My Killa App

I recently became inspired (I won’t say by what, or whom) to find the next big Web 2.0 application for musicians and music lovers worldwide. What I found—and I’m so glad I did—was Idiomag. If any of you know what Pandora is (and you should all know what Pandora is because it is amazing), think of Idiomag as Pandora on steroids, without the tantrums and the impotence.

Idiomag is a type of news/music aggregator, but instead of a system like pageflakes, where you have to do all the work, the folks at Idiomag do all the looking for you. In late 2006 they launched their first magazine, and have been honing the site ever since then. The system works like so: you type in the bands you like, and they supply you with an online magazine filled with news and music from those bands. You can decide whether you would like just the bands you want, or recommendations from the Idiomag team based on your preferences. You can also choose the size (up to 6 articles) and frequency (as often as daily) of your mags, and the rest is done.

In terms of finding a social aspect to Idiomag, they are hoping to have a forum up and running soon where intelligent conversations about music will no doubt quickly deteriorate into flame wars over whether Joey Jordison or Neil Peart is the better drummer. Until that day, however, the creators have given us a handy little widget that we can put on our own social networking sites so that we can show all our friends how much cooler we are than them.

Aside from one-uping our friends, Idiomag is a useful tool for anyone in the music industry (or anyone interested in music) because it constantly updates the magazine with current news that is relevant to each person’s field of interest. It’s so much better than trolling the entire interweb for updates on the world of music. And the best part is, since it’s all online, we’re doing our part to save the Amazon and combat global warming.

Although the site is impressive in both its layout and content, the people responsible for it don’t seem to have let that get to their heads. The site is based in England, and the small team that runs it seems quite down to earth, as demonstrated in their wittily composed FAQ page and the fact that they are extremely receptive to help and suggestions. I would encourage all of you to browse around the site, as they have a page for everyone, from bloggers to journalists.

To get a sample of this lovely technology, feel free to check out my personal idiomag. I haven’t had the time to add many artists yet, but I put a few of my favorites and just a couple of fun ones (read: Miley Cyrus) to spice up the mix.

Since most of you probably like pretty visuals to go along with silly old words, I’ve included a video from the Idiomag folks themselves. Enjoy!