6 Standout Apps From SF Music Hack Day

This guest post comes from Eliot Van Buskirk, a longtime technology writer for Evolver.fm, CNET, Wired and other publications, two-time book author, and frequent guest on NPR and other media outlet who believes that apps are the future of music.

Music Hack Day, where app developers and hardware gurus gather to build functional music “hacks” that often incorporate technologies from a variety of companies by mashing up their APIs, arrived in tech mecca San Francisco earlier this month, much to the delight of anyone who is interested in clever music stuff.

All told, San Francisco Music Hack Day was a slightly more subdued affair than the New York City event held in February –- but that didn’t preclude a ton of great hacks from coming out of the two-day event.

As in New York, hacks were largely based on the APIs presented to the crowd, with Rdio, Soundcloud, and The Echo Nest (publisher of Evolver.fm) being three of the most popular.

All 55 hacks presented were cool in their own way; we chose six to highlight that stood out from the rest.

• HeartBeatMatch Introduces Soulmates with Music Taste, Location
• Crowdjuke Taps Facebook To Create Perfect Party Playlists
• Songsicle Unites Music Hack Day Attendees With Their Mothers
• The Buy Button: Search Multiple Stores for Music
• Bipolar Radio: Like a Mood-Steerable Pandora
• SoundRain ‘Makes It Rain’ for Artists, Sells Music on SoundCloud

Photo courtesy of Flickr/Thomas Bonte