As extra music streaming apps and creation instruments emerge to compete for customers’ consideration, social music-sharing app Popster is getting two new options to develop its consumer base: an AI picture generator for canopy artwork and a collaboration functionality the place artists can remix one other consumer’s tune.
Initially launched final yr as a song-creation instrument and music video platform, Popster permits artists to interact with different musicians, create authentic songs and music movies, and share them on social media. Customers can document video and voice instantly within the app and add stickers and colour backgrounds. The app additionally gives a number of vocal results (created in-house) and a group part for artists to work together with one another.
The app has, naturally, jumped on the generative AI bandwagon as properly. For example, it gives methods for artists to generate concepts for lyrics in addition to create new beats to document vocals on prime. (Popster additionally makes use of AI tech to reinforce the audio if there’s background noise.)
One notable AI-powered instrument is the “Add a beat” characteristic. Powered by OpenAI, customers can choose a style (Lofi Hip Hop, R&B, Indie Pop, Sluggish Ballad, and so forth) and a vibe like “Clean” or “Regular” to compose a backtrack for singers so as to add their voice recordings on prime.
Popster trains its mannequin utilizing Mubert’s library of royalty-free pre-made tracks, distinguishing itself from AI music apps Udio and Suno, each of which lately confronted lawsuits for allegedly utilizing copyrighted music with out authorization.
“The difficulty with AI proper now could be that many individuals create songs which can be skilled from authentic songs, so that you don’t know who’s the unique creator, and there’s not this idea of creativity,” co-founder and CEO Themis Drakonakis instructed TechCrunch. “We consider that if you happen to put AI subsequent to the artist as a artistic associate, you’ll be able to experiment with [different sounds], unlock totally different concepts, and get your creativity to a different degree.”
Popster’s new paintings generator, “Albums,” is the most recent addition to its generative AI instruments (that are all powered by OpenAI). Along with with the ability to document and add movies, Popster now permits artists to enter a immediate to generate a picture that may be displayed like a sticker overlay on prime of an artist’s short-form video. This provides an additional layer of sophistication for brand new and up-and-coming artists attempting to introduce their new songs into the world.
One other certainly one of Popster’s new options seems to be its tackle TikTok’s “Sew” and “Duet” instruments, which artists incessantly use to mix their movies with different creators so as to add vocals, harmonize, or play devices. Popster’s new “Mashup” characteristic lets artists create remixes and collaborate with different artists. Customers can now click on the “Mashup” button underneath one other individual’s video and document their very own video, which is able to seem side-by-side.
Popster remains to be in its early days, with just a few thousand customers. Nevertheless, Popster’s newest options could also be what it wants to draw extra folks. To this point, practically 10,000 authentic songs have been created on the app. Drakonakis instructed us that customers spend a mean of 1.5 hours on the app every day.
The startup was co-founded by Drakonakis, who beforehand created three different apps, Nup (an nameless chat app), Self’it (a location-based photo-sharing app) and UniPad (a collaboration app for school college students), and Sotiris Kaniras (CTO), a former engineer for UniPad.
Popster raised $280,000 from the Notice Tech Fund and is within the midst of elevating a pre-seed funding spherical, which is able to assist it develop its crew and improve its video server. Different future plans embody launching paid options and teaming up with music labels.
The app is obtainable for obtain on the App Retailer.
