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Band of the Day is iOS music history interactive book publisher 955 Dreams' - known for hits The History of Jazz and On The Way to Woodstock - foray into the music discovery genre. And they have come up with an app that should make indie music lovers happy every day of the year. Band a Day is exactly what it sounds like -an app that features one new band each day. One a listener is likely unfamiliar with if they get their music from FM radio. The selections are from the indie scene, but from across many sub-genres from rock to Latin to pop.
Every day the app presents an artist in-depth in a GUI designed specifically for the iPhone. Users can listen to full-length songs by the artist or listen to a mix tape, curated by 935 dreams, that features similar artists. There are also detailed biographical pages, interviews, the latest gossip or “buzz,” and a selection of YouTube videos featuring the band in question, along with a catalog of their albums. Of course all the music can be purchased easily from iTunes.
But the user is encouraged to share their favorites using social media. The app incorporates Twitter, Facebook and email, along with a star system for users to create a favorites list and pass it along. Sharing videos and songs earns the user additional tracks to spice up the daily mix tape. Users can also vote for a band they want to see featured via twitter using the hashtag #bod_pc, - the pc meaning “people’s choice.” The music player looks slick, the sound quality of the recordings is good and the variety of artists, albeit from the limited sample I was able to check out, seems extensive. It’s free to try for a week. To keep, it costs $.99 a month or $9.99 a year – we went for the whole package. It’s a great new way to discover over 1500 new songs a year on iOS and share them with the world.
