Sting Releases His One Million Dollar App - For Free
November 15, 2011
To coincide with the release of his new “Sting 25” album, the British singer has released a companion app for iPad. According to The Wall Street Journal, the free Sting 25 app, cost one million dollars to produce.
Created by New York-based @radical.media, the app combines music, concert footage, photographs and videos. In addition, the app includes raw footage from Sting’s performance in October at New York’s Beacon Theatre, which included duets Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder.
Apps represent largely uncharted territory in music. Recently the singer Björk married songs from her album "Biophilia" to a series of spacey video game-style interactives. Otherwise, few artists' apps have grabbed mainstream attention—most that exist are rudimentary, compiling tour dates, Twitter feeds and the like for mobile devices. Artist managers and labels have held off on attempts to develop ambitious apps because the payoffs are unclear. Sting's team is offering the app free in an effort to drive downloads and cross over to users outside his fan base. But the free strategy underscores a nagging uncertainty about the demand for such apps, and whether they can effectively spur sales of music downloads. "There's clearly going to be a business model down the road, but nobody has a sense of what the market is yet," said Justin Wilkes, @radical's executive vice president of media and entertainment.Sting 25 looks like an interesting app and a must-have for any Sting fan. Get it today in the App Store.