By Sara Tucker, News Correspondent
It’s not every day big name musicians come to Boston, which leaves music lovers searching for something new. It can be difficult when a concert sounds interesting but the band’s music isn’t blaring on the radio every three hours. A new iphone application will have the adventurous and the shy concert-goers of the world rejoicing together.
With Timbre, a free application available in the Apple App Store, one can simply use the location services on an iPhone to automatically find a list of all registered concerts for the next week.
The set-up allows the user to scroll down a list of names with the dates marked on the left side. If the user sees something that sounds interesting, he can simply click on the band name to be directed to a page that features a picture of the artist, the event details, a link to buy tickets and an option to post to Facebook or Twitter about the event.
But what sets this app apart from other sites that find concerts, such as Live Nation and Ticketmaster, is the sample music that plays directly from the app. Users click on a band to hear one of its most popular songs, which will start playing with the touch of a button. It offers several songs to play through and an option to pause as well. And if users want a song right away, it offers a link to buy the song on iTunes, Amazon or Spotify, depending on where the artist’s music is sold.
Mark Kasdorf, who founded Intrepid Pursuits, the Cambridge-based company that created Timbre, told TechCrunch, a technology news blog, that there may also be more to come.
“There’s going to be a release in a couple of months that will enable you to listen to entire songs. We’re working out a couple of deals with some of the larger streaming services.”
Additionally, the app gives users a chance discover new music. The set lists feature many lesser known bands, and with one click, users can sample songs and possibly find something new that might interest them.
Timbre also allows the user to change the search radius settings, so those on campus not willing to travel far can change the setting to concerts within one or ten miles, while those with a car can increase the radius to 25 or even 50 miles.
Despite the appeal for young people and college students, a broader audience in Boston is getting excited about Timbre.
“I’m not much for night life, but I still enjoy stumbling across new music, and Timbre makes it exceptionally easy,” said Hiawatha Bray of the Boston Globe in an article earlier this month.
Timbre also makes it easy for musicians to get their band registered with the app, so that users can access its information and music when scrolling through. Links are also provided for bands whose music is not yet available to the public, a requirement to be featured on Timbre. Local bands or those trying to widen availability of their material can click on the links to be featured in Amazon, Spotify, or iTunes and then sign up to be on Timbre.
The app was created at the Boston Innovation Challenge Hackathon earlier this year, and freshman business major Alex Stoffel was quick to download Timbre when he read about it online.
“[Timbre] is really useful. Normally I use Shazam or Pandora to find music, so that’s the competition, but it’s definitely useful for finding concerts that I would be interested in.”
