Part 2 in a continuing series of the best the web has to offer for music lovers, this one covers the old, the new and the yet to be launched.
Mixcard is an upcoming app, still in Kickstarter mode. Created by Christopher Chin and Alfred Megally, it promised to be a mixture of the physical and digital. The idea here is postcard mixtapes: You pick out music (a portion of every sale goes back to the artist) and then select an image from a gallery of limited edition art prints to go with your mix. You write a message, and Mixcard sends off a postcard to your recepient with a QR code for them to get their mixtape. "We are trying to retain the magic of physical forms of communication in a digital world," says Chin.
TuneIn - a music, sports, talk and news radio platform offering over 70,000 stations - just relaunched their site and revamped their product with some new functionality, including the Trending feature. Trending allows listeners to find out what's popular worldwide and find out what is happening live on radio stations at the moment based on their listening habits and favorite content. Listeners can also schedule reminders so they don't miss any live content. There's also the "Live" screen, where you can pick topics and you will be shown an array of tiles that will flip every time something new within your topics is available.
Rhapsody has been around a while but keeps innovating to keep up with the slew of listening apps out there. With more than one million members and over 16 million tracks available, Rhapsody is one of the leaders in the online music game. Its monthly subscription allows you to listen to music without adds or restrictions and you can download music for offline listening.
ShowScoop Billed as a "Yelp for concerts," ShowScoop allows you to keep track of all the shows you've been to, rate them, review them and share your lists and thoughts with other concert goers. Whether you want to tell the world about a fantastic live band or find out if the band you're going to spend big money to see is any good live, ShowScoop, which is still in its infancy - promises to be a one-stop source for those needs. You can join the road crew - similar to Yelp's elite - and get incentives such as invites to parties.
EVNTLIVE- a company launching at SXSW on March 16 - is aiming to be the web's interactive concert arena. The site will offer streaming of live shows from small venues to stadium concerts as well as a library of older shows. It will all be integrated with social media, allowing you to connect with artists, friends and shows. You can watch concerts on demand or watch live events with friends.
Richseam is yet another music discovery tool but with a twist: it helps you find new music "through the collaborations and connections of your favorite artists." Enter a band into the search panel and get a list of connected artists, a relevant Spotify playlist, bio information, links to videos and Songkick generated list of upcoming live events. Simple to use with a nice interface.
Got a tip for Part 3 of this series? Let me know.
