By: Nick Tilson
Over the past decade, the way consumers listen to music has changed, especially among millennials and Gen Z. Before streaming services, traditional albums and radio stations were the primary mediums for listening to music. The rise of streaming platforms such as Spotify, SoundCloud, and Apple Music has changed the music industry.
In 2020, Spotify had 286 million monthly active users. Apple Music had 80 million subscribers. According to the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) Year-End Music Industry Revenue Report, music streaming accounted for 83% of music revenue.
Everyone listens to music. Whether it is our favorite athletes, musicians, or friends, we all love music. Athletes, in particular, listen to hours and hours of music while training, working at, and before games. Brands began taking notice of this, and in 2014, Bose became the official headphone sponsor of the NFL. Listening to music is a huge part of an athlete's pregame routine. Former Detroit Lions lineman, Jason Fox, saw this as a great opportunity to combine music streaming and social media.
Cam Newton is one of the most energetic and entertaining players in the NFL. During a pregame warmup, Jason For thought it would be great for fans to listen along with Newton. This was the inspiration behind EarBuds.
EarBuds lets you listen to music with your favorite celebrities, athletes, artists, and friends. The EarBuds app is currently available on Apple's App Store and actively syncs with Apple Music or Spotify accounts. The platform gives users the ability to start their personal livestream or listen to others, chat, interact, and discuss music.
Several athletes including Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, and Rob Gronkowski are EarBuds curators. The platform amassed 100,000 subscribers in early February as fans were eager to listen to Mahomes' Super Bowl pregame playlist. Whether users want to listen to the pregame playlists of their favorite athletes, or just listen along with their friends and favorite artists, EarBuds gives them the ability to be flexible and constantly learn.
As a startup, EarBuds is still aiming to grow its number of users as well as become compatible with other music streaming services. It'll be interesting to see the app take its next step in 2021.