By James Barron. This article originally appeared on New York Times, July 20, 2014.
It is not, said the pianist turned software entrepreneur Robert Taub, a karaoke app with video. Instead his new app, Hook’d, creates what he described as “musical selfies,” in which only the voice track sounds like the user.
Unlike singalong apps that play covers — renditions of hit songs rerecorded by anonymous studio musicians — Hook’d features everything from the original recording except the voice track.
So someone who chooses “Classic” by MKTO will hear the same backing track that Malcolm Kelley and Tony Oller heard in the studio. On “Love Shack,” a Hook’d user will be accompanied by the real B-52s.
Users who are hazy about the words need not worry. Hook’d shows the lyrics on the cellphone screen, above the image being recorded as they sing. And if they want more guidance, they can listen to — but not record — the original lead vocalist.
Hook’d had 42 songs when it started on July 10 as a free app for iPhone and iPod Touch; Mr. Taub said that more songs would be added in the next few weeks. His company, MuseAmi, based in Princeton, N.J., negotiated with the three major recording companies, Warner Music Group, Sony and Universal Music Group. MuseAmi also worked out deals with the music publishers that represent the songs’ writers and composers.
For record industry executives, reaching a new audience has been a challenge as CD sales have plunged and digital downloads leveled off — and as social media apps have surged. Executives from Warner Music Group said that Hook’d offered a novel way to distribute the songs in its catalog and generate attention for its artists.
Hook’d builds on technology from MuseAmi’s first app, ImproVox, introduced in 2010 to help singers who probably should not perform outside the shower. Real-time digital signal processing corrects those who are off key. Hook’d also has other studio effects that users can apply before they share their performances on Hook’d’s YouTube channel or on Facebook and Twitter.
Hook’d began as a singalong app, but evolved after a focus group session with high school students in New Jersey last fall. The students realized they could share their performances with their friends by sending out links, Mr. Taub said. “We knew that, but to them it was of paramount importance, so it was of paramount importance to us.”
Another revelation came when Jon Sheldrick, MuseAmi’s principal product manager, realized that most users did not care about singing along to a full song, only the chorus, for 30 seconds in all. Access to the choruses is free. A subscription with access to the full songs is $3.99 a month.
The repertoire on Hook’d is different from the sonatas and concertos Mr. Taub, 58, performed as a pianist. But he said he had made videos of tracks like the Monkees’ “Daydream Believer” on Hook’d — under an alias.
So how is his voice?
“Worse than you’d think,” he said.