Rumpus Attempts To Connect The Music Discovery Dots

Livewire Mobile, best known for running music download stores for mobile operators like Sprint, Virgin Mobile Canada and Telecom New Zealand, has released a free download of its Rumpus music discovery app – and it’s available exclusively for Android devices. The app promises to deliver information on “every album your favorite band has ever made” while discovering who their influences are and who they've influenced.

Rumpus uses multiple data sources to enhance its discovery technology and is hooked into Livewire’s Mediadrome music backend, enabling users to discover music, bookmark artists and download from all the major labels and top independents. Rumpus is also said to have a unique way of connecting the millions of tracks in the Livewire Mobile database so that users can search for artists or tracks and find all the relationships and information they could need to keep the discovery process moving and exciting.

As a result, users are able to see what other music an artist has produced, or how a song or artist influenced others, or how they themselves were influenced by particular music. It then hooks together the music, videos, biographical information and imagery so the music fan can immerse themselves in the navigation and discovery experience.

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“Rumpus gives real music lovers what they have been demanding – a totally interactive and beautifully simple way of deep-diving into the complex world of music,” said Matthew Stecker, CEO of Livewire Mobile. “There are millions of tracks out there and most music lovers only ever scratch the surface of what is available. Rumpus gives them the chance to go many levels deeper.”

Users can bookmark artists along the way, providing a "breadcrumb trail" that allows them to come back and learn more later, or to build a list of favorites that they can share with friends. Users are also able to buy tracks and albums directly from the app using PayPal, which adds songs to their on-device library.

“If I heard something I liked, sure I could Shazam it or go to Soundhound,” said the Rumpus creators in their app description.  “But if a friend recommended something new, we had to do a deep dive into Google, Wikipedia, and YouTube to get a decent feel. If I wanted to discover something new but similar to our tastes, all we had to rely on what was the autobot of Pandora."

Rumpus is now available as a free download on Google Play here.

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Hisham Dahud is a Senior Analyst for Hypebot.com. Additionally, he is the head of Business Development for Fame House and an independent musician. Follow him on Twitter: @HishamDahud