WholeWorld Band app gets €2m funding

TheWholeWorldBand app, which allows users to recordand make musicwithmajor rock names using just aniPador iPhone,has just had a €2 million(Australian $4.2 million) injection infunding.

The innovative cloud-basedfreeapp was founded by Kevin Godley, one time drummer of 10cc and co-founder of Godley & Crème. Godley was one of the pioneers of music video technology in the 1980s,later producingclipsfor U2, Blur and Bryan Adams.

Now his technology allows users to make and share music and video with the likes of Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters, Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones, PhilManzaneraof Roxy MusicandEurythmicsco-founder Dave Stewart.

The stars post backing tracks, and users can either build on these or have a jam session with them to create new songs. They pay anything from $1.99 to $17.99 for the privilege and bragging rights.

TheWholeWorldBand app first launched with a £5 million ($10.6 million) aid from investors including former U2 manager PaulMcGuinnessand major tech names asCartrawlerfounder Greg Turley andTrintech’sCyril McGuire.

Early users were Stewart Copeland of The Police and DavidGray, who worked with thousands of beginners.

The latest round of investors includeone timeDigifoneboss Barry Maloney and billionaire financier Dermot Desmond.

This month, Copeland andPublic Enemy bassist and producer BrianHardgrooveteamed up in a world-first project to find singers speaking in Arabic, Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish and Portuguese to collaborate on one track. “This is the world’s biggest audition,”Hardgroovesaid at Barcelona’s Future Music Forum last month. The call-out, through WholeWorldBand.com, will see the singers perform live with Copeland andHardgroove.

Among brands involved in the project are Gibson Brands, which will track the auditions’ progress and post visual and audio entries on its Harmony Central muso website, and microphone makerSennheisser.

Hardgroovesaid that gear manufacturers are the “new record labels”, adding that they to be more innovative-thinking and musician-friendly.