Hipster Bait: The Music Discovery App For Fans Who Want To Find New Music 1st
By Team JamBase Aug 28, 2020 • 1:20 pm PDT
Hipster Bait is the location-based music discovery app for music fans that want to find new music first. Available for free on iOS and Android, the Hipster Bait mobile app uses augmented reality and location-based technology to send players out into the real world to hunt down and capture unreleased, exclusive new music.
“Great music tracks are getting laid down every day but it’s harder than ever to get that music out to people that want to hear it and make a living while doing it,” Hipster Bait co-Founder Michael Tension explained. “As artists, we can’t rely solely on the algorithms of over-crowded streaming services. We need to find new ways for fans to experience music. So for those that say rock n’ roll is dead, I’m here to tell you it’s alive and well, and we’re going to help people rediscover it.”
Each week, Hipster Bait releases exclusive unreleased songs from emerging artists that are hidden across a network of physical locations. Hipster Bait is available in cities in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California and Nevada with over 15,000 virtual locations to hide music.
“Superfans, the early adopters, are crucial to launching a band’s popularity,” SubPop Records founder Bruce Pavitt stated. “Hipster Bait encourages these fans to learn about emerging artists by gamifying music discovery,”
To further entice fans to get off their couches and into the streets, songs are anonymous for the first two weeks, like a blind taste test. Once the music is found, the AR cassette is removed from the map and players have the responsibility to hide it again in a new location for someone else to find. After the artist is revealed, players can easily revisit the song in their cassette box and springboard to artist platforms.
“It’s great to see people getting into the game — especially rehiding music in new places,” added Tension. “Each location is a game piece. So when our players get excited about taking Bait into the hidden gems of their city, we’re co-creating the game.”
Since launching in June 2020, Hipster Bait has already helped over 40 artists release new music on the platform. While everyone is trying to crack the code on experience-driven solutions for artists and musicians, Hipster Bait also supports artists with launch coordination, mailing list subscribers, song ratings, and location-based insights to plan tours.
“You can poster and make Facebook events for a month and not get nearly as much as you would from a couple fans in the Hipster Bait app sharing your stuff, getting hyped about the band and telling their friends,” said Dave Greig, lead guitarist of Canadian band Big Flakes and Hipster Bait participant.
Learn more at www.hipsterbait.com.
[Sponsored Content: Hipster Bait is a JamBase client.]
