Vine’s new music features rock the innovative factor

The social media app, Vine, has become one of the most popular and versatile platforms of social media. Since its inception in 2013, Vine is now one of the most lucrative avenues for artists and musicians to break out into the industry. Viral cute boy duo, Jack and Jack, along with now super-star Shawn Mendes made their musical debuts on Vine just a little over a year ago.

Now, more than two years into its production, Vine has added a brand new feature to expand the experience for the musical viners. Music discovery and music editing tools are new features that allow viners to make their social internet world more pragmatic for production and self-marketing. These exciting new additions will create a more diverse media platform, but do present several issues for the company as a whole.

The “discovery” part of the app allows viners to view which songs are featured in certain loops. I know I have experienced problems with this many times on Vine, wishing I knew what song was used. Instead of having to search deep into the black hole of commentary by everyone who has ever seen that video, users can now click a small icon on the top of the screen in order to see the name and artist of the song used in the clip.

iPhone users also get a new “Snap to Beat” that matches beats for better audio loops. Ever wondered how Rudy Mancuso can loop his funky instrumentals so well? This new beat feature allows regular users to loop some of their favorite songs into their personal vines.

As great as some of these features are, both for the regular users and artists, they could cause some potential issues down the road. For now, these features are free, but it remains to be seen if they will stay that way. If the music features prove lucrative for the company, there may be an opening for significant financial gain. This could mean that users would have to be charged for the use of these features.

Another issue that could arise is between Vine and the artists whose music is being used. If Vine does decide to charge for the features, royalties would have to be split between the company, artist and music label.
For now, these new music features present an exciting opportunity for artists hoping to upload their music on Vine. Media platforms like Vine have given remarkable opportunities to artists and experimenters alike in the music industry. Hopefully, with these new features, Vine is breaking ground for a more innovative music-media culture in the future.