What Are Your Friends Listening To? AirBuds Can Tell You
Photo by cottonbro studio via Pexels
AirBuds is a music-sharing app that has been rising in popularity because users can see what their friends are listening to in real-time.
Although Spotify allows users to see what their mutual followers are listening to, AirBuds creates a unique experience for users who can react to their mutual listening history with stickers and comments. AirBuds also keeps track of each user's listening habits with a “weekly music round-up” feature to see what artists and songs were most listened to that week.
Per the Apple App Store, where AirBuds is available for free, the developer Capp Inc. describes the app as “a widget for best friends to share their listening activity,” adding, “it makes you feel closer to your friends through the music they’re listening to at any moment.”
Although AirBuds is similar to the real-time photo-sharing app BeReal, which exploded in popularity in 2022, the application is still growing. It has 47.9 thousand reviews on the App Store and a 4.8 out of 5-star rating, compared to BeReal, which has 1 million reviews on the App Store.
As part of the marketing to develop AirBuds as an app and music-sharing method, the application seeks to target a young audience, focusing on college-age individuals through its ambassador program.
Emily Yancey is a 20-year-old photographer and musician from Rochester, New York, who started using AirBuds as a social tool to keep in touch with friends at a distance. “I have a lot of long-distance friends I met through a band on my AirBuds, as well as my significant other and our friends at home as well,” said Yancey.
Part of the social appeal that AirBuds can capitalize on is that users can keep track of what their friends are listening to, as Yancey explained in her experience. “I really like the ability to discover new music through your friends, as well as bonding over mutual music tastes,” she explained.
“The marketing and social aspects of the app such as reacting or asking questions really draw younger people to the app,” said Yancey. As a 20-year-old, Yancey sees the value brought to a younger audience for those interested in music and social media.
Students also understand the app's appeal from its marketing; Elizabeth Baumgardner ‘25, a student at Marist College feels similarly about the appeal of AirBuds.
“I think this app works best for a younger audience because it pertains to something important to young people, which is music,” said Baumgardner. “Not saying that older people don’t care about music, but because of things like Spotify Wrapped and Apple Replay and all of that, music listening has become a very core part of young people's culture.”
Although specific listening data for user ages is unavailable, AirBuds still maintains a marketing tactic to keep a younger audience, which both Yancey and Baumgardner have observed among their friend groups using the app.
People are talking about AirBuds online because of the dynamic it brings to social interaction online with Twitter users discussing the app, proclaiming their love for the app, or asking people to add each other on the app.
In an article published on Her Campus from the perspective of one user and her friends, Sara Keegan writes, “I once listened to “Pink Matter” by Frank Ocean 10 times in one day, and yes, I was called out on it,” as AirBuds users can see how many times someone streams a song, leading to “are you okay?” texts.
AitBuds is poised to become an ever-growing app with more and more users and a pop-culture presence as a young audience continues to use the app.
“I think it will continue to grow just because everyone likes to be in each other’s business and be snoopy,” said Baumgardner.