Soundwave (Music Discovery)

Soundwave
Mobile application
Founder Brendan O'Driscoll
Aidan Sliney
Craig Watson
Owner Spotify[1]
Website www.soundwave.com

Backed by Mark Cuban and ACT Venture Capital[2][3] , Soundwave is a mobile music-discovery startup founded in 2012. Soundwave tracks what songs people are listening to on their smartphones and where in real time. Powered by unique patent-pending technology, users can plug into different groups of people and locations in real time to see what songs are trending & discover new music as quickly as it is played. Soundwave was launched on 20 June 2013 and has since been downloaded by 1.4 million users in over 194 countries worldwide. As of November 2014, Soundwave was featured in the Editor’s Choice section of the Google Play Store.[4]

History

Soundwave was founded by Brendan O’Driscoll and Aidan Sliney in November 2011 in Dublin, Ireland.[5] After initial validation studies and customer interviews, the team applied to the National Digital Research Centre Launchpad accelerator programme.[6] Soundwave received a place in the 5th iteration of the programme that began on 13 February 2012.[7] During the programme Craig Watson joined the founding team. In May 2012, the team were awarded 1st place as the best start-up to graduate from the accelerator programme having been selected as the winner by a panel of 4 judges.[8][9][10]

Launch

Soundwave was launched worldwide on iPhone and Android on 20 June 2013 in 14 languages.[11][12][13][14][15] It has been downloaded in over 180 countries.[16][17] An updated version was created to coincide with the launch of iOS 7.[18][19] On 17 July 2014, Soundwave launched Soundwave 2.0. introducing a new music messenger feature.[20][21][22]

Availability

As of January 2015, Soundwave is available for iOS and Android mobile devices. In 2014, Soundwave announced their availability for Android Wear which allowed users to share music to Twitter, view notifications and follow users back on Soundwave.[23][24]

Features

Tracking

Soundwave integrates with music streaming players Spotify, YouTube, 8Tracks, Rdio, Soundcloud, Pandora and Deezer. Native android music players supported are Poweramp, HTC Music Player, Real Music Player, Samsung Music Player, Google Play Music, Nike+ and Sony music players. Soundwave also supports the native music player on iOS. In March 2014, Soundwave announced its new feature of tracking desktop plays on the browser Google Chrome. Players supported for Chrome desktop tracking are Rdio, Spotify, Deezer, 8tracks, Myspace, Pandora, Google music, VK Music, Songza, Gaana, Grooveshark, Beats Music, Rhapsody and Napster. In January 2015, Soundwave announced new integration with the Sony Walkman music player along with Amazon Music, Player Pro, Tidal Lossless Audio and Winamp.

Social Media Integration

Soundwave allows registered users to integrate their existing social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter. Once integrated, users connect with Soundwave users who are already connected on Facebook and Twitter. Additionally, users can tweet directly from the Soundwave app. Facebook login is sometimes required to accurately track plays from streaming services Rdio, Deezer, Spotify and 8tracks.

YouTube Integration

In January 2014, Soundwave announced its integration with YouTube. This supports full video playback on the app.

Music Map

The music map allows users to draw around any area and see the most recent songs that have been listened to in that location.

Recognition

Soundwave was featured in the ‘Best of 2013’ collection on the Apple App Store in January 2014.[25]
Soundwave’s android development team won the ‘Top Developer Award’ from Google in March 2014[26] after it was previously featured in the ‘Staff Picks’ section of the Google play store.[27]
In May 2014, founders Brendan O’Driscoll and Aidan Sliney were finalists in the Emerging category award for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2014 award for their work at Soundwave.[28] Both founders and the Soundwave team were featured on the RTE television series ‘The Entrepreneurs’ in the lead up to the EOY Awards event.[29]

After the launch of Soundwave 2.0, Soundwave was featured in the ‘Best of July’ collection on the Apple App Store.[30] In November 2014, Soundwave was named Editor’s Choice in the Google Play store for their Android build of Soundwave.[31]

Soundwave has also been featured on Forbes,[32] Apple Inc.,[33] TechCrunch,[34] The Next Web[35] and Gigazine.[36]

- See more at: http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/soundwave#sthash.nE8qYdoR.dpuf

References

  1. ↑ https://medium.com/@aidansliney/spotify-acquires-soundwave-6afcab08f51a#.9n9q9vlz5
  2. ↑ "Crunchbase"
  3. ↑ "Techcrunch"
  4. ↑ "Editor's Choice on the Google Play store"
  5. ↑ "Hard Working Class Heroes 2012 / Soundwave". Hwch.net. 2012-02-13. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  6. ↑ "NDRC Portfolio - NDRC". Ndrc.ie. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  7. ↑ "NDRC LaunchPad is the top ranked Irish accelerator in the Kauffman Fellows European table - Irish Software Innovation Network". Isin.ie. 2011-06-24. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  8. ↑ "Techcentral | Technology news and analysis from Ireland". Techcentral.ie. 2012-05-17. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  9. ↑ Carmel Doyle (2012-05-17). "Soundwave wins NDRC Lift Off competition - Start Ups - Start-Ups | siliconrepublic.com - Ireland's Technology News Service". siliconrepublic.com. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  10. ↑ Aoife Byrne (2012-05-22). "Ireland's Next Top Mogul | RTÉ Digital Blog". Rte.ie. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  11. ↑ "Soundwave prepares for official launch - Technology Industry News | Market & Trends | The Irish Times - Thu, Jun 20, 2013". The Irish Times. 2013-06-20. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  12. ↑ Dredge, Stuart (2013-06-20). "Soundwave hopes to shake up music discovery on iPhone and Android | Technology". theguardian.com. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  13. ↑ Carmel Doyle (2013-06-21). "Surfing the App Store charts – Soundwave aims to reach top spot today, with Wozniak support - Start Ups - Start-Ups | siliconrepublic.com - Ireland's Technology News Service". siliconrepublic.com. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  14. ↑ Friday, 21 June 2013 (2013-06-21). "Soundwave app 'explodes worldwide'". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  15. ↑ Jim Carroll jimcarroll (2013-06-24). "Soundwave: the Irish music story of the year so far | On The Record". Irishtimes.com. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  16. ↑ "Soundwave, The Music Discovery App Backed By Mark Cuban, Is Placing A Big Bet On Big Data". TechCrunch. 2013-07-09. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  17. ↑ Goldberg, Bryan (2013-06-26). "Soundwave raises €1 million in seed funding from Mark Cuban and ACT Venture Capital, hits 560,000 plays five days after launch". PandoDaily. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  18. ↑ Carmel Doyle (2013-10-01). "Soundwave plans to surf the big data crest, with thumbs-up from Wozniak - Start Ups - Start-Ups | siliconrepublic.com - Ireland's Technology News Service". siliconrepublic.com. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  19. ↑ Carmel Doyle (2013-09-19). "Soundwave rocks App Store charts yet again as Apple unleashes iOS 7 - Digital Life - Digital Life | siliconrepublic.com - Ireland's Technology News Service". siliconrepublic.com. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  20. ↑ "Soundwave joins messenger"
  21. ↑ "Messenging takes centre stage as part of Soundwave"
  22. ↑ Martin Bryant, "Soundwave evolves into a group messenging app"
  23. ↑ "Anroid Wear Smartwatch"
  24. ↑ Josh Ong, "6 first third party android wear apps"
  25. ↑ "Best of 2013 on the Apple App store"
  26. ↑ "Soundwave android team wins top developer award from Google"
  27. ↑ "Soundwave android team wins Top Developer award from Google"
  28. ↑ "24 Businesses shortlisted for EY Entrepreneur of the Year awar"
  29. ↑ "The Entrepreneurs television show on RTE"
  30. ↑ "Best of July 2014 on Apple App Store"
  31. ↑ "Editor Choice on the Google Play store"
  32. ↑ Haydn Shuaghnessy "Why music is the next big battle for the tech titans"
  33. ↑
  34. ↑ "Apple's Job Creation in Europe"
  35. ↑ MArtin Bryant, "Soundwave evolves into a group messenging app"
  36. ↑ http://gigazine.net/news/20140717-soundwave/
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