About four months ago, our team decided to blend our live testing sessions with songwriting camps that we would invite music creators to attend. Songwriting camps can be an incredibly useful resource for intermediate to advanced songwriters who want to challenge themselves with a hands-on approach to improving their craft.
These camps expose participants to new techniques and methods, while providing them with the support they need to succeed. These camps were also critical for us in terms of figuring out what we needed to focus on in Jammaround’s development.
Special thanks to Red Bull for sponsoring the events.
Sound on the Hill
The first camp was held in Huntsville, Alabama. We partnered with Sound on the Hill, a local music collective from the area. They met at EQ Labs and wrote some great music. I decided to film this one and it was exciting getting back in the studio after a year of administrative work. We put a few clips on our Instagram and Tik Tok page and plan on uploading more in the coming weeks.
The version used by Sound on the Hill included our Jammpad, rhyming dictionary, and reference track recorder. We received positive feedback and ideas that we haven’t thought about in the past.
Glbl Wrmng
The second camp weas held in partnership with Glbl Wrmng, a New Orleans music collective. They hosted at their Uptown studio where a group of talented New Orleans artists used Jammaround to write a few hits.
The Jammaround version they used included folders, login, and cloud storage. We noticed that throughout the writing process, writers usually bounce around between 3 different apps to effectively design their song. We saw how time consuming that was and how that could break focus.
Key Takeaways:
1. Our software is almost ready for mass distribution. After finding real engineering talent, we managed to construct a workable version that our core testers love. There are a few hiccups in the productivity flow, but the testers are helping us pinpoint and patch them up!
2. Songwriting camps are going to be our primary growth hack for early stage users. The energy, data, and content opportunities are unmatched.
3. Focusing on the Jammpad (collaborative song design) instead of swipe networking was one of the best decisions we’ve made in the last 8 months.