The Echo Nest and Island Def Jam Music Group Launch First Developer API from a Major Label

SOMERVILLE, Mass., Feb. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Echo Nest, a music intelligence platform that powers smarter music technologies, has partnered with the legendary Island Def Jam Music Group, a division of Universal Music Group, to form the first-ever alliance between a major label and the independent app developer community.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101214/NE17511LOGO )

As part of the agreement, Island Def Jam will make its music available for any developer to create commercial apps using The Echo Nest's powerful APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). Never before have application developers had access to this caliber of music, data and cutting-edge technology within a developer 'sandbox' to create innovative new music experiences for any platform: smartphone, computer, browser, tablet, television and beyond.

"The music app is the new music format," said Jim Lucchese, CEO of The Echo Nest. "Music formats drive how we experience music and the role it plays in our lives. In the same way that the music video provided a promotional wrapper around songs and artists while also functioning as a new creative work, music apps can attract new fans and raise an artist's visibility while standing alone as a creative product. This is a bold move on the part of Island Def Jam, which has become the first major label business department to embrace an open development ecosystem to attract the best and brightest developers."

"Amazing music experiences for fans across all screens is our true goal," says Jon Vanhala, SVP Digital at Island Def Jam Music Group. "The Echo Nest's world class data and APIs combined with our world class artist roster and catalog creates a streamlined innovation environment, designed to inspire the best and brightest in the developer community, attract brand partnerships, and facilitate speed to market with more remarkable, engaging apps."

The Echo Nest's suite of APIs allows developers to integrate functionality that would otherwise require years of development to build everything from music discovery and visualization apps to rhythm games, contests, remix apps, and much more.

The alliance forges a new way forward for digital music, making the increasingly critical partnership between application developer and music owner much more efficient. By bridging this divide, and giving developers a wide range of tools with which to build the future of the music business, this first-of-its-kind agreement promises to spur digital music innovation on a widespread scale.

About Island Def Jam Music Group

The Island Def Jam Music Group is home to a diverse and unparalleled family of artists - from today's icons to tomorrow's rising stars - and is recognized as one of the most successful labels in the industry. It is comprised of Island Records, Def Jam Recordings, and Mercury Records. The roster boasts an array of talented artists including Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Mariah Carey, Taio Cruz, Jennifer Lopez, The Killers, Bon Jovi, Ne-Yo, Neon Trees, Jeezy, The–Dream, Fabolous, Melissa Etheridge, NAS, Chrisette Michele, Ludacris, Rick Ross, Duffy and many more. The Island Def Jam Music Group is a wholly owned business unit of Universal Music Group.

About The Echo Nest

The Echo Nest is a music intelligence company that connects the greatest application developers to the best data and music, enabling the next generation of music experiences. The Echo Nest powers smarter music applications for leading media companies and a community of about 7,000 independent application developers.  

Powered by the world's only machine learning system that actively reads about and listens to music everywhere on the web, The Echo Nest opens up a massive repository of dynamic music data to application developers to re-shape how we all experience music. Over 150 music applications have been built on its platform to date.  The Echo Nest's customers reach over 100 million music fans every month.

The Echo Nest was co-founded by two MIT Media Lab PhDs, Brian Whitman and Tristan Jehan. Winner of four National Science Foundation SBIR grants, The Echo Nest's investors include Matrix Partners and Commonwealth Capital Ventures, Argos Management and three co-founders of MIT Media Lab. For more information, visit echonest.com.

SOURCE The Echo Nest