Noah Rough has been using Spotify exclusively since college.
The University of Louisville alum liked how he could discover new music and create playlists on the music streaming platform. But when it came to sharing those playlists with his friends, Rough turned to Instagram.
"I realized that I didn't take engagement seriously on Spotify," he said. "You have a profile, but the follow button on Spotify is kind of pointless. That contributed to the initial idea for Groupie."
Groupie, co-founded by Rough and fellow Louisvillian John Geddes, is a new mobile-based music sharing application that allows users to share their favorite songs, albums and playlists with their friends and fans, while also discovering new music and their listening habits. It just launched for iOS and Android late last month.
Equal parts social media network and music discovery platform, Groupie is for music lovers and musicians alike, where users can post about what they're listening to, write reviews and get recommendations based off the artists they already enjoy.
“If an artist releases a new song, fans either rejoice or reject, then repeat. The conversation stops there,” Geddes said. “Through Groupie, artists, both well known and local, are not only able to announce their own music, they can also share the albums or songs that inspire them in their day to day. This is the conversation that’s been missing. Who doesn’t want to know what their favorite musician is listening to?”
Groupie launched with 22 features including a "Timeline Switcher" allowing users to discover exactly what type of music they desire: albums, songs, or playlists. Others include "Custom Lists" to keep track of favorite music and "Listen Later," which is a personal collection of music for a later listening session.
Rough also told me about the "Record Wall" feature, inspired by his own love for vinyl.
"I would hang my vinyls up on my wall, and I thought it'd be pretty cool if everyone could have something like that," he said. "If you create a profile and swipe right on it, you're able to showcase the music that defines you. It'll be unique for every user because everyone has a unique, individual taste."
Not to show my age, but this isn't the first time a social media platform has placed a priority on music. Myspace, established in 2003, helped launch the careers of many artists prior to Youtube. It also allowed users to feature songs on their profiles, which Facebook didn't offer until 2018 (not that many people use that feature today).
"I think the biggest thing about social media nowadays is that it's always focused on you," Rough said. "For instance, on Instagram, you're always posting pictures of yourself or you with your friends, and it's the same thing on Facebook and Twitter, where you're talking about yourself.
"I think that the interesting thing with Groupie is that you're not talking about you, you're talking about the music. You're talking about what's getting your emotions going that day, what's making you excited, happy, sad, whatever — I think that being able to connect with people on that listening experience is what makes Groupie unique."
While Groupie has been highlighted Louisville artists during its launch, such as Church Friends, Sam Brenzel, and Boa Boys, Rough said the app has had international downloads already in Germany and India.
Groupie is the first app developed by Groupie Studios LLC, and for now, continuing to build out new features and grow its user base on that platform is the startup's main focus. But there could be more opportunities down the road, Rough said.
"If we have another app idea we think would grow, we would definitely consider doing that. But it would all depend on time, money and resources," he said. "The end-all, be-all for Groupie that I think would be great is honestly just to sell to Spotify. That'd be a great outcome."
