Smule = Sonic Media: An Intersection of the Mobile, Musical, and Social

We explore the potential for and implications of musical (or proto-musical) social interaction and collaboration using currently available technologies embedded into mobile phones. The dynamics of this particular brand of social intercourse and the emergence of an associated aesthetic is described. The cliched concept of a global village is made a vibrant reality by introducing instruments with inherent communal and collaborative properties. A proximate sonic connection encouraging social linkage within a microcosm is coupled with a global communal music network. We describe the development path to this paradigm describing a series of commercial iPhone applications that each introduces a unique aspect of sonicbased social community building. 1. MOTIVATION The use of purposeful communication media devices is extensible to the notion of “non-verbal interactive sonic media”. We explore aspects of technology, design, and engineering as well as the resulting implications for global social interaction and a new aesthetic for collaborative musical engagement within this framework. Smule, a company designing and implementing tools to facilitate such musical social intercourse provides a unique platform for research and development of this new paradigm, combining computer music research with a unique potential to bring its visions to a wide population. In the first six months since Smule’s inception, it has reached a user base of more than one million iPhone owners. Smule demonstrates that, through mobile, sonic, social means, it is possible to effect immediate penetration on a massive scale, creating global communities overnight.