your attention. Check it out if you’ve got an iPhone or iPod touch!

You can get more info on the chipper, music-making robot at NormalWare’s site.

Bebot iPhone App Combines Creative GUI With SoftSynth is a post from: wax&wires