MyStream, a mobile music-sharing app that launched on iOS more than a year ago, plans to go cross-platform next week with the launch of its Android app. Founder and CEO Richard Zelson also tells me the company is working on features that go beyond music-sharing, and that it’s about to raise a Series A.
MyStream comes from a pretty straightforward idea — wouldn’t it be cool if you could hear whatever music your friend is listening to? There are plenty of other social music apps, but rather than piling on the social and gamified features of a service like Turntable.fm, using MyStream should be pretty simple. Once you’ve downloaded the app and enabled sharing, anyone else who’s connected via a Wi-Fi network or Bluetooth can listen in on exactly what you’re listening to, and also browse and play songs from your playlist. On WiFi, up to 20 people can connect to someone else’s music at once (the limit is five on Bluetooth). Think of it as a nice alternative to sharing your earbuds with someone (something I did a lot when I was younger).
Zelson says he’ll be bringing that functionality to the Android next week. I’ll update this post with a link once the app is live.
MyStream has about 75,000 registered users so far, he says. He admits that there are obstacles to MyStream’s growth, mainly the fact that it’s only useful if you’re connected to a network with someone else who’s using the app. On the other hand, that may also create more incentive for users to encourage their friends to join. Launching the Android app should help, as should Zelson’s plans to add support for sharing over 3G/4G cell networks.
He also says he wants to turn the app into a broader service for proximity-based content sharing. So instead of just listening to your friend’s music, you could share photos with them, for example. That won’t just happen through the MyStream app. The company also plans to release an API, allowing developers to tackle other use cases.
Update: Here’s the Android app.
MyStream is a new mobile technology platform that provides users with the ability to wirelessly share content (currently audio files) with other users nearby via Bluetooth or Wifi. MyStream leverages patent pending multi-user proximity technology which will soon be used to facilitate all types of content streams and/or transmissions that are relevant to a users physical location for social, commercial and advertising purposes. In the MyStream network, users can already listen to, and simultaneous “Live Stream”, any song in...
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