Howdy Drooblers! A lot of you have sent us letters asking how games and music could be related so that musical artists can finally get the attention they deserve through the high-tech means of modern entertainment. Actually no, you haven’t, because we’ve never talked about gaming before and we’ve certainly never received a letter. Nonetheless, a new startup has decided to address this issue by combining mobile games, jazz and hip-hop artists. Here’s how:

Here’s the Kickstarter campaign page of TrickJazz Studios. As you’ve seen, they’re trying to fund a series of games designed to introduce gamers to music from independent producers. Their campaign for the first round of seed capital marks “a cornerstone for the future of indie artist representation and the way gamers relax”.

TrickJazz Studios, the brainchild of digital marketer and googler Christian Facey, aims to unite independent artists in the jazz and hip-hop spheres under one banner. The company is producing slick, simple, and tranquil games, which, by applying the latest research, are designed to help induce a therapeutic state and in one swoop both help gamers to relax and help artists to boost their discoverability. Their mission is to give artists a method to engage with current / new listeners within an untapped and rapidly growing medium.

On the backdrop of a much wider conversation led by cross-genre artists from Taylor Swift to JayZ, TrickJazz Studios’ solution presents indie artists with an innovative alternative to getting a bigger seat at the table.

We have to admit, it’s a brilliant formula that could even see artists develop their own mini-games to support product launches, and could form the foundations of a new wave of cross-promotional/cross-marketing techniques. And what better way for a typically mature genre to really tap into the millennial market than via mobile? With 87% of them glued to their smartphones and mobile gaming being one of the fastest growing digital mediums, the TrickJazz team may well have stumbled onto a jazz and hip-hop revival. And what better way to make use of their digital marketer and founder than to bring a fresh new twist to the concept of micro-moments within the mobile space? The startup hopes to use the concept of micro-moments and music discovery to simultaneously create and satisfy those I-need-to-know-what-this-track-is-called-right-now moments through hearing awesome new artists while playing games. There’s a lot of digital-marketing and brand awareness know-how that just doesn’t get passed on to indie artists and the Trickjazz Team think that it’s about time that changed!

Although the system is in its infancy, TrickJazz Studios has secured support from artists around the globe and is on the precipice of success, with support from prominent underground producers such as Vanilla, Flofilz, Stan Forebee, David Chief, ASO, Deeb, and that’s just a handful! The technology produced is part of a much larger idea that is a closely guarded secret of TrickJazz Studios, but is hinted within their kickstarter video! From what has been shown at a few closed-alpha invite only sessions we await with baited breath for new fresh sounds, games and ideas from the startup.

“Our mission is to provide beautiful games to gamers, and ensure that independent music producers can overcome barriers to entry, benefiting from the explosive growth of mobile gaming. We know that indie artists don’t necessarily have the teams and time to research alternative marketing strategies; it’s equally unfortunate that social media marketing is becoming increasingly saturated making it that much more difficult to be discovered. There is a consensus that whether it’s an undiscovered music producer, singer, rapper etc, there is serious talent out there, which isn’t getting enough attention. Many of us have had those moments where we wonder why a particular undiscovered artist isn’t famous yet! We thought we’d do something about it”, says Christian, founder of TrickJazz Studios. “Ultimately, we don’t even consider what we are doing as work: we love gaming and we love music.  But this is also a value proposition: indie artists need more exposure, and casual gamers will always welcome higher quality experiences, which we believe involve listening to good music with depth and playing fun, beautiful games”.

Given the saturation of marketing channels for indie music and the obvious gap in the market when it comes to the representation of indie artists, we will be following this startup with immense interest, eagerly anticipating the future of the TrickJazz Studios’ system: JUKEBOX. The team have made some bold claims about their vision for the company and we look forward to seeing that vision become a reality. If mobile gaming is the future of music, then play on.

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