App review: Embark on a Ghostly Discovery

Ghostly International’s app for the iPhone lets users discover music via mood

While some of the major record labels still shun technology, most likely to their disadvantage, many of the independent music labels have chosen to embrace the pervasiveness of the Internet and variety of Internet-connected devices to design applications that spread the word about cool new music.

One of those labels is Ghostly International, whose iPhone app currently available on the App Store provides one of the slickest and most seamless experiences for listening to and discovering new music. And right now its app is probably the best way to get into the label's eclectic style of electronic, hip hop, and rock music.

Called Ghostly Discovery, the app’s main interface is incredibly simple, displaying a large ghost on the left (the same ghost acts as the label’s logo) for ‘mood’ and two ‘style’ dials on the right.

Sliding your finger around the circular rainbow changes the color of the ghost, affecting the kind of music you’re about to listen to. On the information page, the app explains its “Color Theory,” where red means “Aggressive,” sky blue means “Laid Back,” and so on.

The sliders on the right are immediately obvious to the user: one makes the song more digital or organic and the other adjusts the tempo of the music you’re looking for.

It’s so simple that you’ll probably get just the kind of music you want to hear on your first go at it. The first time I tried this app, I was having trouble falling asleep, so I made the ghost purple for “Introspective,” leaned towards “Digital,” and slid the rightmost knob to as “Slow” as possible.

The app sung out a playlist of 20 introspectively slow songs, perfect for resting my sleepy head.

Once the music is playing, you get full information about the track currently playing—album art, artist name, song name. In addition, users can favorite tracks, read full artist biographies, and—here’s the benefit to the record label—purchase songs.

Already, other independent record labels (Moodgadget, Stones Throw, others), having noticed the popularity of Ghostly Discovery on the App Store, are partnering with Ghostly International to get their music implemented into the app as well.

It's a fairly new app, so, while we don't yet have numbers from Ghostly telling how much in sales they're making from purchases through the app, it's clear that the clean interface and intuitive methodology will continue to be a hit with users. This is just the beginning of music innovation on devices like the iPhone.