Quick Pitch: JamLegend is the leader in online music gaming. Play from a collection of over 500 songs, or upload your own favorites and play any song you want.
Genius Idea: We thought it was pretty genius when MTV announced Rock Band Network, a music marketplace for signed and unsigned bands to get their music into gameplay. But users won't benefit from the marketplace for quite some time, and until then we may have found something better for the wanna-be rock stars out there. JamLegend is like a cross between Rock Band (console) and Tap Tap Revenge (mobile) for interactive gameplay on the web, with friends, to the music of your choosing. We saw them showoff at Twiistup in Los Angeles today and we're now big fans.
You can start using JamLegend by logging in with Facebook Connect, selecting a song, choosing your mode (Guitar or BeatJam), opting to play solo or in a battle, and then jamming with your keyboard and fingers as your instruments. In the same Rock Band/Guitar Hero/Tap Tap Revege style, you'll be challenged to keep the appropriate beat, rhythm, or melody and earn points as you rock out to songs.
The games themselves are quite addicting, regardless of the mode you choose, but even better is that you can upload any song — in MP3 format — of your choosing and play it immediately. Of course there is a catch around uploads, so if you want more than the 5 free song uploads, you'll have to upgrade to Pro status. Plans start at $4.99/mo for 100 songs, but that seems like a small price to pay when compared to the costs of adding music to console games.
Some other nifty aspects of JamLegend include the ability to chat with online friends, challenge other online players, create tournaments, and watch or join multiplayer showdowns. Plus, it doesn't hurt that the site offers a very enjoyable user experience that is compelling before, during, and after gameplay.
JamLegend also does a great job at encouraging competition through points and badges, with an active community of gamers already competing for top spots. Case in point, the site has already seen users play more than 30 million plays collectively.
Of course, JamLegend is also interested in serving artists, just like Harmonix and MTV's Rock Band Network. So artists can apply to be a part of the platform, upload their songs, and customize Artist profile pages to be included in the site experience.
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