Better conditions for producing music, more selection for listeners and more possibilities to connect and exchange. Four Start-Up projects presented their ideas on innovative music making and listening during the Musicday's “Start Ups in MusicTech”:

Soundtrap

Be creative, record, mix and listen anywhere you want. The “Soundtrap” app is available on all devices and works everywhere. The limitations of recording studios have been broken, allowing artists to be creative whilst on the go. Vanja Steinholtz's vision for a simpler music production process is presented in an app, which connects musicians from across the world.

Basslet

Julian Vogel's concept is also directed at musicians. The small wristband with the round button resembling a wrist watch, uses a metronome to set the beat. If someone plays an instrument while wearing the “Basslet”, it will inform the player if they are off beat. The idea behind the concept is optimisation: become better and exchange with others – a type of self-tracking for musicians.

We Are Music

How can music be distributed and shared after being recoded? Record deals are only won by a small amount of musicians. Michael Pinto and his “We Are Music” (WAM) team want to make the sharing and distribution of songs easier. WAM collects all recordings from all social media platforms and bundles them for better visibility. “Fuck that record label” is the name of the game.

Basslet

The final idea presented on the panel is aimed at listeners. Its focus is on everyone who enjoys concerts, feeling the bass on their skin and the goose bumps caused by their favourite song. Do songs over headphones give you that same feeling? “Basslet” is a wristband connected to a device that transmits music via vibrations onto the wrist. Daniel Büttner wants us to really feel the music we hear. Let's shake our whole body, not just our ear drums.

Image: re:publica/Jan Michalko (CC BY 2.0)