Music messaging apps continue to have plenty of sceptics: Music Messenger disappeared from the app stores not long after its $30m funding round, while hard data on the popularity of startups like MSTY and Rithm remains thin on the ground.
Now British startup Tunepics says it has some momentum, claiming 5m users as it raised a $2m funding round from angel investors. The app enables people to add 30-second music clips to their photos before sharing them online – so it’s more an Instagram-with-music than the rivals’ listed above’s WhatsApp-with-music model.
While it’s unclear whether the 5m figure is active users or downloads, Tunepics says it’s growing fast in countries like Taiwan, Japan, Brazil and Portugal. The company is preparing to port its app from iOS to Android, and says it is “in discussions” with Spotify over a partnership – presumably to allow subscribers to the latter to stream songs in full.
“We’ve supported some huge musicians like Will.i.am, Little Mix and drove thousands of downloads of Adele’s new single ‘Hello’,” said CEO Justin Cooke. “We believe we can be the number one player in the music/social space.”
The question remains just how meaningful that space really is, though – at least for startups.
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