Lovely, image-based scheduling app Diacarta has partnered with Pitchfork Media to create the first-ever iPhone app for the annual Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago.
"The festival grounds aren't overly complicated and are simple to navigate," says Pitchfork President Christopher J. Kaskie, explaining why the fest didn't previously have its own app. "The [Chicago] Reader was a fine way to have our schedule laid out, but it was on newspaper, back pockets get hot, and it was a little big. This will make things much easier in 2011."
Now music festivals are offering scheduling apps to make planning what gigs to see more palatable. SXSW had Festival Explorer Austin Edition, and Lollapalooza held a hackathon to crowdsource its ideal app.
Pitchfork turned to Diacarta, whose aesthetic seems in line with the music fest's indie feel. Diacarta's graphics recall those whimsy-soaked gig poster booths at Pitchfork.
The app is extremely easy to use: Click on schedule and scroll through the acts playing on each of the three days of the fest. Click on a band for more info and tap the "Plus" sign to add a show to your calendar. Your calendar comes in the form of three clocks -- one for each day -- with the bands situated around the face at the time they perform. You can also share your schedule or an individual band via Facebook or Twitter, and check out a map of Union Park, where the fest takes place.
Although the Pitchfork 2011 app [iTunes link] is lovely, it lacks some features that would have made it a more complete package -- like the option to listen to tracks by bands at the festival. Push notification reminders would have been a handy addition as well.
Still, as Kaskie says, this is a relatively small music festival. There are three stages, and if you stand in the middle of the arena, you can basically turn around to see who's playing. So perhaps a fancy app isn't really in order.