Timbre app makes noise in the live music world

Boston is home to some of the best music scenes in America.  And now, there is finally an app to combine the music discovery aspect of Spotify with the at-your-fingertips location services of the smartphone. The music app Timbre (pronounced “timber”), created by Intrepid Pursuits, provides users with information about what bands are playing at local venues, connects them to the iTunes store in order to hear clips of a given musician’s more popular songs and allows them to purchase tickets for the show from concert websites. Released on Sept. 7, the app had over 2,000 downloads in the Apple App Store in just eight hours.  But with all the other concert apps in the App Store, what makes Timbre a great option before a weekend out? 

Users have been mostly raving about the design and intuitiveness of the app, which makes it easy to find results quickly even for the technologically-challenged crowd. After installing Timbre on your Apple device, just type in your zip code, and up pops an elegant listing of the acts playing nearby in a timeline-like design where users can find shows happening today or in upcoming days. Touch the name for more details, and the option to listen to the 30-second preview of a song by the artist.  Also on that page, you can get information on how to buy tickets. Afterwards, the app allows you to post messages on Twitter or Facebook so you can brag to your friends about the show you just bought tickets for. 

In order to use Timbre you don’t need to make another account with another username and another password that you will most likely not remember.  The purpose of Timbre is to discover new bands, unlike other apps available which allow users to make an account to personalize their results and leave out genres of bands they would not want listed in their results.  In an article by Joshua Brunstein in the New York Times, Mark Kasdorf, graduate of Boston University and the founder of Intrepid Pursuits said, “There are excellent apps if what you want to do is find out whether the bands you like are playing near you. We want to be a service that lets you listen to a lot of music quickly. We don’t want you to not find any jazz, or any country, because you think you don’t like it.”

For the music and concert industry, which is suffering from the growing trend of illegal downloads, Timbre is a step in the right direction. The app promotes up-and-coming bands while also encourages users to download songs legally through iTunes. Still, this point calls to attention one of the key limitations of the app. Previews of songs are only available if the band has songs for sale on iTunes.  Since some of the bands featured on the app are so small and not yet on iTunes, Kasdorf says future versions of Timbre will also connect to services like SoundCloud or Spotify to expand the app’s reach.  Also, an Android version is expected to be released by the end of the year.  However, as of now, the app is only available to iPhone and other Apple devices running on iOS5 or later.  Some users also wish that there was more ability to customize their search results, but the makers of the app only allow for settings that adjust the distance users would be willing to drive.

Timbre is a great at-your-fingertips service for users to find new bands in new locations with a new, modern and user-friendly design.