Your favorite artist tweets a little tidbit about a highly anticipated album or single. Your heart starts beating rapidly as you scramble to find any information about this potentially life-changing musical masterpiece. All of a sudden, your newsfeed swallows up the precious tweet, never to be seen again.
That’s where JamFeed comes in. JamFeed is a 6-month-old free music app created by two brothers, Cameron and Tyler Gibson. With the help of UT students, the Gibsons developed the app, which places all music-related news onto one convenient platform.
JamFeed operates much like Team Stream, an app that notifies its users about the current status of their favorite sports teams. In JamFeed’s case, the app notifies users about album releases, concerts, tour dates and events.
The Gibson brothers created the app when they realized how cumbersome it was to find current information about artists or bands they listened to. Updates on newly released singles or last-minute concerts were quickly lost in their Twitter and Facebook newsfeeds, making it difficult to keep up with the latest music news.
The app has nearly 3,000 users and is the official app for Euphoria Music and Camping Festival, an annual, outdoor alternative music festival, which is taking place April 10-12 in Austin. The Gibsons’ main objective is to gain exposure and users for JamFeed in the next few years and partner with local bands to promote the Austin music scene.
Julia Waicberg, advertising sophomore and JamFeed social media intern, said she’s excited to see JamFeed gain traction at Euphoria and finds volunteering for JamFeed worthwhile.
“It’s not a paid internship, but it’s so rewarding still,” Waicberg said. “Each good thing that happens is because we put in the effort. Katherine Allen, mechanical engineering and Plan II freshman and the JamFeed Kickstarter campaign coordinator, said she hopes to reach potential users during promotional events at SXSW.
“For SXSW, we’re having a party that will host some local bands,” Allen said. “We’ll be in JamFeed shirts passing out JamFeed stickers. Hopefully we can get a few artists signed on.”
Aside from aggregating music news and notifying users of upcoming tours and events, JamFeed shares original content, such as artist profiles and Q-and-A’s, with its users. Bands that partner with JamFeed will share exclusive content about secret shows or new music.
Hannah Kelly, journalism and Plan II freshman and JamFeed’s content writer, said the app fills a void that Facebook and Twitter aren’t equipped to fill.
“With Twitter, it’s just really convoluted,” Kelly said. “You’re following so many things, and it’s hard to actually see what you want, and then on Facebook, it’s really expensive for artists to get all of their news out to their users.”
Allen said she views JamFeed as a gateway of opportunity into the technology startup industry. She said organizations such as the Longhorn Entrepreneurship Agency, which introduced her to JamFeed, give students a chance to explore innovative business ventures that otherwise wouldn’t have been as accessible.
“It’s an amazing learning opportunity,” Allen said. “You’re not stuck in a cubicle. You’re not running getting donuts. You’re really making a difference, and you know if you weren’t there, then this thing wouldn’t be running.”
