MavenSay’s New Standalone App Rithm Is Snapchat For Music

MavenSay is an app focused around personal recommendations, but today the company is launching a brand new standalone app called Rithm.

Seeing that users of MavenSay were spending a lot of time recommending music, and even communicating through music, MavenSay thought it would be a good idea to develop an app all around music messaging. Music messaging? Yes, music messaging. Think of it kind of like Snapchat for music.

No, it doesn’t auto-destroy the musical message after ten seconds, but there is a certain creative quality to it that reminds me quite a bit of Snapchat. See, Snapchat developed a new way to message. It’s not just about the self-destructing bit, it’s about the fact that you can’t send a message on Snapchat without sending a picture along with it.

In the same way, Rithm asks users to think outside the box and attach a song to each message. Not only is the process of creating a “rithm” fun and interesting, compared to other social networks and messaging apps, but receiving one is equally engaging.

Here’s how it works:

You download the Rithm app from the Apple App Store, and with the help of APIs from Spotify, iTunes, Rdio, and SoundCloud, Rithm will let you pull up the preview and/or full track for any song you can think of. Once you’ve chosen a song, you can then add a picture, a video, or choose from one of Rithm’s preset animated characters. You can even draw on your own pictures, Snapchat-style.

Then, simply write a message at the bottom, and send it to the intended recipient.

The interesting thing here is that Rithm can be used for a whole slew of reasons. Perhaps you want to recommend a song to someone, just because you think they’ll like it. However, Rithm can also be a really cute way to reach out to a friend and make them laugh, touch their heart, or tell them you want to be more than a friend.

That’s the power of music.

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In terms of revenue, MavenSay itself is not yet profitable, rather powered by investment funds. Rithm will operate under the same business model for now, but MavenSay founder Mike Wagman believes there is a huge opportunity here with in-app purchases for more dancing characters and other creative expressions.

I’ve been playing with Rithm for the past few days, and it’s slowly becoming one of my favorite apps. Used with the right, clever people, Rithm isn’t only a powerful way to communicate with others, but a fun and interesting way to combine visual content with audio in a creative way.

The app is available now on the Apple App Store.