UK rock band Muse has teamed up with the Featured Artist Coalition, the Music Managers Forum, and mobile association the GSMA to take part in the introduction of a band mobile app development contest.
Alongside Faithless, Metric and Eliza Doolittle, the band has submitted a brief for developers who want to have a chance to build a new Muse app.
“As the album cycle for Muse's 'The Resistance' comes to a close and the band heads back into the studio, Muse are looking for an app to keep their fan base engaged with their activities between album releases,” say the band's promoters.
Applications must be working mobile apps built to operate on Android, Research In Motion, or BlackBerry OS, iPhone iOS, Palm WebOS, Windows Mobile (Microsoft) or Symbian smartphones.
Strutta Media, the contest platform, says the requirements of the apps are simple. It must be a user-friendly content management system (CMS) for the band to upload content (text, photo and video) from their phones. The front end must display this content to fans and allow them to comment on it.
“It must have integration with muse.mu [the band's Web site] and social networks to push content to relevant platforms like photos to the site; video to YouTube, text to Twitter plus 'app status updates' to all networks, including updates like 'Muse just posted a new video...[link to YouTube video] on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.”
The company says there must be an option for fans to connect social network accounts. “For example, comments can be posted as Tweets or Facebook status updates. 'iLike' or 'Tweet this' buttons with each update.”
In-app promotion of the band's Web site content must be included, says Strutta Media, adding that “module displaying synopsis of latest content such as news headlines, tour dates and merchandise”.
“It can be cross-platform, but it is essential that CMS is accessible from iPhone and iPad for band use. The Web version should be made available plus a muse.mu Web site ad and module to sit on the band's homepage and reflect the most recent communications.”
The app, the company says, should ideally be free to a user, but with the possibility of being paid for or sponsored. Music content like album audio, promotional videos and live video as well as complicated interfaces for band CMS should be avoided.
The competition is now open and the winner, as well as runners-up, will be announced at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Spain, in February 2011.
The winner will get the chance to possibly make the app for Muse, a pair of tickets to a Muse show, a 'meet and greet' with the band if the app is commissioned and Muse merchandise including signed items. Runners-up get a pair of tickets to a Muse show and merchandise.
The judges are the members of the band - Matt Bellamy, Dominic Howard and Chris Wolstenholme.
Interested applicants can enter here.
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