Sonos: The Audiophile’s Dream

SoundCtrl November 07, 2013

Last year, I bought my now wife/then girlfriend a Sonos speaker system for her birthday. For those who are fans of The Simpsons, my motivation was partially similar to the episode when Homer bought the “Homer” bowling ball for Marge. Needless to say, the one thing she wanted it to do (play audio from movies on her computer into the speakers), was not possible at the time so I returned it wondering when I would truly be able to test out the next wave of connected speakers.

Flash forward a year when I attended a Hype Machine event that was hosted in conjunction with Sonos and was given two speakers and a bridge, which connects the speakers to a WiFi signal. Setting it up, I realized that it’s not a plug-in-and-play type of speaker. You have to download the mobile or desktop app, connect the bridge to the router, plug in the speakers, and follow the app’s instructions for a simple installation.

The more effort you put in from the start, the smarter and easier the system can be, whether you place the speakers in separate rooms to play different music simultaneously, find your favorite radio stations to broadcast, or sync your various music accounts including Spotify, Hype Machine, or Pandora.

With my Sonos set up, I can easily shift between passive (radio or randomized music) or active (specific artist, album or playlist I’ve created) listening, which is very powerful. Plus there’s the bonus of being able to do this from my ease of my phone or computer.

The design aesthetic of the speakers is modern yet vintage, like something that could fit in THX 1138 or a fancy, expensive new gadget Don Draper might buy on Mad Men–it fits their brand and personality well.

All-in-all, Sonos is for the music junkies, people who can’t live without music or those who know the power music has in bringing people together. Sonos is for those who engage in living room conversations with friends, queuing up a track by an obscure producer on Sonos via the Hype Machine application.

Nothing could replace Sonos’ immediacy and ease of use. If you have $200 to spare on a speaker and a bridge, you’ll find yourself ditching the ones you thought were good during freshman year of college.

David is a music and food obsessive. He works Live Nation by day, but produces Backyard Brunch Sessions for fun and is a board member here at SoundCtrl.

Complex Rebrands With New Look And Logo

SoundCtrl November 06, 2013

Following September’s $25 million investment from Iconix Brand Group, Complex Media has not only expanded its scope in cultural coverage for its mens lifestyle magazine, but has now received a logo redesign for its website, magazine, and social media channels.

This week, Noah Callahan-Bever, Complex’s Chief Content Officer & Editor-In-Chief posted a video on Instagram previewing the new identity.

The old logo is now refreshed and sharpened with a stronger typeface and bolder lines.

The rebrand includes a streamlining of the website, and will be premiered on this month’s magazine, featuring Eminem:

MTV Artists App Cleans Up Music Discovery

SoundCtrl November 05, 2013

The launch of Apple’s iOS7, with its minimal design features and maximized screen real estate, urged designers to rethink the user interfaces of the apps we’ve all come to know and use. Aside from the usual, essential social media suspects, many newer apps have taken advantage of this design shift, and have capitalized on the new look and feel that will accompany mobile devices into the future.

MTV’s new Artists app does just that by offering a focused peek into the musicians that influence and inform the music industry today. With MTV’s shift away from dedicated musical programming over the last decade or so, it’s presumable that another venture by the brand would miss the boat on the music industry (there was, in fact, a Snooki app) entirely. But surprisingly, MTV Artists does quite well by crafting a navigable database of artists big and small, popular and obscure, with relatively clean profile pages that can’t afford favoring, given the size of an iPhone screen. Read More →

Presskit.to Launches for Music Businesses

SoundCtrl November 04, 2013

By Brian Parker

In just a few years, the traditional, hard-copy artist presskit has transitioned to digital formats, and several companies have tried to streamline, universalize, and monetize the electronic press kit, or EPK. Boston-based Presskit.to has developed an efficient means of minimizing EPKs for artists, with a platform that allows the user to consolidate media, links, and information in a single place.

While this rigidity may be less practical for individual artists in the era of subliminal music marketing and the somewhat “organic” rise to success, Presskit.to is now offering the platform for music businesses to consolidate, promote, and share their managed artists with brands, booking agencies, and other industry contacts. Presskit.to is available as an online application and on iOS as well. Read More →

SoundTracking Launches Version 4.0 for iOS

SoundCtrl October 31, 2013

By Brian Parker

Earlier this year, we covered some of the updates to the FlashFWD award winning music discovery app SoundTracking. Today, after a year of impressive milestones and development, SoundTracking announced a new version of the app with brand new features, including a fresh user interface and a new “discover” section.

Soundtracking’s new UI is simplified and updated for iOS7 optimization, including updated navigation and new user tab bar, higher quality timeline photos, Brighter accent color themes, new fonts, and new icon action buttons. Top friends are also auto-suggested in search and tagging flows to improve efficiency.

Rather than relying upon just a scrolling stream of music moments, SoundTracking has introduced the humanized and friendly “Discover” section. The feature includes a variety of new discovery options for users who enjoy finding music from different angles.

• “Song Of The Day” – Each day, the editorial staff picks a new track from an emerging or popular artist that we think has an exciting sound, regardless of genre.

• Search – Find music and other fans simply by typing hashtags such as #nowplaying or #tbt. This allows people to discover music by evolving topics created by music fans, not just by standard genre categories.

• Trending – Changing by the minute, this feature shows what music moments are popular around the world among the SoundTracking community of music lovers.

• Nearby – Based upon our current location, this section shows you what’s popular in your local area and city. Learn about new music buzzing in your neighborhood and follow some fellow music lovers.

Since SoundTracking launched in 2011, over 40 million music moments have been shared in the SoundTracking community, with over 530 million views. Over 60% of users have tagged their music moment locations over 1 million times, using the location services powered by Foursquare API and Google Maps API.

You can download the new SoundTracking 4.0 on the iTunes app store.