Ever wake up from a dream where you found yourself right in middle of your favorite band’s concert and wish you could have that experience every time you listened to their music?
Set.fm, a combination online service and free app, is all about this scenario. They are ready and set to go, with today marking their official launch and the announcement of $1.2 million dollars in seed funding from Golden Venture Partners of Toronto to keep the high reception and momentum form their beta-phase running strong. Based in the heart of Austin, Texas, otherwise commonly referred to as the live music capital of the world, Set.fm has been in development since 2011 and since that time, has amassed a solid following of artists and music lovers who are passionate about live music and bonding over the live experiences in the venues around them.
These days, with smart devices and megapixels piling up, there is an accompanying fine line between enjoying in-person performance and wanting to cherish its uniqueness long after the show has ended, as emphasized by Matt Golden, a partner with Golden Ventures:
“You go to any music venue right now, big or small, and you’ll see blue screens raised toward the stage. Fans are desperate for a better way to capture the experience of a live show[.]”
What places Set.fm in a category apart from existing (and often slower) methods of distribution, is the one-two punch of its simplicity and reach. Artists who want fans to be able to re-visit live shows can record sets using Set.fm Studio, which serves as an audio recording platform and is optimized for both desktop setups (Mac and PC) and iOS devices.
The process for recording is made to be quick and flexible enough to accommodate a variety of venues and expected arrangements. It can be as instantaneous as creating a set with venue and date info through the website, loading a template from your Set.fm, plug-in equipped, DAW of choice and hitting the record button. Set.fm is already tested on several popular engines, including Pro Tools, Logic, Reaper, Garageband and Mulab. Furthermore, just to ensure artists can fully embrace Set.fm Studio to its best potential, there is even a guide available right on the website to advise what hardware is ideal to run Set.fm with, based on the gear an artist has and their playback needs.
Fans can patch into every second of the music recorded to Set.fm via the website or the iOS app. Music can be searched for based on 12 different genres or by venues in your area. A map with pinned locations highlights places from many places all over the US, as well as a handful in Canada. Each venue’s page provides address information, a link to get directions from Google Maps, a brief list of other venues close by and links to Set.fm sets recently recorded there.
Including just the right amount of social involvement in their app and website, Set.fm allows registered fans to write comments about the shows and or venue, which is beneficial to other fans and the artists too. Purchasing the live recordings is a brief two-step process of entering one’s card and billing information and clicking purchase. The recording is then immediately available for playback through Set.fm or can be downloaded to your desktop or phone. The icing on the cake: more often than not, fans can find sets in excess of 30-60 minutes for no more than what one would be paying for the cost of a regular album. In other words: very affordable.
The appeal of this easy-to-use and fan-friendly interface has, and will likely continue to attract artists from all corners of the industry – from the neophyte intimate open mic player to Grammy recognized players like Jake Shimabukuro and Joseph Arthur.
You can find Set.fm in the iTunes App Store and connect via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and YouTube too.
Kira is an old school music nerd with a love for all things creative; always searching for music’s common ground. She graduated with an M.A. in Performing Arts Administration from New York University. Drop her a tweet @shadowmelody1
Comments are closed.