Launched in February, Music United (www.musicunited.com) is a unique social media aggregation site and platform, offering a new (and free!) online music universe where users can see and share everything in one place, “party” with friends, link people to websites and enjoy and discover all kinds of music.
With this convenient and fun “landing pad,” artists and fans finally have a central hub for controlling all of their existing social media communications and music-related interests. Artists are able to reach more fans and benefit from a platform that helps launch and promote their music. Fans can enjoy a one-stop experience where they and their friends can find and share the music and news they care about, and develop stronger relationships with artists and other fans.
“In essence, we become your music and social command center,” says Chicago based founder Jay Gulotta. “If you’re an artist, you take all the products, services and tools you love most online and put them together under one roof, which saves time and is an efficient way to reach your audience, promote your music to fans. The fans take these products and services and share what they love and engage with their favorite artists. Artists no longer need 100 different applications and sites to reach fans and fans don’t need all those websites to reach artists. Everything is all in one place, in a connective, cohesive central location. We are not replacing any of the other sites; we are simply integrating them into a single efficient platform. ”
Gulotta conceived and developed the concept based on real word experiences as an aspiring indie artist. Jay experienced high praise for writing, recording and performing his own material, but like many indie artists also found much of his time divided between Facebook, YouTube, ReverbNation, Spotify, Twitter, Myspace, SoundCloud and other sites, which took a lot of time away from his abilities to focus on his music.
“Eventually, I found the whole online process to be more of a chore than anything else and took so much away from my passion for writing and performing,” he says. “I threw my hands up and said, ‘There’s got to be a better way to do this.’ That’s when I thought of Music United.”
Gulotta’s core team consists of world class developers and marketers who, like himself, are musicians working, in essence, for the benefit of their fellow musicians, including: Chief Technology Officer Bob Perle, a Berklee College of Music graduate and former Director of the M.I.T. startup that patented “Social Media System” and later acquired by Amazon.com; Head of Business Development Will Urban, a touring artist and composer for film/TV; and Head of Marketing Simon Leibovich, drummer enthusiast and founder of Media House, LLC a Chicago-based boutique marketing agency.
The core features of Music United are Social Remix, Mosh Pit, Spotlight and Fans & Friends. Social Remix provides users with the ability to experience and engage with their desired music/social activity, while spending less time doing so, from an easy to use social dashboard. The user can connect here with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, SoundCloud and Tumblr, and interact with various social activity containing feeds, posts, messages and content. Connections to additional websites are forthcoming.
The Mosh Pit is an innovative way to discover, share and promote music—and connect with fellow Music United users. Helping the user find people and/or content based on specific criteria, it’s an exciting discovery tool designed to help fans make connections and artists build a fan club.
Spotlight is the user’s profile page; with engaging features such as “Buzz,” music/video photo centers (soon to allow embedding in addition to uploads), social connections and more, it allows users to showcase their online music world to fans and friends across the world
Gulotta’s belief that “everybody deserves a fan club” inspired the Fans & Friends section, an engaging and powerful social tool that allows users to build their own fan club as well as more meaningful friendships within Music United and online music communities. It allows musicians to showcase a true fan base to venues and industry professionals.
The future benefits and offerings on Music United will include: discounts/deals on gear, travel and shows; capabilities that allow users to mix & match their favorite music from various sources/services; artist tools and resources to manage touring, studios sessions and release parties; and account customization capabilities to help manage various music-related projects and groups.
Contact Music United 847-431-8506
