Play It Forward

By now, all music lovers are well aware of tech-saviours like Shazam, Spotify, SoundCloud, Pandora and such. But, with new artists and sounds springing up almost every day, there is a still a large, innovative, ever-changing world out there to discover. It’s time to take it to the next level and explore the latest beats, harmonies and melodies on offer! Here’s the low-down on our favourite new ways to revel in music:

1. DiscoverTracks This new online platform lets you zone in on the tracks your favourite musicians are listening to. It takes just a couple of clicks to connect DiscoverTracks to your SoundCloud account (if you’re a music lover and you don’t have one, I’m judging you) and it will present a tailored radio station based on the favourites of those you follow. What’s more, the app allows you to add songs from your personalised radio station to a playlist, so that you don’t lose any great discoveries.

2. BioBeats Now this really excites me. The app sets your heart to music…literally. BioBeats uses your iOS device to detect your heart rate, and then generates custom music in any genre you choose. All you have to do is open the app and hold your finger over the iPhone camera —the optical sensor in the camera monitors changes in the finger’s colour as blood flows. This can determine heart-rate, and the app then plays music off that tempo. Forget searching for music to fit your mood, this app will just do it for you!

3. Rormix Today, anyone can go online and procure a list of the hottest current music artists. However, new unsigned artists are harder to find. Rormix is an app for iOS and Android that helps you find music videos from unsigned artists, based on your taste. So if you search for ‘John Legend’, for example, the app will unearth artists with a similar sound to the heart-melting crooner. The layout of Rormix is pleasantly user-friendly and videos can also be seen by genre or in ‘Fresh’ and ‘Trending’ feeds, showing you what’s new and what’s popular.

4. Beep This snazzy thingamajig offers a new WiFi-based multi-room audio solution. Yes, there are already multi-room streaming systems like Sonos, but the setups are expensive and force their own speakers on you. Beep isn’t selling speakers — it focuses instead on working with the audio gear you already have. The compact device is shaped like a classic audio volume dial and can be interconnected throughout the home…either over a common wireless network or into any speaker system with a line-in input. You can also control Beep using an app, which will be available for both Android and iOS. The app is used for setup, as well as grouping speakers into separate zones — so you can sync the same music in every room, or play different tracks in different zones.

5. Craaave In short, this is SnapChat for music! Say you’re listening to music on your way to work and a song comes up that your best buddy would absolutely love — you want to share it right away. Usually, you’d have to either send them a YouTube link (and watch as it takes ages to send through WhatsApp) or wait till you meet them. With Craaave, you search for songs manually within the app, but can also use it like Shazam to identify and send a song. Currently, the app integrates with iTunes, Spotify, SoundCloud, Deezer and Rdio, making the music accessible to a wide variety of people. The outbox shows you when friends have listened to a song and whether they saved it. It’s easy to spread the joy!