Smule Demonstrates The Power Of Building A Community For Lovers Of Music
Smule appears to be going from success to success with its roster of karaoke and music apps designed for participation as well as listening. Over the last year they've turned their efforts to building a platform for those users many of whom are now part of a growing community. This has already been good business for Smule with around 125 million checking out their apps but, according to co-founder and CEO Jeff Smith, "We think we'll have a couple of billion people creating music on our network over time. That's why we're here."
You may have noticed that Smule was one of the top music app companies for revenue in August. Smule was no. 8, right in between Spotify and Apple.
I'm a big fan of Smule for being a company that makes money off helping people have a great time, make music and connect with other people. But it's easy to forget how powerful a community can be when you don't participate and there isn't news coverage of every homepage pixel change.
An excellent piece by Patrick Hoge reminded me of that fact while providing a nice little peak into a world that's more complex than I realized.
Smule launched its social network for users of its eight mobile apps last year. In August they launched the Smule Artist Program after highly successful test runs.
Though Hoge doesn't have figures on the network's current size, he does share some stats on size and growth:
- $20.6 million in revenue last year, on track for $40 million in 2014.
- 20 million monthly active users.
- Company growth from 72 to almost 100 this year.
Smule's impressive progress is built on a solid community of people sharing what they love. Apparently it led Thomas Newton, who I can't clearly identify beyond this article, though I think it's this guy, to embark on a documentary trip with another Smule user.
Hoge goes on to share a few anecdotes and it's pretty clear, as Thomas Newton put it, "people on the app are literally obsessed."
Smule's also now giving artists a boost with its Artist Program. It officially began in August and included a band called Flagship on Bright Antenna Records. One of their songs was played almost 2.35 million times. They're now on tour and Smule's been promoting the band to local users.
Taken as a whole Smule's doing a great job making apps people love, supporting them in building community and now spreading the word about new artists.
More:
- Music Apps Hit App Annie's Top 10 iOS and Google Play Revenue Charts
- Smule Artist Program Opens Powerful Marketing Opportunity To Indie Musicians
- Will The Next Justin Bieber Be Discovered On Smule's New Social Network?
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch) recently launched DanceLand and is relaunching Crowdfunding For Musicians. Contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
