Hype Machine is a
music blog
An MP3 blog is a type of blog in which the creator makes music files, normally in the MP3 format, available for download. They are also known as musicblogs, audioblogs or soundblogs (the latter two can also mean podcasts). MP3 blogs have become ...
aggregator created by Anthony Volodkin.
History
Hype Machine was originally a music database created in 2005 by Anthony Volodkin, then a sophomore
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
major at
Hunter College
Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...
.
[Heilemann, Joh]
Capturing the buzz
''CNN Money
CNN Business (formerly CNN Money) is a financial news and information website, operated by CNN. The website was originally formed as a joint venture between CNN.com and Time Warner's ''Fortune'' and ''Money'' magazines. Since the spin-off of Time ...
''. March 15, 2007. The site was born out of Volodkin's frustration with music magazines and radio stations.
[Van Buskirk, Elio]
The Music Fan Behind Hype Machine: Q&A With Anthony Volodkin
''Wired Magazine
''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online magazine, online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquar ...
''. May 28, 2007. He said, "I discovered MP3 blogs like Stereogum and Music for Robots. I couldn't believe there were people spending their time writing about music, putting up tracks so you could hear them. And I thought, there has to be a way to bring this all together."
[ In 2005, Volodkin sent his site address to pioneers in the online music domain, including Lucas Gonze of ]Webjay
Webjay was a web-based playlist service launched in early 2004. Playlists consisted of links to Vorbis, MP3, WMA, RealAudio and/or other audio files on the web. Webjay users could create new playlists by copying from existing playlists, or by we ...
, in order to gain feedback. Instead of sending a response, Gonze and others posted the link online. Volodkin observed, Machine] got launched without ever being launched."[30 Under 30 2009: No. 27 Anthony Volodkin]
''Inc.com''.
Hype Machine had an advertising partnership with SpinMedia, BuzzMedia until 2014, when it switched to Townsquare Media
Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...
.
Site structure
Hype Machine's structure has been described as an "amalgamation of Pandora Radio
Pandora is a subscription-based music streaming service owned by Sirius XM Holdings based in Oakland, California, United States. The service carries a focus on recommendations based on the "Music Genome Project" — a means of classifying indiv ...
and Pitchfork Media
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog.
Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...
".[ It aggregates the most recently posted songs from a selection of music blogs (about 800) and lists them on the website's main page.][Van Buskirk, Elio]
Friends Can Track Each Others' Listening Habits on Hype Machine
''Wired''. March 28, 2008. Users have the ability to "love" songs, which saves the song to their Loved List. The site has thirteen different genres to select music from. Users can also select the "Latest" tracks from categories including "Freshest", "Remixes Only", "No Remixes", and blogs in the user's country. Hype Machine also provides a full directory of the blogs from which their database of music is derived. Additionally, Hype Machine maintains a Popular List for the last three days and the previous week, both of which are determined by the number of "loves" given to each song by users. In 2007, the site introduced the Music Blog Zeitgeist, which aggregates music bloggers' annual "Best of" lists, as well as using their own data to create lists of the top 50 artists, albums, and songs for the year. In March 2008, the site added a Listening History section, which allows users to see what songs their friends have recently listened to.eMusic
eMusic is an online music and audiobook store that operates by subscription. In exchange for a monthly subscription eMusic users can download a fixed number of MP3 tracks per month. eMusic was established in 1998, is headquartered in New York Ci ...
, Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
, and iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
, allowing users to purchase the track. The commission from each sale serves as one of the main revenue streams for Hype Machine.[ In January 2010, The Hype Machine partnered with ]SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...
, allowing labels to provide music bloggers with new and pre-released tracks.
Apps
Hype Machine released an iPhone application on May 11, 2011, and a Blackberry 10
BlackBerry 10 is a discontinued proprietary mobile operating system for the BlackBerry line of smartphones, both developed by BlackBerry Limited (formerly Research In Motion). BlackBerry 10 is based on QNX, a Unix-like operating system that was o ...
version in 2013.
Reception
Hype Machine's traffic has grown steadily since its launch in 2005. It has been profiled by CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
, ''Wired
''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...
'', and ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''.[ It was named to ''The Guardians list of 100 essential websites of 2009, one of four music-oriented sites to receive mention.The 100 essential websites]
''The Guardian''. December 9, 2009. Fred Wilson called the site "the best thing to happen to music since the Rolling Stones" and the "Technorati
Technorati was a search engine and a publisher advertising platform that served as an advertising solution for the thousands of websites in its network. Technorati launched its ad network in 2008, and at one time was one of the largest ad network ...
for music".[ ]Gawker Media
Gawker Media LLC (formerly Blogwire, Inc. and Gawker Media, Inc.) was an American Online and offline, online Mass media, media company and Link farm#Blog network, blog network. It was founded by Nick Denton in October 2003 as Blogwire, and was ba ...
founder Nick Denton
Nicholas Guido Anthony Denton (born 24 August 1966) is a British Internet entrepreneur, journalist and blogger, the founder and former proprietor of the blog collective Gawker Media, and was the managing editor of the New York-based ''Gawker'' ...
called the site "the future of all media".[
]
References
External links
*
Official blogOfficial iPhone AppOfficial Android app
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hype Machine
American music websites
Online music and lyrics databases
Internet properties established in 2008