About a week ago, Hore Network (read as ho-ray) released a music sharing app called Social Play which allows you to share on Twitter the songs you listen to and the playlists you created. You can’t listen to the songs, but you’ll likely to discover songs that you might like. The app comes with an accompanying website which shows what is currently playing across its entire user base.
Deddy Avianto, the principal Hore Network, has been instrumental in getting Indonesian developers to create and publish all sorts of games and apps onto the various mobile platforms, whether it is BlackBerry 10, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and even Asha. Avianto told DailySocial that the idea for Social Play actually came about because he wanted an easy way to share to Twitter the songs that he’s listening to.
There have been various Twitter apps for iOS that facilitate this but they tie you in to those specific apps, in other words, you have to be using those apps for Twitter whether you like the apps or not if you want to share your music.
Given the nature of Twitter’s attitude towards third party apps, there’s no guarantee if those apps will stick around. On top of that, there hadn’t been such an app for BlackBerry, let alone BlackBerry 10.
Being an avid BlackBerry user himself, Avianto saw a significant opportunity for Indonesian developers to create such an app for BlackBerry 10, so he gathered a number of developers and designers that had joined his network to build the app. The request was simple, to build a playlist oriented media player app that allows sharing of individual tracks as well as the playlists to Twitter.
Across the pond, TwitMusic from The Philippines had exploded in popularity, becoming essentially the default music ecosystem for Twitter long before Twitter introduced its own Music app. The Next Web noted in April last year that the then months old service had amassed a huge following including major US artists such as Jason Mraz and Beyoncé.
If Social Play were to become a service similar to TwitMusic, it may have been an obvious and perhaps even a questionable path to take, but Avianto doesn’t see Social Play heading that route. He told DailySocial that he plans to use the app as a vehicle to create conversations and interactions based on the songs shared through the app. Currently Social Play only carries a fraction of the features that it plans to roll out but they will be introduced over time eventually.
The real function of Social Play, he said, actually lies on the mobile site as it draws traffic from the short links generated by the apps. The pages for songs and playlists will show video clips and lyrics of the songs as well as acting as a promotional medium for Indonesian apps and services.
Avianto said that he and his team don’t plan to execute their monetization plans until they’ve achieved a significant number of users. With apps being deployed for all mobile platforms possible, the target is to gain half a million users in three months after all of the apps have been launched. He is also looking to partner with other companies and developers to take advantage of Social Play’s potential.
Social Play is currently available on BlackBerry 10 and iOS, while apps for Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry 6/7, and Nokia Asha are being finalized, scheduled to be released some time in June.
