Trebel, a new music app, will be promoting itself on campus.
Taylor Swift's 1989 might not be available for streaming on Spotify, but the pop star's hit album can be found on the new app Trebel.
The new music app, which is designed to keep students out of trouble from pirating music, hit the app store shelves this week and is coming to Ohio University this month to promote its product. It is available on both iPhone and Android devices.
M&M Media, the company behind Trebel, chose a business model that differs from most music apps — it pays users to legally download music to their phone.
“You get paid for downloading music. It's kind of upside down,” Gary Mekikian, the CEO of M&M Media, said.
Corey Jones, chief of product at M&M Media, said they will be ramping up activity on campus within the next few weeks. The app will be reaching out to 3,000 other campuses by next semester.
“College students are at a point in their lives where they're listening to music more than they ever will again,” Jones said. “We’re providing for them by legitimizing the free downlaod experience in a way that's never been done.”
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As users choose music from the broad catalog of songs, they receive virtual currency for watching advertisements while waiting for the song to download, Mekikian said. The currency can then be used to play a playlist of songs ad-free and uninterrupted.
The university was chosen for its fast-growing, diverse group of students who are active on social media, he said.
Mekikian said his app was not competing with streaming apps such as Spotify or Pandora, as it downloads music directly to a user's phone and can be accessed without using mobile data. He advocated for the use of these sites, saying people could “find it on Pandora and download it on Trebel.” Trebel only allows for downloading — not streaming or previewing — of music.
Trebel, which has been in development for about 15 months, is being promoted exclusively on campuses because it’s been crafted, since the beginning, to appeal to millennials. More than 200 college students have been involved in refining the app, Mekikian said.
“This isn't an app that the old guys came up with,” he said. “We’ve developed this app to be young.”
The app has had a youthful influence from its conception. Mekikian got the inspiration for the app from his teenage daughters Juliette and Grace. They wanted a safe way to download music and, with their help, Mekikian obliged.
One of the major features brought to life by these millennials is an emphasis on the social aspect of music. Not only can users exchange playlists and currency, but they can also see a live feed of the most popular music on campus.
While its default color scheme is a stark “acid yellow” and black, users can choose the color scheme of any album and apply it to their own layout with a shake of their phone.
Some students are waiting to see what else the app has in store.
"I'm interested in downloading it,” Alyssa Dawson, a junior studying environmental and plant biology, said. “It'd be a good way to find out about lesser known bands."
Making sure students avoid illegal downloading sites was of major importance to Mekikian, so much so that it influenced the name of the app. He wants “Trebel to spell trouble” for these pirating sites and make them obsolete.
“You’re getting the real deal here, and you know the artist is going to be compensated,” Mekikian said. “Not all musicians are headliners — they need to make money too.”
While Trebel is new to the music scene, Mekikian said its music selection should satisfy the target demographic.
“There's going to be songs that we don't have, but so far we’ve been able to get what we need to serve our audience,” Mekikian said.
He added that the app offers an option to request songs, at which point the company will work to add that song to its catalog.
The name also carries musical meaning to Mekikian.
“We don't think it’s all about the bass, it could be a little about the treble too,” he said jokingly.
@AustinRErickson
ae554013@ohio.edu
