Groovebug Gathers Content From Across Web To Create Rich iPad Music Experience

Groovebug, a free interactive music magazine app for the iPad, launched earlier this month. It offers recommended content based on your iTunes account as well as browsable content drawn from across the web in a dynamic presentation. Future development will include the opportunity for artists to interact with fans.

I spoke with Jeremiah Seraphine, CEO and Co-founder of Groovebug, and he filled me in on their current perspective as well as a bit of their future plans. He told me the inspiration for the app is, in part, the experience of listening to music while checking out album art and reading liner notes.

Groovebug for iPad

Though the iPad offers a number of advantages compared to other platforms, of particular importance is the ability to hold it in your hands while exploring content. In the case of Groovebug, that content is drawn from a variety of sources, such as YouTube and music blogs, and offers a great looking context for browsing and digging deeper.

Among other features, Groovebug's staff is curating music content in subgenres that feature artist bios, photos and music as well as news from blogs. I asked Seraphine about the issue of aggregating blog content and he says they show blog post summaries and then can show the whole post in the app which counts as a page view for the blog. So their approach to aggregation is not vampiric in the way that one finds with such media entities as Huffington Post.

Though Groovebug is clearly well-designed for the iPad (based on all evidence I can find without owning one!), they do have plans to develop the app for other platforms. It certainly seems like a project that could go over well on the open web.

They also have bigger plans that include giving artists access to the platform and developing it further as a space for artists and fans to interact. If that interests you, you can register now for an artist invite when those services become available. In good news for indies and struggling musicians, the basic service will be free.

Seraphine explained that they've been iterating quickly based on feedback in the beta stage and, now that they're open, they'd like even more feedback on which to base future development. You can state your wishes at: feedback(at)groovebug(dot)com.

I really like what I've seen of the app and mentioned that it made me much more interested in having an iPad. Seraphine said a number of people have shared similar desires and I think that's a great sign for the future of Groovebug on both the iPad and future platforms.

Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith is a freelance writer and blogger. He is currently relaunching Flux Research to pursue his long-standing obsession with web business models. To suggest music services and related topics for review at Hypebot, please contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.