Social music apps have become a crowded industry of late, and a new company called Nusiki has joined the fray out of Chicago. Co-founder Ben Hewitt described the service as “if Instagram and Spotify had a kid.” The team aims to be a more controlled version of the automatic Spotify sharing feature, which shows all of your real-time listening to friends. “I don’t want people knowing that I listen to Katy Perry at 6 a.m. when I’m working out,” Hewitt explained.
Members can share songs from YouTube or SoundCloud with their connections, but more music platforms are expected to join the Nusiki ecosystem. It is expected to remain a free service, and the company is considering revenue options such as buying songs or advertising ticket sales. Nusiki is currently in beta, but is slated to launch in March at SXSW.