Rising up, there was by no means a second in my childhood the place music was absent. Even the dullest of days can be full of dynamic pop, or the vigorous sounds of Pat Benatar if my mom was in charge of the stereo. I’m a part of the final technology of music listeners who actively engaged with music channels, and because the delivery of YouTube and streaming, my appreciation for and data of music has developed considerably.
What I like most about music streaming (I’m a loyal Spotify person) is its accessibility and freedom. It’s far simpler to entry the most recent releases and uncover new artists by recurrently up to date algorithm-based playlists and genre-specific classes. Streaming has all of it, or so I believed it did.
I got here throughout the app Musicboard after lengthy complaining concerning the lack of neighborhood and ‘hear later’ options on streaming. By way of Musicboard I not solely hold monitor of albums I’ve been longing to listen to, however I may also hold a private journal of all my favourite (and never so favourite) music. Assume Letterboxd, however for music fanatics.
Homescreen heroes
That is a part of an everyday collection of articles exploring the apps that we could not stay with out. Read them all here.
Musicboard is a platform accessible on iOS and Android gadgets the place you could have the prospect to grow to be your individual sort of music critic. It’s basically a digital diary that retains all of my recently-listened-to music in a single place, permitting me to share my music opinions with star scores. No matter I take heed to on streaming, be it a brand new artist or an album beneficial by a good friend, I enter it into Musicboard and it logs the date, star score, and optionally available written evaluate. Quite simple.
Nonetheless, music journaling is simply on the floor of what Musicboard has to supply. Since becoming a member of the app my publicity to artists and genres has grown exponentially, and I’d argue that its database and search engine makes it higher for music discovery than these of streaming companies. For those who battle to seek for new genres, certainly one of my prime methods of discovering new music is thru record making.
Ed notice: We reduce every screenshot into two elements so you possibly can get a greater take a look at the interface. You are welcome.
Completely different sorts of lists
Lists on Musicboard are totally different out of your common playlist since you may’t really stream the music. As a substitute, they lean in the direction of a temper board-like construction and are designed to provide inspiration and steering. You may curate lists in any form or type from rankings, to favourite album covers, to ‘necessities’ lists – an effective way to showcase your style in music.
They’re additionally helpful for sourcing new music finds. For instance, if you wish to get into the subgenres of pop there’s an ‘important shoegaze/ dream pop songs’ record. If you wish to educate your self on music created by a specific sort of artist, there are many lists that act as guides, e.g. ‘A information to LGBTQ+ artists and icons’. There’s a record for the whole lot.
All of the sub-genres
What makes Musicboard certainly one of my homescreen heroes is its deal with creating a way of neighborhood. Whereas playlists are an excellent type of self-expression, there’s one thing concerning the look and placement of accounts on streaming that I discover isolating. Plus, they’re simply too tedious to entry. On Musicboard, I can clearly navigate and examine accounts I observe and see what my pals are listening to – that is the place the social side enters.
Just like mainstream social media platforms, my Musicboard timeline is each private and algorithmic, based mostly on what’s trending among the many normal demographic. If I need to see what my pals are listening to, the web page is definitely interchangeable between a ‘pals’ feed and a ‘well-liked’ feed that lists trending music throughout the app globally. This kind of homepage makes the person expertise extra pleasing, and I don’t really feel as restricted inside my navigation as I might on different platforms.
Or go Professional
There are two kinds of accounts on Musicboard; one free, and one ‘Professional’. The place the free model lets you doc and broaden your music journey as an fanatic, the Professional model is designed for the fanatics.
Professional is priced at $3.99 / £4.99 monthly and provides you entry to in-depth stats that aren’t accessible on the free model. Together with a flashy verification badge, Professional customers can view their most-listened-to genres and the way a lot music they take heed to month-to-month/ yearly with particulars of non-public evaluations and music scores. For those who’re somebody who evaluations music for a dwelling, Professional’s early characteristic entry is nice for pre-public releases.
A lot of Professional’s options are rooted in aesthetics that give members the flexibility to customise their accounts with customized profile settings and unique banners that may be added to lists. This characteristic isn’t completely well worth the cost for my part, nonetheless, it’s nonetheless enjoyable and playful.
Musicboard stands out to me as a platform centered on bringing music lovers to 1 place. Its flexibility signifies that it may be used and explored as in-depth as you need. Whether or not you’re a passive listener or a music nerd, Musicboard caters to totally different ranges of curiosity.
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