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June 1, 2007

Maestro: Social Music Streaming

Nick Gonzalez

28 comments »

maestrologo.pngMusic has been a killer app on the web ever since Napster met mp3 in 1999, and we’ve seen a lot of startups designing new social applications around it. Some startups are creating communities around discovering new music, others are helping you store and remotely access the music you already have. Atlanta-based Maestro is doing both.

Maestro lets you stream music from your computer across the web, for easy listening anywhere. This is a lot like what music locker services Oboe, MediaMaster, and Orb are doing with a social networking twist. Not only can you stream music from your own computer using Maestro, but you can also stream music from your friends on the network (Oboe lets you share channels with friends, but through email links). They plan on expanding to other types of media in the future.

maestrosmall.pngTo start streaming music, you need to download “Maestro Connector” and tell it where you stash your music. Maestro then sucks down all the meta-data (location, artist, album, length) and logs it in your profile online. From there, you can play songs complete with album art and organize your music into playlists. The songs aren’t uploaded to the service like MediaMaster, Orb, or Oboe, but instead streamed directly from your computer. The major drawback, of course, is that you can’t play your music anywhere unless you leave your main computer on.

But if your music server is off, don’t worry, because you can listen to music off your friend’s computers. Their playlists show up along with yours on your playlist page or from within an embeddable player widget like the one on the co-founder’s MySpace page. However, streaming from your friends may put an unnecessary strain on their bandwidth. I imagine some bandwidth rules will be implemented to prevent abuse. If their computer is offline too, you can still see what music they have and what their most recently played tracks were. Since they haven’t implemented any social music recommendation, these recently played lists are all you have to go on for finding new music.

Maestro is looking for funding and is currently testing amongst a small group in private beta. You can apply for an account on their site.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Friday, June 1st, 2007 at 10:25 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  1. Maestro: Social Music Streaming  »Technology News | Venture Capital, Startups, Silicon Valley, Web 2.0 Tech

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  2. tweakmode.com » Blog Archive » Maestro: Social Music Streaming from TechCrunch by Nick Gonzalez

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Comments

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  1. KwangErn Liew

    June 2nd, 2007 at 1:43 am

    Their site URL is actually http://www.getmaestro.com ;)

  2. Amyloo

    June 2nd, 2007 at 5:20 am

    “Music has been a killer app on the web ever since…”

    OK, I’m often sloppy in my writing, too, but music isn’t an application, is it?

  3. Danesc

    June 2nd, 2007 at 6:46 am

    “However, streaming from your friends may put an unnecessary strain on their bandwidth. I imagine some bandwidth rules will be implemented to prevent abuse.”

    Maestro has already implemented a set of rules that will only utilize the owner’s bandwidth the first time the song is played. If a playlist is embeded in a myspace profile or elsewhere Maestro will consume 100% of the bandwidth and not the user that owns the media. Same rules apply for when you listen to your friend’s media and playlists.

    Cheers and Enjoy!

  4. alaric

    June 2nd, 2007 at 9:42 am

    “The songs aren’t uploaded to the service like MediaMaster, Orb, or Oboe, but instead streamed directly from your computer. ”

    A correction:

    Orb does not upload your music tunes on the service.

    They are also streamed directly from your computer, and can be streamed not only via email, URL link, SMS link on the cell phone, but also posted via a very cool Flash embeddable player… check out http://www.orb.com and http://www.orb.com/myspace/ to know more…

    (ah, and yes, you can also stream your videos, photos… Orb powers the only truly multimedia Flash widget out there)…

    Enjoy!

  5. Ann Willey

    June 2nd, 2007 at 11:12 am

    Wanted to make a correction this is postiing. Orb is not an application where the music has to be uploaded. It streams directly from your PC to whatever device you are using with an Internet connection and a streaming media player. You can read more about it at http://www.orb.com/en/mymusic. Thanks.

  6. sam

    June 2nd, 2007 at 5:02 pm

    This is illegal. These guys wont get funded as the RIAA wont allow it and the lawyers will shut it down.

    We could start a wager on how many days this will take from the post above.

  7. Jose Raya

    June 2nd, 2007 at 8:30 pm

    sam, this is not illegal. You can share your music with everyone

  8. Aaron

    June 2nd, 2007 at 11:08 pm

    Because there are no duplicate files being created, there is nothing legally the matter with sharing access to your own music with your friends. Think of it as playing a CD in your car while you drive somewhere with a couple of your friends. You are the owner of the music, this does not stop others from sharing your experience. A great deal of time has been spent on this issue, and will continue to be addressed in the coming months.

    Enjoy the abilities and access that Maestro offers. Tell your friends, and expand your media experience!!

  9. Chriz

    June 4th, 2007 at 2:18 am

    Is there any limit on how many people can be connected at any one time? I thought the general idea was that sharing across the net was like playing a CD to four friends…

    I’m sure the DMCA will get updated if this practice becomes popular and unethical.

    Shame they don’t have any recommendation, so in my eyes last.fm and The Filter are leading the pack at the moment

  10. bob

    June 4th, 2007 at 7:01 am

    sam, this is not illegal. You can share your music with everyone……

    well, streaming copyrighterd music to untold thousands of strangers sounds like a radio station na da violation for fair use. if maestro was only streaming to a invited group of friends, it could skirt the use laws, but I’m with Sam above, in that I can’t imagine the RIAA sitting back and applauding. If this were legal everyone would be doing it.

  11. monsur

    June 4th, 2007 at 7:57 am

    Even if services like Maestro are legal, the RIAA has created a fear around the idea of sharing music. I’d love to see services like this thrive, but how do you overcome the stigma of sharing the RIAA created? Personally I believe this is where subscription services should excel, since everyone has a level playing field of music to share with friends.

  12. mumbles

    June 4th, 2007 at 11:27 am

    i use Orb to stream to my friends the mixes i have on my PC and made in ACID (using purchased loops, settle down folks ;)

    mostly i paste links into facebook and AIM messages, myself - but the SMS thing alaric mentioned above is cool too for friends i know CAN stream music (which sure won’t include friends who buy an iPhone, cool as it looks)

  13. Sumit

    June 4th, 2007 at 4:54 pm

    After going through the different services I for some reason keep coming back to Maestro. Ive had one singular problem over the last decade and thats how do i get my same music from home to A.) My desk at work, B.) My car, and C.) Shared with my friends in such a way that I can just direct them at a new track, or an old one when we’re discussing music.

    I dont particularly care to share photos, videos, or any of that other stuff that Orb does since I already have a Flickr account, Guba/YouTube account, etc. Im a fan of specialization. If im going to go look for a wedge of cheese im going to go to the specialty cheese shop that caters just to cheeses. I feel Orb and the rest might “look” nice, but for some reason technology wise ive always felt more comfortable with Maestro (though i do feel their interface needs a little cleanup, but i cant imagine they’re not thinking about that too).

    I know this isnt quantifiable either, but the few people that are on Maestro with me right now actually *feel* like music fans. Ive enjoyed clicking down other peoples playlists and listening for a while.

    Im rambled enough. Cheers.

    Sumit

  14. Who Knows

    June 19th, 2007 at 7:46 pm

    I have a really hard time thinking that someone like ASCAP won’t step in if this blows up. Having ondemand access to music that’s not your own has to violate some kind of licensing agreement in some manner?

    With the music industry getting its butt kicked, I’m surprised all this attention being thrown into this niche, especially if they’re planning on making money the affiliate way? Or perhaps they’ve got another ace up their sleeve.

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