Tastebuds is a social service that uses musical taste to connect people.
And according to a few of my friends, is damn cool.
Users download the app from the Apple App Store and create an account by connecting via Facebook or entering their details manually. There are no long forms to fill out as the app scans the user’s local iTunes library adding their favorite artists to their Tastebuds account. Further artists can be added manually.
Users are matched using a proprietary algorithm developed in-house by the Tastebuds team. They can break the ice by sending a song or message.
The site was founded by two musicians from London, UK: Alex Parish and Julian Keenaghan. Both founders are members of the band Years Of Rice And Salt.
“Our mission is to connect people across the globe through music so we’re thrilled to finally introduce the Tastebuds concept to mobile” says Alex Parish, Tastebuds co-founder. “Musical preferences can tell you a lot about a person and having something in common is a great conversation starter. It’s the best way to break the ice; we have the highest response rate to messages of any social discovery service.” says Parish.
The new app, designed for iOS7, presents the user’s music matches in useful categories such as Bastille fans, Indie rock fans and Vinyl collectors. Users can swipe through profiles until they find someone they want to connect with – whether it’s for dating, friendship or networking. Users can also search for fans of specific bands in order to find a concert buddy. Breaking the ice is made easy as users can simply send a song to introduce themselves.
London-based Tastebuds was founded by Alex Parish and Julian Keenaghan after meeting in the band Years of Rice and Salt. They were one of ten teams selected to participate in the inaugural Springboard startup accelerator program in Cambridge in 2011, growing the service to over 100,000 registered users by the end of the following year.
The company launched their Spotify app in May 2012 allowing users to share tracks and playlists with new people on the music streaming service. Since then over 50,000 Spotify users have registered using the app.
Tastebuds has users in every major country around the world and has seen millions of messages sent between users and dozens of marriages.
The founders of Tastebuds quote the main character of High Fidelity – Rob Gordon, as the source of the inspiration for the startup:
“I agreed that what really matters is what you like, not what you are like… Books, records, films — these things matter. Call me shallow but it’s the f@ckin’ truth”.
