we're the future of radio

#socialdiscovery of new-to-you music you like. stream it in free, rich media. we're in alpha, and oh baby, we already have 2.5M data points & counting. log in with your FB creds & try our system!

[hivebeats]

We know he's a who's who, but now you do, too. Hivebeats' Founder & Builder Burc Sahinoglu -- named among the Who's Who of Turks in Silicon Valley by Aktuel Magazine, Istanbul, October 2013.

[hivebeats]

Our Fall 2013 newsletter: *THE FUTURE OF RADIO* Is radio the best human-powered music discovery system?

(this is our October 2013 newsletter: get on the list to receive our news directly http://hivebeats.us4.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=1e5e7a03e94bbdaba78469948&id=2692218aa9) This month at @sfmusictech I was struck by the amount of talk around the problem of music discovery.  I wonder, is it a false problem? A problem invented by music nerds with some technical background, who think they can ultimately help with this complex matter called taste (cough!) But if you scan any social network you will repeatedly come across people wondering what to listen to next, people bored with what they are listening to, people who feel disconnected from today's music. Those are calls for solutions. But wait, what does this have to do with radio? Our thesis at HIVEBEATS is that people trust recommendations whose source they trust, recommendations that make sense to them.  And that's why we believe radio with their DJs is still such a powerful discovery tool. It's powered by a human for whom I have an amount of trust and I can easily switch the dial! I can directly affect the music I am hearing in a meaningful way. The problem? After desperately switching the dial for a few minutes, I often end up preferring the humming of my car and turn off the radio. Imagine a radio where you start with many DJs at once. As you listen you have the option to remove the ones who pushed music you didn't like, and that way you fine tune your music discovery sources.  Imagine a radio where you can discover which DJs first discovered the new band you like and add him to your radio station with no effort.   This is what HIVEBEATS is: the future of radio. As always check the system stats at the end of the email, we have passed 2.5 million data points, including some data from a few international streaming services such as Saavn and Gaana (Hindi and Bollywood music).  Burc Sahinoglu Founder Read the whole newsletter here: http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=1e5e7a03e94bbdaba78469948&id=a54bba5938&e=675e4e1031

[hivebeats]

ICYMI: our Summer 2013 newsletter. *Music discovery: either dead, or the hottest thing around.*

Following the news, one would think that music discovery is either dead -- or the hottest thing around. On one hand #TuneWiki announced its closure. On the other,  #SoundWave is arriving soon to a phone near you with support from some heavy hitters (like Steve Wozniak). Music streaming gained another player: Apple launched iTunes Radio. It is pretty much what you would expect from Apple, solid radio features with strong integration into the iTunes Music store, but no word yet on how it integrates with #iTunesMatch , your past purchases or your ratings (local and others.)   We have been hearing very good things about Google's #AllAccessmusic service. With the amount of data they have on us, we wouldn't expect less from Google.  The question HIVEBEATS asks is whether any of these services allow the expansion of one's taste, or simply keeps you within the same world of music you might have outgrown.  And while we are on the topic of Google, you may recall we've integrated YouTube into HIVEBEATS. Isn't it obvious that it will kill every other music streaming service? June was Daft Punk month, July is shaping up to be Kanye West month, no surprise there? (It is to us.) Don't miss the latest stats at the end of this email. We have seen Rdio pass iHeartRadio to become the second most popular service on HIVEBEATS.   And if you were wondering, we are way past 1 million data points... It's my birthday this month, please no gifts! Just invite your people to test HIVEBEATS. Burc Sahinoglu Founder Follow us on Twitter @hivebeats, we've started posting there. Get on the list here: http://hivebeats.us4.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=1e5e7a03e94bbdaba78469948&id=2692218aa9

[hivebeats]

ICYMI: Our Spring 2013 newsletter. *Consider our socks knocked off:* with our new #YouTube integration we provide a whole world of discovery, content that no #streamingservice provides today.

HIVEBEATS April News Hello, Since our last newsletter 2 major (expected) announcements in the digital music landscape: #TwitterMusic and Google #PlayMusicAllAccess . We only know that Google's product is $10.00 per month and it's a mix of #Spotify premium and #iTunesMatch . Twitter Music is about#musicdiscovery , but we think their efforts stop short of providing a good experience. HIVEBEATS provides much better discovery opportunities out of the box. You see music that is actually liked by people through our  HIVEBEATS Index™, a proprietary formula combining the number of plays and the number of people who are listening to that particular music. Through our YouTube integration we provide a whole world of discovery, content that no streaming service provides today. Live Concerts? Check. Special Appearances? Check... We're still refining it but it's blowing our socks off! As usual don't skip the latest stats at the end of this email. As of today with only 28 users, we are fast approaching 1 million data points. Burc Sahinoglu Founder Follow us on Twitter @hivebeats, we're going to start posting there, we swear! What's new We are working on HIVEBEATS what feels like 25/8. Go to the site regularly and give us your feedback. HIVE management One of the main improvements gives the user the opportunity to manage his HIVES while listening to music. Like what you hear? See who's listening to that music, and add him to your trusted HIVE. Don't like what you hear, just remove him. This approach addresses one of the main shortcomings of discovery systems. We provide a connection between what you are listening to and why plus we provide you an easy way to adjust what is suggested to you. HIVEBEATS Index™ Based on your feedback, we have tuned the ranking algorithm. We are experimenting with privileging the number of persons over total number of plays.  Some maniac listening to "Eye of the Tiger" a million times will not dominate the results. What's next We're still in alpha, but we're going to take on more users. Please spread the word, pass this email on. All a new user has to do is login at https://www.hivebeats.com with their Facebook credentials. To get ready, we are optimizing the sign-up process. We are adding new machines and made some major optimization to our backend. When we started in February, a new user had to wait 12 long hours before being able to use HIVEBEATS. Today we are down to 3 hours, and our goal is to get each new user in right away. The Numbers as of May 15, 2013 System Stats testers: 28 (+ 47%) connections: 17474 (+ 36%) percentage with public streams: 16.5% (+1.5%) music plays collected: 895,659 (+51%) unique songs: 186,326 (+30%) unique artists: 40,775 (+25%) unique albums: 71,229 (+30%) Top Services Spotify: 78% of plays (+) iHeartRadio: 8.5% of plays (-) rdio: 6.5% of plays (-) Top Tracks (April 2013) Get Lucky, Get Lucky, Daft Punk Stubborn Love, The Lumineers, The Lumineers Madness, The 2nd Law, Muse Top Artists (April 2013) Justin Timberlake Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Mumford & Sons Top Albums (April 2013) The 20/20 Experience, Justin Timberlake The Lumineers, The Lumineers The Heist, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Copyright © 2013 hivebeats, All rights reserved.

[hivebeats]

ICYMI: Our inaugural, early Spring 2013 newsletter. *With just 100K users, we could become the most robust #musicdata #platform in the world.*

Friend of HIVEBEATS, Welcome to the first installment of the HIVEBEATS newsletter. We don't plan to overwhelm you, expect one short email per month to keep you updated on the progress of our project. If you haven't done so recently, please login to HIVEBEATS and check out the new features, we'd love to get your feedback. Don't miss the crazy numbers at the end of the mail! With just 100K users, we could become the most robust music data platform in the world. Burc Sahinoglu Founder New Feature! We have integrated YouTube into HIVEBEATS. And it is AMAZING!  It expands vastly the user experience, turning HIVEBEATS into a#musicstreaming platform, expanding the opportunities to#discovernewmusic . You must try it! What's Next? Accept more willing testers! If you know people young and old who might like to take HIVEBEATS for a spin. Tell them about it! In the short term our priorities are still consumer focused. We are planning to address a several areas: Improve the user experience. Implement a "Tastemaker" area to help our users discover new trusted sources. Add more actionable information to the weekly and monthly digests. Improve some of the screens to make them more discovery friendly. Refine our HIVEBEATS Index™ to rank the music in a way that feels "natural." Long term: plans to create the tipping point analytics dashboard where  marketing professionals  can discover connectors, mavens and trends... March 2013 - By The Numbers System Stats testers: 19 connections: 12,805 percentage with public streams: 15% music plays collected: 591,769 unique songs: 143,453 unique artists: 32,702 unique albums: 56,092 Top Services #Spotify: 75% of plays #iHeartRadio: 10% of plays #rdio: 7% of plays Top Tracks Thrift Shop, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Sweet Nothing, #CalvinHarris  Don't You Worry Child, #SwedishHouseMafia  Top Artists Justin Timberlake Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Mumford & Sons Top Albums The 20/20 Experience, Justin Timberlake 18 Months, Calvin Harris The Lumineers, The Lumineers Copyright © 2013 hivebeats, All rights reserved.