Group music listening improves with Stationhead upgrade, Rythm relaunch

Numerous startups and several of the streaming services are working on improving the group music listening experience. This week, a pioneer in group listening relaunched on Dischord, and an innovator unveiled a major new feature that identifies and rewards superfans.

Stationhead adds Superfan tier with ‘Proof of Fandom’

This week, Stationhead added a new All-Access Membership tier for superfans to 1,000 of its fan communities, including an innovative “proof of fandom.”

As fans participate in streaks, streaming, and release parties, the data-driven feature will distinguish top superfans. After a 7-day streak, fans unlock the All-Access membership tier for 30 days, which can be extended for each consecutive 7-day streak.

Once unlocked, superfans then gain access to perks including:

• A badge in your profile that validates their fandom. This may sound minor, but Stationhead says it’s proving very important to fans.
• The ability to create posts fandom threads, ensuring that threads are posted by real fans, something fan communities care deeply about)
• Priority placement on guest call-in lists when artists and hosts call people on
• Participation in VIP-only chats

So far, community hosts have utilized the new feature to organize ticket giveaways. As an example, Zayn Malik created a VIP experience for All-Access fans with All Access-only chat during his release party for new single “Where I Am.”

Rythm relaunches

Pioneering group listening app Rythm relaunched on Discord this week.

Founded Yoav Zimet in 2016 as a Discord music app, Rythm returns to the platform backed by venture capital firms and with global licensing rights in place.

“I originally created Rythm as a way for me and my friends to connect over our mutual love for discovering and sharing music while gaming, but it quickly grew to become much more than that,” said Yoav Zimet, CEO & Co-Founder of Rythm who launched the first app at age 14. “We’ve created the new experience with the goal of bringing Rythm back better than ever, reuniting the previous community and further expanding to new listeners. We were able to do this thanks to our team, our partners, and our amazing community, who stuck with us. I’m so excited for what’s to come; this is just the beginning.”

In 2021, Rythm was forced to shut down due to the lack of licenses.

Over the past two years, he has raised capital from Corazon Capital, Mucker Capital, and CRUSH Ventures, along with artists and music management powerhouses Laffitte Management Group, Black Squirrel Partners, and co-founder of Q Prime Peter Mensch.

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a Berklee College Of Music professor.