By Alex Galbraith
App developer SoundX Studios has just released a new app called eMe Music that allows nightlife lovers to search for events based on type, music genre, band name and venue.
For last minute planners, the app even sorts events based on proximity, will plot out events on your phone’s GPS and provides contact info and links to the venue’s website.
Yes, it appears that SoundX Studios’ latest creation is the answer to all live music lovers’ prayers (as long as those prayers are being generated over the Gulf Coast of Florida).
Wait, what?
eMe Music is strictly for residents of Tampa and St. Petersburg and stands as the latest example of a fascinating trend among music app developers called “hyperlocalism.”
Hyperlocalism is the practice of creating super-niche products for a specific community. The product creators’ hope that the community’s residents will appreciate that the focus of the product is on them. The end goal is that this attention to detail will draw them away from larger, unfocused competitors.
Like DeliRadio and Thrillcall before it, eMe is banking on consumers wanting apps that are tailored to their geographic location (and that promoters will jump at the opportunity to advertise directly to their audience).
The trend does have its share of haters. At this year’s South by Southwest there was a panel called “The Hyperlocal Hoax: Where is the Holy Grail?” In it they dared the audience to name one successful hyperlocal company. Then, they introduced entrepreneurs who, in their words, have gotten “closer than most” to success.
However, the doom n’ gloom nay-saying has done little to stem the tide of geocentric applications flooding the app stores of Apple and Android alike.
What do you think? Are hyperlocal apps here to stay or merely another fad on the mobile tech landscape? Sound off in the comments.
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