Rewind’s new app lets you ‘time travel’ through decades of music • TechCrunch

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A new app called Rewind We want to make it easy for music fans to explore the best songs of the last decade. Hoping to satisfy consumer demand for nostalgic music experiences, Rewind allows users to “time travel” through music charts from 1960 to 2010 to learn about how old songs have influenced today’s hits.

The app was created by developer Ziad Al Halabi, whose day job includes mobile app development at music streaming service Tidal. The developer says he loves working on music apps, having previously launched an audio player for musicians. regression, It received around 2 million installs.

With Rewind, which originally started as a weekend project, the goal is to provide a portal to explore old tunes that once topped the charts.

“[What] How about opening your favorite music app in 1991? Or 1965?” asks the application description. “What were the biggest hits at the time? Who were the top artists or the up-and-coming newcomers?”

Image Credit: Rewind

For fans of old music, those questions are easy to answer. But Gen Z brings in a new group of users who explore music through apps like TikTok, where a song’s release date isn’t necessary. Already, TikTok has proven successful in introducing younger people to popular tracks from past generations. It’s Kate BushRunning up that hill”or Fleetwood Mackin”dreams” – both of which went viral on the video app and entered the top charts years after their original run. And They are not alone.

This interest in old music is related to other Gen Z “nostalgia” tendencies Embracing flip phones, Y2K fashion, Wired headphones, Disposable cameras, 90s music (indeed, a preference from generation to generation), and of course, Vinyl.

“I’ve always been interested in how music changes over time,” Ziad said. “Rewind is a capsule of all music, artists and major events. The app offers a new way to discover new old music based on historical periods with a slight hint of nostalgia,” he continues. “It’s exciting to see the momentum with thousands of listeners, and Rewind is perfect for connoisseurs and fans looking to discover new music from the good old days,” Ziad added.

Image Credit: Rewind

However, this app isn’t the only way to browse past years’ charts. It goes a step further and includes some modern twists as well.

For starters, users can explore a given year’s music by top albums and top music videos, as well as top Billboard charts. It also examines relevant trends over a period of time. For example, browsing the year 1991 offers a selection of “grunge-defining records” such as Nirvana’s Nevermind and Pearl Jam’s Den. Other categories include tracks that saw major radio airplay that year, most anticipated releases and newly formed bands that emerged that year, and more.

Additionally, Rewind has a “News” section that includes major events and moments of the year in question. It also includes ads that give it a retro feel. For example, in 1965, listeners would see ads for the first distortion guitar pedal, while users browsing in the 1980s would see ads for new synth tools that helped shape the sounds of the 80s.

For a little fun, the app used ChatGPT to write brief reviews for music albums in its “Weekly Discovery” feature and used AI technology to ask, “Can you make me a 90’s mixtape? Great guitar riffs?”

Another feature provides a way to scroll through the TikTok-style music feed that comes every year. Here, you can listen to song clips from the period in a vertical feed. This particular feature could be developed to include “Like” or “Comment” buttons, but for now you can play or pause the track or open the song directly in Tidal.

Image Credit: Rewind

Not surprisingly, given Ziad’s work, Rewind integrates very deeply with Tidal, allowing subscribers to stream tracks in their entirety. The developer explains that because his work at TIDAL allowed him easy access to the API and the TIDAL catalog. But if Rewind catches on, he wants to add support for other music apps. However, even without a TIDAL subscription, users can stream 30-second previews and scroll through the app’s TikTok-like feed.

“The feedback I get from users is that even without a Tidal subscription, it’s still a fun experience to browse through different years, discover weekly albums, scroll through a TikTok-style feed,” Ziad tells us.

Launched last month, the app received a few thousand downloads in its first weekend and is slowly growing. It is available as a free download on both Android And iOS and is currently not generating revenue.

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