LinkoTec, a startup that synchronizes your music across your devices, is getting into the music-sharing business with a new Facebook application called Dazzplay.
Dazzplay isna4‚¬a4„t the first app allowing users to share playlists on Facebook &8212' competitors include MixPod. But after seeing a demo of Dazzplay and trying it out for myself, I&'m impressed by its integration with Facebook and other features. And since Dazzplay isna4‚¬a4„t hosting any music itself,and instead linking to music hosted elsewhere, ita4‚¬a4„s avoiding many of the pitfalls faced by other music startups.
Herea4‚¬a4„s how it works. You can search for music in Dazzplay, or you can just import a playlist from iTunes. Then Dazzplay searches for YouTube videos for those songs and creates a playlist. (In some cases, it finds the official music video, in others it finds YouTube videos that combine a recording of the song with some other visual.) When youa4‚¬a4„re done editing the list, you can publish it to your personal Facebook Wall, or to other Walls that you manage. Your friends can play the full list directly from the wall, without installing the app, they can edit and share it themselves, and if they like a song they can buy the MP3 from 7Digital.
For example, when I tried Dazzplay this morning, I imported the iTunes list of my 25 most-played songs, and the app found YouTube videos for 13 tracks. Unfortunately, I wasna4‚¬a4„t able to publish the list to my Facebook Wall due to a bug. (When chief executive Tero Salonen demonstrated the app for me last week, the sharing feature worked just fine.)
Dazzplay has been in beta testing for the last few weeks, and Salonen said hea4‚¬a4„s ready to take the beta label off today.
LinkoTec is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland and it raised $1.5 million from HTT Sixgen and Veraventure earlier this year. The Dazzplay app is free, so LinkoTec plans to make money through a revenue sharing deal with 7Digital for MP3 purchases, and also by allowing musicians and companies to create sponsored channels for sharing playlists with fans. And Dazzplay helps promote LinkoTec&'s Dazzboard media management software, which you have to install to import an iTunes list.
[top image via Flickr/Flattop341]
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Companies: LinkoTec
People: Tero Salonen
Companies: LinkoTec
People: Tero Salonen
Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.
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