How can we make listening to music a more interactive experience?
Introduction
Inspired by the immersiveness of vinyl records, researchers Prof. Justin Paterson and Prof. Rob Toulson wanted to design something that makes listening to music an interactive experience.
variPlay offers a whole new way of experiencing music.
It gives artists the ability to include different versions of their songs in a release, with functionality that allows listeners to either morph between different versions of songs or allow the app to create a unique live remix in real time.
There is also an option to isolate individual tracks in songs so that fans can really get to grips with the different parts of their favourite music or adjust the balance to suit their preference and mood.
VariPlay has led us to consider the act of composing in a fundamentally different way, as a mutable process that is no longer fixed. This will have a major impact on the way we approach our music from now on.
Transforming how artists can release their music
Including their pilot project, launched in 2015, Justin and Rob have worked with artists to release six variPlay apps.
They have worked with artists from around the world and collaborated with some of the world's biggest organisations including Warner Music Group.
Daisy and the Dark
Alternative-pop chanteuse/visual artist Daisy and The Dark was the first to create a variPlay app to accompany her release.
She used the app to release her debut EP, "Red Planet" in 2015. The app allows listeners to access twelve alternate versions of each of the four tracks on the EP.
Ofenbach
Ofenbach are a French DJ duo who worked with Justin and Rob to create their variPlay app to accompany their 2019 release "Rock It!" which has had 30 million streams on Spotify and 10 million views on YouTube.
Using the manual variPlay mix interface, their fans can move between pop, electronic, deep house and electro-rock versions of the song in DJ style, or just sit back and let the app play a unique remix.
The band also included rich media content including animations, artwork, lyrics, production credits, video links and social media links.
Langham Research Centre
Moving beyond pop music, Avant-Garde art-music ensemble, Langham Research Centre are the latest artists to release a variPlay app. They launched "Quanta/Signal/Noise" at the end of 2020.
Their aim was to allow their audience to shift between intriguing auditory landscapes using the manual interface. There is also an auto setting, which allows the app to create its own mix of the sounds available.
A hands-on listening experience
variPlay technology has had considerable success since the first app was released.
When the pilot was released, Rob and Justin created two versions of the app - one with interactive features and the other without.
Data showed that users spent 30% longer engaging with the music when the interactive features were available - emphasising the novelty and value of creating a hands-on listening experience.
The research team
- Principal investigator: Professor Justin Paterson
- Co-investigator: Professor Rob Toulson
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Funding
Two AHRC grants supported this research:
"Transforming Digital Music: Investigating Interactive Playback” (AH/M002535/1)
"The Commercialisation of Interactive Music” (AH/R004757/1)
AHRC is part of UK Research and Innovation, a new body that works in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities, and government to create the best possible environment for research and innovation to flourish.
Operating across the whole of the UK with a combined budget of more than £6 billion, UK Research and Innovation brings together the seven Research Councils, Innovate UK and a new organisation, Research England.
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Partners
Justin and Rob worked with Warner Music Group throughout the project.
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