At Earbuds, we believe in the power of music. To bring people together. To remind us what’s important and beautiful in life. To help us through a tough time. To express who we are, and memorialize our personal and shared histories. Music contains the story of our lives and helps us tell our lives’ stories.
And while music is immensely personal, it’s also better together. When you share a song with someone, you’re making a bid for connection. It should be easy to share music with others. After all, so many of us pay a monthly subscription to a music streaming service and have millions of the same songs in our pockets. Yet, the experience doesn’t always go smoothly. Frustratingly, that’s by design.
You see, music streaming services want to keep each of us inside their walled gardens so we have a reason to keep paying that monthly subscription fee. Don’t get us wrong: we love our music streaming platforms and it’s important to pay for a service and for music. But if you want to share the song you’re listening to in Spotify with your friend who uses Apple Music, you’re gonna have a bad time even if you’re both paying customers. You want to make a playlist with your friends for that upcoming party, or wedding reception, or roadtrip? As long as everyone uses the same service, go for it, but you can’t listen and chat in the same app.
And thus, the power of music is muted.
From talking with you, we know people want to share and talk about music together because it helps them feel seen and heard. So what’s a music-lover to do? Currently, most people text each other YouTube links. That is to say, they send ads and alternate versions of songs that don’t give the artist any credit. Who benefits? Not the artist. Not you, or me. Not the reason you sent the song.
It shouldn’t be this way. And it doesn’t have to be.
Let’s bridge all these walled gardens and give people a place to easily share the music and stories that matter most to them. Let’s help bring people together, no matter which streaming provider they use. We could all use something to bring us together right now, and music has the rare power to do that.
This app is our small way of trying to improve the world.
Jason Fox, Founder