Apptisan #001 — MusicHarbor
A Must-Have for Music Enthusiasts, MusicHarbor Lets You Never Miss Out on New Releases.
Name: MusicHarbor
Developer / Team: Loop Apps
Platforms: iOS, iPadOS, macOS
Read this newsletter issue in Chinese (中文) .
Please describe your app.
MusicHarbor is an app that helps you stay on top of new music releases, music videos, events, and news from all your favorite artists and record labels.
MusicHarbor collects and arranges new releases from the artists you follow in a chronological list. It guarantees you will see everything that’s new and won’t miss anything. You can quickly get started by importing artists from your Apple Music, Spotify, and Last.fm accounts, or also add them manually.
Was there a pivotal moment that inspired your app’s creation?
The idea for the app came from noticing that I was checking a few artists’ Apple Music profile pages from time to time and seeing them release new music that I didn’t know about. But before thinking about developing an app, I started looking for tools that could do this for me.
At the time, there was a tool called RecordBird. I discovered it too late though, because it was shut down two weeks after I found it. Around the same time, Apple announced the first version of the Apple Music API, which felt like the perfect opportunity to start working on the app.
What makes your app unique compared to others in the market?
I believe MusicHarbor differentiates itself from others because it is designed to feel at home on all of the Apple platforms it supports. MusicHarbor always adopts the latest APIs and technologies available, allowing users to take maximum advantage of their Apple devices.
How have you marketed your app, and what key lessons have you learned?
I don’t think I have a well defined marketing and promotion strategy yet. For example, I never explored avenues like paid advertising, collecting and optimizing metrics, and similar tactics (I should probably start working on it though). What I have focused on is trying to create an exceptional app and share it with publications that may be interested in apps like this. I also rely on the power of word-of-mouth recommendations from users that like the app.
What has been some memorable feedback since your app’s release?
I always love when people say they discovered a bunch of music from their favorite artists they didn’t know existed. It’s always amazing when we find new music that we like, and that’s what motivates me to build and maintain MusicHarbor.
Are there any products out there that you feel deserve more recognition?
I think one of my most used apps recently has been Timery by Joe Hribar. It’s such a good app that helps me keep track of the time I worked on my different projects, and viewing comprehensive insights through its detailed reports. It is also a great platform citizen, offering native integrations and features such as interactive widgets, for example.
Tell us a bit about yourself and what you envision for the future.
My name is Marcos, I’m an indie developer for Apple platforms, and I live in Maringá, Brazil. I’ve always been interested in tech for as long as I can remember, and my first contact with Apple came when I got an iPod nano 2nd Generation for my birthday. It was a fascinating device that allowed me to carry thousands of songs wherever I go. It didn’t take long for Apple to introduce the first iPhone, making me even more interested in the company and its products.
My first development job was as a backend developer. I’ve always had the idea of creating apps for the iPhone, but at the time, I didn’t have a Mac (or iPhone), so it took me a few more years to start playing around with iOS development. After the 2014 WWDC, when they introduced Swift, I downloaded The Swift Programming Language book from the iBooks Store on my iPad and started studying it. After that, it didn’t take long for me to decide to buy a Mac and finally pursue the idea of creating my iOS apps.
I’m using Mastodon and Threads to share my journey as an indie developer, so you an follow me there to get the latest updates about my apps.
About Apptisan
Apptisan is a portmanteau of “application” and “artisan”, signifying “a weekly exploration into the world of apps and the passionate artisans who create them.” Each issue is a conversation with global creators, aiming to uncover and present intriguing products to a wider audience.
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