As more and more music streaming apps and music creation tools vie for users’ attention, social music sharing app Popster has added two new features to expand its user base: an AI image generator for album cover art, and a collaboration feature that lets artists remix other users’ songs.
Originally launched last year as a song creation tool and music video platform, Popster lets artists connect with other musicians, create original songs and music videos, and share them on social media. Users can record video and voice directly in the app, and add stickers and colorful backgrounds. The app also offers a variety of vocal effects (created in-house) and a community section where artists can interact with each other.
The app naturally taps into the generative AI craze, offering artists a way to generate lyric ideas and record vocals over them to create new beats. (Popster also uses AI technology to enhance audio when there’s background noise.)
One notable AI-based tool is the “Add Beat” feature. Provided by OpenAI, this feature allows users to create a backtrack to which the singer can add their own vocal recordings by selecting a genre (e.g., lo-fi hip-hop, R&B, indie pop, slow ballad, etc.) and a mood, such as “soft” or “normal.”
Popster trains its models using the Mubert library of royalty-free, pre-made tracks, which sets it apart from AI music apps Udio and Suno, which were recently sued for allegedly using copyrighted music without permission.
“The problem with AI today is that there are so many people who are trained on original songs that you don’t know who the original creator is, and there’s no concept of creativity,” co-founder and CEO Themis Drakonakis told TechCrunch. “We believe that having AI as a creative partner alongside the artist can allow them to experiment[with different sounds]unlock different ideas, and take creativity to the next level.”
Popster’s new artwork generator, “Albums,” is the latest addition to its generative AI tools (all powered by OpenAI). In addition to recording and uploading videos, Popster now lets artists input prompts to generate images that can be displayed like sticker overlays on top of their short videos. This adds an extra layer of polish to up-and-coming artists looking to get their new songs out there.
Another new feature on Popster appears to take advantage of TikTok’s “Stitch” and “Duet” tools, which artists often use to combine videos with other creators to add vocals, harmonies, or play instruments. Popster’s new “Mashup” feature lets artists create remixes and collaborate with other artists. Users can now record their own video by clicking the “Mashup” button under someone else’s video, and they’ll appear side by side.
Popster is still in its early days, with only a few thousand users. But Popster’s latest feature could be just what it needs to attract more people. So far, the app has created nearly 10,000 original songs. Drakonakis said users spend an average of 1.5 hours on the app every day.
The startup was co-founded by Drakonakis, who previously developed two apps: Self'it (a location-based photo sharing app) and UniPad (a collaboration app for college students), and CTO Sotiris Kaniras, a former engineer at UniPad.
Popster has raised $280,000 from Realize Tech Fund and is currently raising a pre-seed funding round to help grow its team and improve its video server. Other future plans include launching paid features and working with music labels.
The app is available for download on the App Store and Google Play Store.
