Music Apps for Inspiration

Today, I'm highlighting some of the apps that I use when looking for inspiration in my writing. Some of these may be obvious, or they may not be. But all of them are helpful.

Songza

My go-to music app is Songza. Perhaps because Spotify wasn't launched here in Canada until long after it was launched elsewhere in the world, I have some wicked, unshakeable brand loyalty towards Songza. I do enjoy the concierge feature, although sometimes it does get it really, really wrong. But that's when I turn to genres, activities, or my favourites.

It's a great discoverability app, and many times I turn to it when I'm drafting a story, editing a piece of writing, or needing some inspiration. Although I have to say that they use to have "Being Creative" listed as an activity you might want music for, and since the last update they got rid of it. Poop!

Spotify

Songza and Spotify are very similar beasts. Like Songza, Spotify has free and a premium membership levels. And like Songza, it relies on playlists created by either the staff or the users.

However, unlike Songza, it doesn't have a concierge that's based on the time of day or day of the week. This can be good for writers who need what they need when they need it, but I find that Songza can sometimes be spot on about what you're doing at that particular time of day or day of the week. Sometimes it's spooky.

Soundcloud

Soundcloud has some really great features that make it excellent for inspiring your next story. Anyone can upload sounds to the site and share them with the world, making it a sort of YouTube for sounds and music. However, the really awesome feature for those of us seeking inspiration in musical form is the cloud itself: when you pick your genre and then start listening to a track, if you get caught up in your work, it's no problem! The site or app will continuously play tracks related to the one you started with. It's perfect for when the spirit moves you and you are lost in thought.

Shazam

If you haven't yet heard of Shazam, you should look into it now! This little app helps you to identify tracks that you hear playing while out and about. It's invaluable for those times that you hear an especially inspirational track and want to keep its info for the next time you're writing out a scene, setting, or character.

So those are my picks. What about you? Do you have any other music apps that you find especially helpful to your writing?