Software has revolutionized the music industry, streamlining and simplifying the production process, but what about the intense writing process musicians experience pre-production? Thanks to a brand new iPhone app called Hum, artists can now abandon scribbling lyrics and notes on a piece of paper in exchange for a digital library of musical creativity. Using Hum, musicians can record music and lyrics directly to their phone, pair the songs with written notes and archive everything into a categorized list of their own unfinished pieces. Take a look at their story:
Q: What was the inspiration for Hum?
The idea for Hum was born out of frustration. We (founders Aaron Shekey and Joseph Kuefler) were both filling our voice memos and notes apps with new songs and lyric concepts. None of those apps were built for musicians, so it was difficult to keep the process organized. We constantly had questions like "have I recorded this idea before?" or "are any of these ideas related?" Many thoughts and ideas were lost or collected dust.
Put simply, there had to be a better way. Eventually, I (Aaron) came to Joseph with the basic idea and an outline for Hum. We had talked about starting something together, so Hum became the scratch for that itch. I quit Adobe and focused on framing out the experience, and Joseph branded and named it, and we worked together to do the rest. Shortly there after, Ellen Shapiro was added to do the heavy lifting while I focused on the front-end interactions.
Q: Sounds like an awesome niche to fill! What has been your greatest success so far?
One of our musical heroes, Ben Kweller is using Hum. We think that's pretty righteous!
Q: That's awesome, celebrity involvement is always helpful. So what does the future of Hum look like?
Well, we've just started adding social features to Hum, where you'll be able to share your works in progress via Twitter and Facebook. In a year's time we'd love to grow our active users while fostering a Dribbble-like community for songwriters.
Very cool. Be sure to check out Hum on your iPhone, and if you're a musician start recording! Also, join us at the Beta.mn event on Sept 9th to learn more about Hum, along with other rising start-ups in Minneapolis.