The new and improved iPhone app is here!

Our completely redesigned iPhone app is now available in the Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourg App Store! We’ve also improved the sound quality, added a pause button, provide information about the artist (in landscape view), added a great lock screen view and fixed some minor bugs. Airplay is still found next to the volume slider.

Our iPhone and Android app will be available in the UK early 2012. More countries will follow as soon as possible. Development by FONKmobile, design by Niek Dekker. Enjoy the music!

DWDD, the day after…

Yesterday evening Venz (aka Vincent Reinders) was invited in the biggest live TV show in The Netherlands ‘De Wereld Draait Door‘ (1.3 million viewers) to tell everything about 22tracks and our nomination for both ‘Best App’ & ‘Startup of the Year’ at the Dutch Startup Awards (you can still vote until 17:00 CET).

Around 20:15 CET we saw a huge increase in our traffic, which made our server unavailable. Even though we (with our hosting friends De Hosting Firma & Nedzone) prepared for 10 times the regular traffic, which is pretty massive already. Within an hour both website and iPhone app were up and running again. If you bought the app and it didn’t work immediately: it was because of this overload. It’ll work now, even though we’re still experiencing the biggest peak in traffic ever. Our tech guys have been working their asses off since last night making sure you will be able to keep on listening to the best new music, here at 22tracks.

Besides technical challenges, which are fun (ask our tech guys), we managed to take the #1 spot in the Dutch iTunes appstore! Thousands of 22tracks apps were installed last night, thousands are being installed today. Our app, which has been free for six months, reached 80.000 downloads last Monday. We already had this amount (aprox. 22% of the Dutch iPhone market) in mind to reach when we switched to an one time purchase priced app (€1,59). Compared to our big brother Spotify (€120 per year), it’s not that much either. We need to. Not only to pay our licensing costs and hosting but also to be able to develop other apps for the iPad & Android. In other words; to keep on going! By the way, our app is, since last Monday, also available in Belgium & Luxembourg.

And last, but surely not least, we reached 22.222 Facebook likes! Laurens Breure is Mr. 22.222 and receives a nice 22tracks goodie package! Be sure to like us as well on Facebook to receive daily notices on genre updates and other 22tracks related news.

Our website, iPhone app, Brussels launch & FREE stickers!

The website
It’s been a while since we updated you about what’s been happening behind the curtains at 22tracks. Again, we’ve been busy, what else is new. We’ve started rebuilding our website, making it more future proof. This includes adding new features like Last.fm scrobbling, Twitter and Facebook oAuth login, sharing your My22 with friends and lots of other cool stuff which we’ll tell you about further along the way in the upcoming months. The expected launch for this new version of our website is planned for June.

iPhone app from free to a one-time €1,59 purchase price
Our iPhone app is a huge succes! More than 80.000 downloads served already! From tomorrow, almost six months after its launch, we will go from free to a one-time purchase price of €1,59. Not that much right? But hey! It helps us pay the huge amounts of bills, besides us being able to further develop the app even more, adding new features and making it available for iPad and Android. If you install(ed) our app before tomorrow you won’t have to pay for future updates, of course.

Brussels here we come!
You might have already heard some rumours. And yes, it’s true. We’re going to launch 22tracks Brussels! This means that the best curators (DJs / journalists) from Brussels will let you hear what’s hot and happening in the Belgian music scene. From June you will be able to select which 22tracks you want to be listening to; Amsterdam or Brussels. To celebrate our upcoming start in Belgium we will launch the 22tracks iPhone app (Amsterdam version) also in Belgium and Luxembourg tomorrow – for a one-time purchase price of €1,59. We know lots of you have been waiting for this!

FREE stickers
So you’re quite the 22tracks fan, eh? Let’s see if you can help us spread the word! We’re giving away free stickers for everyone! Just enter your address details in the form below, and we’ll send you some free stickers asap!

(update 1 July: Sorry! We’re out of free stickers!)

Our iPhone app…

We were looking forward to the launch of our iPhone app on the 22nd, and everything was ready to go. Until we were confronted with a few security-issues of our website. We are working really hard to solve those issues, but now things are changing in the back-end of a website, the iPhone app has to change too. Although the app is ready and waiting for you, we’re going to have to keep it on hold until all technical difficulties are taken care of. Once we have done that, we look forward to providing you with 22 brand new tracks in your favorite genres – wherever you are. To soothe the pain we will use this extra time to implement some extra functions, as a thankyou for your patience!

22tracks iPhone App & DJ op de Dom at MiNiBAR

We promised to launch the 22tracks iPhone App this upcoming Saturday. Due to last minute finetuning we have decided to reschedule the official launch to June 22nd. You’ll have to wait one more month, sorry! But: since we don’t want to disappoint too much: the first 22 people who come to our 22tracks get together, this Saturday in the MiNiBAR, will get the beta version delivered by mail the next day. Don’t forget to bring your iPhone since we need your iPhone’s UDID (unique device identifier).

This Saturday the new DJ op de Dom playlist will go live on 22tracks. To celebrate the ending of this successful contest and the upcoming party on the 28th of May in Utrecht two of their finalists (DJ Crossfingaz and VJ) will play around midnight at our 22tracks get together.

Important: Doors open at 22:22 because of the Champions League final that is being played the same evening. See you there!

New developments announced at The Next Web

22tracks: The website for new Music
22tracks presents new developments during The Next Web

Amsterdam, 28th of April 2010 – Online jukebox 22tracks.com announced several new developments during The Next Web – a conference about the future of the internet – today. 22tracks is an online jukebox whereupon 22 specialized DJs from Amsterdam share their 22 favorite tracks with the audience by means of a playlist. Thus the website is a platform highlighting new artists, genres and tracks. A successful half year after the launch, 22tracks is ready for a big expansion. A collaboration with Buma/Stemra, a fully working 22tracks iPhone App and a visual extension, 22videos, are in sight.

As a kick-off 22tracks announced to be in active conversation with Buma/Stemra about a collaboration during her pitch at The Next Web. 22tracks does not support illegal downloads and all tracks are directly linked to the iTunes store, where it optionally can be purchased. “Buma/Stemra is enthusiastic about 22tracks and sees added value for both music lover and music creator. In collaboration with 22tracks we are reviewing the best method to facilitate and license 22tracks” says Cees Vervoord, chairman at Buma/Stemra.

iPhone application
On the 22nd of May 22tracks will launch the 22tracks iPhone App, which will be available for free download in the Apple Appstore. The iPhone App contains the same 22 genres as on its website and based on photos of the associated DJs one can navigate through them. The tracks are downloadable via the iTunes Store by one touch of a button. With the inbuilt Twitter client you can let your friends know which track they should definitely listen to, via your iPhone and at the same time you help promote the tracks.

22videos
In collaboration with on demand music television channel Xite, 22tracks will introduce the new format ‘22videos’ in June. In this weekly TV-program the 22 newest videos will be showed, which subsequently will be updated with five new videos every week. This conform the concept of the 22tracks website. With the red button on the remote control one can scroll through the playlist and watch the selected video on demand. Xite reaches circa 1.5 million households in the Netherlands via digital television.

22tracks
22tracks is a jukebox consisting of 22 playlists of 22 different genres. Every playlist is filled with 22 tracks, selected by specialized DJs from Amsterdam. Besides the possibility to listen to the tracks freely, the tracks can be purchased directly by clicking on the associated shoppingcart. Social promotion by the ‘Share on Twitter’ function delivers a substantial extra contribution to the announcement of these new tracks and/or artists. With the My22 option it is possible to create a personalized playlist of your favorite 22 tracks. The 22 playlists are updated during the week with new tracks which are added on top, and old tracks which disappear on the bottom. Herewith 22tracks offers a fast and accurate display of the newest music and stands out in the huge supply of music online. Experts select the tracks that go online, so the quality is guaranteed and you are fully up to date with the latest releases. 22tracks promotes new tracks and artists this way and boosts the legal online sales of music. Simplicity and availability are keywords here, there is no registration.

Please contact Tinc PR (info[at]tincpr.com / +31-(0)20-7772120) for all press & interview inquiries.

A rollercoaster…

Wow! It’s been like a rollercoaster ride these last couple of months at 22tracks. So much happened and still so much to do. Here’s a retrospect and update:

Retrospect
Less than three months ago Vincent & Gilles combined forces together with the experts to make 22tracks grow into what it is now: 22 playlists in different genres, each filled with 22 tracks, selected by the best experts in their genre (dj’s and music journalists from Amsterdam). Right now we stream over 100.000 tracks per day. With the knowledge that tracks are only online for a maximum of four weeks these visitors contribute to the online sales of new music by clicking on the shoppingcart to buy these tracks via iTunes. New music is finally being promoted, discovered and bought in an easy effective way. No registration, no hassle.

My22
Last month we launched My22: a new function to create your own personal list of 22tracks favorites. Now two weeks later more than 1.500 users signed up and started making their own lists of favorite new music. Soon you will be able to tell your friends about your expert knowledge by sharing your My22 url.

iPhone app
With a great iPhone app in development (same functionalities as 22tracks.com itself), scheduled for release in early 2010, we’re pretty sure new music will be heard on an even bigger scale. You’ll finally be able to carry the newest music around in your pocket.

Music rights management
So what about music rights management? Well, the only thing we can share about this subject right now is that we are working together with BUMA/Stemra (Dutch music rights association) on a license. As you might have noticed we are against illegal downloads, don’t offer any downloads ourselves and point visitors towards iTunes when they want to listen to the tracks longer than the maximum of four weeks that they are available. Besides that, we think artists should earn that what they deserve for making the amazing music they do. Considering this we urge BUMA/Stemra and the music industry to work on a tailormade license. Only future will tell if the music industry is ready for a new way of music promotion and contribution to music-sales the way we do. We’re delighted with the already received support of big and smaller music labels and will keep you updated on this subject at this blog.

Media coverage
We’ve received a lot of attention from music lovers, bloggers, magazines and other media from all over the globe. From Tokyo to Moscow, from the States to South Africa. Mentioning all these sites in this blog would make this post even longer than it is right now. We are grateful for all the coverage we get. If you haven’t spread the word yet: please do so! Do it for the love of new music!

Meeting us in person
As you might know we organize a get together in MiNiBAR (Prinsengracht 478 / Amsterdam) every 22nd of the month, including this upcoming 22nd of December from 20:00 o’clock. You’ll be able to meet and have a chat with us and some of the experts in person. Besides these get togethers you will also see us at several seminars in 2010 starting with Eurosonic Noorderslag in Groningen where we will participate at the Cross Media Cafe panel discussions. See you at one of these events?

Yaay! It’s (almost) Christmas!
Merry Christmas! Thanks for these great first months of 22tracks and the love you’re sending on Twitter and via e-mail! Enjoy this wonderful collection of songs, compiled by Oscar Smit who has been collecting Christmas music for over 30 years. Oscar hosts the radioshow Beautiful Extremes at Studio 80 Radio and writes for magazines like Gonzo Circus, Subbacultcha and OOR.

Have a fantastic Christmas and NYE! Spread love, spread new music!
The 22tracks team.