Music is a beautiful art that everyone enjoys. For musicians, singers, songwriters, composers and directors; music is simply a joy to create and express their emotions. But for millions of musicians around the world who want to connect and collaborate to share their passion, how do they do it? That’s exactly the challenge, Musomap.com wants to tackle.
A while back I got a message from an old university friend Amanda Tse in Sydney, who told me about the website her partner, violinist and software developer, Kahne Raja was working on. I checked out the site and I think it’s a really cool idea. Musomap empowers musicians like guitarists, violinists, vocalists etc. anywhere around the world to join the site, pin their position on a Google Map and say what their interested in doing, whether it be finding people to jam with nearby or collaborate with people around the world or share their music. It is an initiative by musicians for to promote local musicians and music groups.
The site was only launched in April 2012 but has already gathered around 1,500 musicians around the world. The goal is to connect half a million musicians and by leveraging social sharing features like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest, that number is not hard to believe.
Looking at the world map, it is clear to see where the Muso hotspots are. Being the home of Musomap, Australia has a strong following as does the U.K. and America. Since I’m in China, Amanda asked me to spread the word to as many Chinese and Asian musician’s as possible; so if you are a musician or know anyone who is, spread the word about Musomap!
Zooming into a specific location, each pin represents one musician. Clicking on the pin shows who the muso is, what kind of music genres they are interested in or what they want to achieve, such as finding people to jam with or perform together; and allows you to message, chat or recommend them. For those with sound clips on SoundCloud, they can also share their music for others to enjoy or comment on.
The project is still fairly new but the possibilities are amazing. From simply discovering a new violin or guitar teacher in the same neighbourhood or finding new band members or hiring one for your wedding, Musomap makes it all easy.
Good luck Kahne, Mandy and the team!