Chromatik Expands Free Digital Sheet Music Platform With Thousands Of New Titles
Chromatik launched in 2010 offering free sheet music in digital form via website and apps. They've gradually been building a true platform that enables not only learning to play songs via sheet music but such features as the ability to record and share video and audio sessions on the site and on social networks. They're now expanding the amount of sheet music they offer with additions from a wide range of publishers including Disney and UMPG for 20 different instruments. That's a great step forward and a real opportunity for musicians to access legit sheet music.
I haven't been following Chromatik's development so I don't know how it's changed over time but they seem to be doing a great job of taking the legal delivery of digital sheet music and building a community for musicians on top of that.
Metaphors Are So Important In Launching New Endeavors
The official announcement I received dubs Chromatik's addition of "thousands of free sheet music titles across over 20 instruments from Disney, Sony/ATV, EMI, Universal Music Publishing Group, and more" a "Spotify for Sheet Music" and I'm curious to see how many headlines follow that metaphor.
Metaphors are a big part of marketing so they're always worth discussing:
"Spotify opened the world to music streaming. Netflix changed the way we watch movies and television. Amazon, Nook, Oyster, and Scribd are competing on digital books. And now Chromatik is the first to provide a free sheet music streaming service."
Spotify and Netflix are the only streaming services on that list. The digital book examples are subscription services not streaming services. Chromatik is not a streaming service though one might call it an automated scrolling service but that doesn't sound so cool.
Ok, Fine, What's Chromatik Actually Doing?
This is the summary Hypebot got from Chromatik that describes what's new and how that all fits together in a straightforward manner:
"SPOTIFY FOR SHEET MUSIC — Chromatik now includes thousands of free titles from publishing partners Disney, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV, EMI, and many more. We're the first to make this model happen…Each tune is available for 20+ instruments, arranged for sheet music, guitar tablature, and melody lyrics. Hundreds (if not thousands) of new titles added weekly!"
"CREATIVE COMMUNITY — Chromatik now features a huge creative community of music makers. Users can share their video and audio sessions to the Chromatik Stage for everyone to see. Or share to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and more."
"MUSICIANS' HOME — No need to cobble together a bunch of apps or devices. We've added tools such as a metronome, tuner, practice log, uploading, and more to help musicians guide their sessions."
As I said before, I don't know the company well enough to know what's really new here but it sounds great. If I was playing an instrument I'd certainly be checking this out.
More:
- Chromatik Raises $5.7 Million For Digital Sheet Music
- 8 Steps To A Million YouTube Music Channel Views
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch) also blogs at DanceLand. Send news about music tech startups and services, DIY music biz and music marketing to: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
