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Hive app review: a fun way to discover new and emerging musical stars

Reviews

Introduction

As an avid music lover I’m always on the lookout for the next big act or even just a song that catches my attention and there’s no better way of doing that then by trolling the Internet for the next big thing. For those of us that started life in an era before the World Wide Web had gained widespread acceptance, discovering new artists meant late nights at basement clubs having a good time with your friends. These days that’s still an option, but you don’t have to even leave your living room to discover an exciting new act if you don’t want to. There are all kinds of sites and apps specifically geared towards giving an indie artist a chance and letting the masses learn all about them.

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One new app that’s starting to make a bit of a buzz as a great way to discover new and emerging artists is an app called Hive. It’s an app that’s growing in popularity and it features thousands of new artists just waiting to be discovered. The app doesn’t charge you a penny to discover these new artists. It’s all about exposure and  a potential win for those emerging artists by getting their name and songs out to the public. It’s also a win for you and I, because we can discover some cool new music and become the first followers of a great act. The app’s available for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Introduction image

Hive - Music Discovery

Free

Becoming a Member

HiveFive makes it easy for you to become a member of the site with a simple sign-up process that takes all of about three seconds to complete. All you have to do is choose a username, select a password, save your information and you’re up and running. Oh, they do also ask you for your gender and your age and then it’s simply a matter of jumping right in feet first.

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Walks You Through Every Step of the Way

There are far too many apps out there that aren’t very user friendly. These are the types of apps that have no help section, no introduction, and no kind of explanation on how to use the app. Generally, they leave the user with a sour taste in their mouth. And, in my case, they soon lose my attention. This app was refreshing because it has a five stage introductory walk-through process that explains every aspect of how the app works. They use a voice over with samples which makes figuring things out a breeze.

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Hive - Music Discovery

Free

Create a Killer Profile

This app has some interesting qualities to it including the ability to create a profile that matches your own personality. The main difference between your profile on this app and other apps is that your profile here is simply your musical tastes. You select the genre and they start pitching music that they think you might be interested in. As you start to develop a library of music, the app learns your tastes and refines the offerings provided to you based on those tastes.

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It’s like Tinder for Music

Most of us have heard of the dating app Tinder, which uses an innovative technique that allows the user to select potential dating partners in a fun and friendly format. The music app Hive uses a very similar process to allow you to select the music you like or dislike. Once you’ve selected the genre you want to take a look at, they present you with a series of 30 second sound clips of artists they think you may like. When you find one that you do actually like, you simply swipe to the right to note that you want to save it in your library. If you don’t like the tune you swipe to the left, it won’t be selected to your library, and the app will modify its suggestions to you based on this new criteria. Every song that you swipe to the right is saved in your music library so you can listen to the full song at any time.

You can really see that this app is a labor of love by its creators – three guys that went on spring break to Florida together in 2015 and decided it would be a great idea to create an app like this. Soon after they returned home, they got to work on their idea and the Hive app is the result of their endeavor. There are more than 3000 artists featured on this app, with almost 5000 songs to choose from – it’s really come a long way in a short period of time.

It’s like Tinder for Music image

Helpful Band Links

A cool feature that is built into the app is the ability to quickly find out more about any band you’re interested in by tapping on the link to their own site or info around the web built right into the app. Sure, you can probably find this information yourself, but it’s nice to have it conveniently on hand within the app itself.

If you’re an artist trying to get started yourself, you can also upload your own songs to the app to be shared with all of its users. It’s a great way to gain exposure and it’s a potential launching point for a great career. You do have to have a SoundCloud account to use this feature though as your songs must be imported from that app. It’s a slight inconvenience, but not a major hurdle to overcome and probably a small price to pay for some great potential exposure.

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Simple sign-up process
  • Create a custom profile
  • Select favorites with a swipe
  • Your favorite songs are saved in your own personal library
  • You can change the genre at any time
  • Artists can post their own music by linking through their SoundCloud account
  • Helpful links to band pages

Cons

  • You have to use SoundCloud to post your own music

Pros and Cons image

A Great Way to Discover New Music

Music is a big part of our lives and it’s always nice to discover something new – after all, who doesn’t like to tell their friends that they had heard a band years before they ever made it big? If you like to be on the cutting edge of musical discovery, then this is an app you simply have to add to your iDevice today! It’s got a spot on mine and I look forward to the addition of new artists and songs. It's easily one of the best apps to discover new music for the entire iOS. 

Hive - Music Discovery

Free
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Allan Calder

Allan is a freelance writer who loves scouring the App Store for exciting, intriguing and unique apps.