Startup music discovery service Herd.fm has launched a new iOS application designed to deliver a new standard for music sharing and discovery for mobile devices. Based on the idea that many users’ music listening is now centered around mobile phones rather than traditional media players and desktop PCs, Herd.fm is customized for the iPhone and iPod touch to provide a streamlined and user-friendly way of connecting people through songs and playlists. The app leverages a user’s iTunes listening history and Facebook sharing activity to provide a snapshot of recent favourites and as a basis for intelligent music recommendations from Last.fm combined with Herd.fm’s own matching algorithms. Users can share their favourite music at any given moment or manually select songs from their device’s music library to create shareable mini-mixes.
Herd.fm allows users to broadcast recommendations via Facebook and Twitter but is primarily designed for person-to-person sharing, encouraging users to post recommendations directly to their friends on a personal level rather than merely posting to a feed. The app also integrates SoundCloud and YouTube APIs to provide direct in-app streaming of recommended tracks and provides links to song purchases via the iTunes Store. Artist tour dates are provided when available via the Songkick concert API and Herd.fm also incorporates a geo-location feature to display a visualization of where your shared songs are being listened to around the world by other Herd.fm users. Herd.fm requires iOS 4.2 or later and is available from the App Store as a free download.
