Meet Cizoo, a new iOS app that is all about making it easier to create music. Learning to play an instrument can be hard, but anyone can sing and rap. Cizoo lets you record tidbits of songs on top of a looping music background.
When you open the app, it immediately fires up the camera so that you’re ready to create some content. It’s reminiscent of Snapchat’s approach as Snapchat was one of the first popular apps to start with content creation first. But the button at the bottom isn’t a record button, it lets you pick a song.
The app currently has dozens of karaoke-like music loops from pop hits ranging from Drake to Manu Chao. They are ordered by categories, such as “drop a punchline” or “epic moment”. You can preview each song and then pick your favorite.
After that, it’s your time to shine. When you press the record button, a countdown lets you warm up and you can then sing for a few seconds on top of the music. After previewing the result and if you’re happy with your message, you can save it to the camera roll or send it to your friends using iMessage or a third-party app, such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp. Here’s what Cizoo videos look like.
Cizoo is currently a nifty little minimum viable product and I can see potential with this kind of app. Many apps have tried to mix music and messaging together, such as Mindie, but Cizoo is a bit different as it could appeal to creative teenagers who want to get off the beaten track of Snapchat and Vine. And it’s not just about adding a soundtrack to your videos, the soundtrack is the main part of the video as you’re singing.
The team behind Cizoo has been working on this new messaging format for a while, and it’s clear that this was the most important first step. Now, there are many possibilities for Cizoo.
Does the team want to create a feed and a social graph, and go down the social road? Or does it want to focus on messaging? The company will also need to work on a viral loop, support for more third-party apps and more creation tools. But overall, it’s a promising start and I can’t wait to see the app evolve over the coming months.
