A GUIDE TO ORGANIZING AND PARTICIPATING IN MEETUPS

Smuleans are connecting through music every single day through our apps, and sometimes they also meet in person to make music together! The community has come to calling these Smule meetups: they can be large or small and happen any where in the world - it’s up to you. With the help of our enterprising superfans, we’ve created this guide to help you learn more about the growing world of meetups and give you some tips and tricks as you start organizing (or attending) a meetup somewhere in the world.

GUIDE TO ORGANIZING and HOSTING A MEETUP

If you want to organize a meetup but are unsure how to do it, don’t worry, there are a lot of people in the community who can help you out. And with meetups happening all the time around the world, you may want to try attending one that has already been organized before organizing one of your own.

Here are some handy resources to help get you started on your Meetup journey!

Smule Sing! Meetups Group on Facebook: Chat with other Smuleans looking to meetup, and find out about meetups that are being organized. Please note this is a private fan group, so you’ll need to get a moderator’s approval to pos.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SmuleSingMeetups/

Smule Meetup Email Address: We love it when fans get together to enjoy music together! If you’d like to receive a care package of Smule t-shirts from us, please write us at meetups@smule.com. Please be sure to include the number of shirts and how many you would like in each size. We’ll need this list at least two weeks before your event to make sure we get the shirts to you on time. (Please also note this is subject to availability of our shirts)

Ready to start planning the nuts-and-bolts of the meetup? Here are some suggested steps to take. In general, you should give yourself plenty of time to organize and promote the meetup depending on how many people you are looking at to attend. And remember - if you are requesting shirts from Smule, be sure to send us a list at least two weeks notice prior to the meetup to make sure the t-shirts are sent out.

Preparation
As a host, it is advisable to have an idea of the following information before you promote your meetup:

  • Suggested Date and Time
  • Suggested City and Venue
  • Who will be helping you plan the meetup if anyone?
  • How many people would you like to have, or plan on having attend the meetup?
  • How much will the meetup cost. This will give people an idea of what they will have to spend.

Spread the word
Get other Smuleans involved in your meetup! There are plenty of places to find likeminded Smuleans on our website, in our apps, or within friendly fan-made groups. A great way to promote your Meetup is with a Facebook Event or by using Meetup.com so that people can RSVP! This will also help you figure out how many people will be showing up to the shindig.

T-Shirts (send email 2 weeks before meetup)
Once the meetup is planned and promoted, you may want to gather information for T-shirts of people who are committed to attending the meetup. We have two types of shirts - Men’s and Women’s.

Once you’ve gathered this information you will need to send an e-mail to us at meetups@smule.com at least two weeks prior to the meetup in order for Smule to be able to send T-shirts of the right sizes. Please include the following in that e-mail:

  • Smule Username
  • Your Full Name
  • Your Address
  • Phone Number
  • T-Shirt Size for yourself

Pre-Meetup Checklist (1 week to meetup)
Sometime before the day of the meetup, you will want to double check that:

  • Everyone attending is still going
  • Attendees know when and where the meetup is
  • People can contact you if they are having issues
  • T-Shirts are on their way

During the Meetup
On the day of the meetup, remember to have fun! You’ve earned it!

Don’t forget the T-shirts!
Also, try to remember to take a group photo and ask attendees to post their pictures, videos, and any recordings they generate to post on the Meetup Event Page.

After the Meetup
When the meetup is over, we’d love to hear about your experience and see any photo albums you create! We’d love to see your pictures and videos - they might even be featured on our blog!

April Showers bring May Flowers…and also Sing! Updates. First things first - we have a snazzy new icon. The community voted and this one reigned victorious! Isn’t it purdy? We’ve also added a Recent Opens screen to make duet-browsing more fun and easy. Now you can check out what Open Calls have just been created and use them as digital muses while deciding your next performance.  The team’s been working under the hood, upgrading some boring engineery things and squashing pesky bugs to make your Sing! experience better in lots of little ways (like the app’s load time! We’re really proud of that one.)
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April Showers bring May Flowers…and also Sing! Updates.

First things first - we have a snazzy new icon. The community voted and this one reigned victorious! Isn’t it purdy? We’ve also added a Recent Opens screen to make duet-browsing more fun and easy. Now you can check out what Open Calls have just been created and use them as digital muses while deciding your next performance. 

The team’s been working under the hood, upgrading some boring engineery things and squashing pesky bugs to make your Sing! experience better in lots of little ways (like the app’s load time! We’re really proud of that one.)

Introducing Smule’s new Community Manager: Zhen! 2014 is a big year for Smule. We’re growing, both as a company and as a community. There are more Smuleans in the world than ever before. Together, we’re listening, creating, and sharing music in creative and imaginative ways. But this is just the beginning: we’ve got a lot more in the works, and today we’re excited to celebrate a huge next step for us. Today, we’re excited to introduce to you the next important step in the evolution of the Smule community. Zhen Liu has just joined the Smule team as our first ever official Community Manager! His mission is to create a community hub for all members of our rapidly growing Smule Nation: he’ll be beefing up our blog, posting cool stuff on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, and, most importantly, talking with you guys. Without you, our community, Smule would not be what it is today: you are our heart and soul. You are what makes us tick! So we’ll not only be kicking up our communications with you, we’ll also be exploring more robust ways to give you outlets to talk with us and hear what’s going on behind the scenes. So now, let’s talk a little bit more about Zhen. If you’re a member of the Sing! community, you might already know him as LSKEYof_Zen, and from now on, he will simply be known as Zen - in fact, his year anniversary in the Sing! app is coming up this month. Zhen’s not just a devoted Sing! member: he’s also the first person we’ve ever had submit a cover letter in song form! When he’s not singing, dancing, playing guitar or violin, he’s probably playing basketball, ping pong, or ultimate frisbee. (His favorite color is also blue.) We’re very excited to welcome Zhen from the community into our ranks and for the important work he’s going to be taking on to make our community one of the best in the world. Stay tuned for more updates from him in the coming weeks! In the meantime, please feel free to reach out with questions, feedback, or just to say hi. You can find Zhen and the rest of the team with our brand new community email address: community@smule.com.
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Introducing Smule’s new Community Manager: Zhen!

2014 is a big year for Smule. We’re growing, both as a company and as a community. There are more Smuleans in the world than ever before. Together, we’re listening, creating, and sharing music in creative and imaginative ways. But this is just the beginning: we’ve got a lot more in the works, and today we’re excited to celebrate a huge next step for us.

Today, we’re excited to introduce to you the next important step in the evolution of the Smule community. Zhen Liu has just joined the Smule team as our first ever official Community Manager! His mission is to create a community hub for all members of our rapidly growing Smule Nation: he’ll be beefing up our blog, posting cool stuff on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, and, most importantly, talking with you guys. Without you, our community, Smule would not be what it is today: you are our heart and soul. You are what makes us tick! So we’ll not only be kicking up our communications with you, we’ll also be exploring more robust ways to give you outlets to talk with us and hear what’s going on behind the scenes.

So now, let’s talk a little bit more about Zhen. If you’re a member of the Sing! community, you might already know him as LSKEYof_Zen, and from now on, he will simply be known as Zen - in fact, his year anniversary in the Sing! app is coming up this month. Zhen’s not just a devoted Sing! member: he’s also the first person we’ve ever had submit a cover letter in song form! When he’s not singing, dancing, playing guitar or violin, he’s probably playing basketball, ping pong, or ultimate frisbee. (His favorite color is also blue.)

We’re very excited to welcome Zhen from the community into our ranks and for the important work he’s going to be taking on to make our community one of the best in the world. Stay tuned for more updates from him in the coming weeks! In the meantime, please feel free to reach out with questions, feedback, or just to say hi. You can find Zhen and the rest of the team with our brand new community email address: community@smule.com.

AutoRap 2.0 - Rap Battle Challenge feat. An0maly

Up and coming rapper An0maly is challenging you to a Rap Battle using the new AutoRap 2.0. Will you accept? Check out the video above to get more details! An0maly and Smule will judge entries and handpick winners!

HOW TO ENTER

  1. On an iPhone/iPad/iPod, click here to accept An0maly’s Challenge.
  2. In AutoRap, accept the challenge and freestyle to your heart’s content!
  3. Share your performances on Facebook and Twitter to get more loves! The 21 raps with the most loves (♥) will win prizes!

PRIZES

  1. Grand prize → iPad Air + 1-year subscription to AutoRap
  2. 20 runner-up prizes → entries with the most loves (♥) receive a 1-month subscription to any Smule app and other Smule swag

The contest will run through 11:59 pm PDT on April 30, 2014.

Official rules

Download AutoRap for iPhone/iPad!

An0maly’s YouTube | Facebook | Twitter

AutoRap 2.0 - Major update and redesign! Sup! Over the past few months, we’ve been hard at work on AutoRap. Taking all your feedback and suggestions into consideration, we’re proud to show off the latest and greatest iteration. We worked hard…time for you to play hard. Check out the fresh, new AutoRap 2.0! Totally New Look: We’ve given AutoRap a major facelift! Give her a spin and tell us what you think. Challenge the World: Face off against rappers all around the world in our new Rap Battle feed. Record Scratch: Now you can scratch records like a real DJ to give your verses some extra style. Longer Raps: We’ve made the maximum recording time longer for more epic throwdowns! Create Your Crew: Smule friends with AutoRap are now automatically added to your invite list so you can rap with your crew anytime, anywhere. Improved Battle Invitations: Battle Invites are easier to use, so you get into your rap faster. Improved Top Rappers Screen: Now it’s even easier to check out the best raps! Stay tuned for more AutoRap in future updates. Until then, hit us up at support@smule.com and like us on Facebook! Rap Battle Contest: Accept rapper An0maly's challenge for a chance to win an iPad Air and other cool Smule swag! Details.
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AutoRap 2.0 - Major update and redesign!

Sup! Over the past few months, we’ve been hard at work on AutoRap. Taking all your feedback and suggestions into consideration, we’re proud to show off the latest and greatest iteration. We worked hard…time for you to play hard. Check out the fresh, new AutoRap 2.0!

  • Totally New Look: We’ve given AutoRap a major facelift! Give her a spin and tell us what you think.

autorap old-new

  • Challenge the World: Face off against rappers all around the world in our new Rap Battle feed.
  • Record Scratch: Now you can scratch records like a real DJ to give your verses some extra style.

scratch

  • Longer Raps: We’ve made the maximum recording time longer for more epic throwdowns!
  • Create Your Crew: Smule friends with AutoRap are now automatically added to your invite list so you can rap with your crew anytime, anywhere.
  • Improved Battle Invitations: Battle Invites are easier to use, so you get into your rap faster.

screenshot

  • Improved Top Rappers Screen: Now it’s even easier to check out the best raps!

Stay tuned for more AutoRap in future updates. Until then, hit us up at support@smule.com and like us on Facebook!

Rap Battle Contest: Accept rapper An0maly's challenge for a chance to win an iPad Air and other cool Smule swag! Details.

anomaly

Sing! Karaoke - March Update!

It’s spring time…warm weather at last! What better way to celebrate than with a Sing! update!

What’s Changed:

  • New audio FX! The “Double You” is a doubler effect; it’s you x 2 for extra oomph and a fuller body sound.
  • The pitch arrow on the singing screen is much more responsive to your singing. In other words, you’ll see higher scores than before, that’s a good thing, you’re just that good. :)
  • The mic gain slider now shows the gain value to better help control the loudness or softness of your vocals. Keep in mind, however, the gain slider is all relative to how loud or soft your vocals are when you’re recording.
  • We’ve heard you! You can now clear the cache from the “Settings” menu and not have to delete and reinstall the app to clear up the phone memory. 
  • Show the estimated download time to help detect slow networks.
  • A few housecleaning fixes under the hood.

We love hearing from you! Stay in touch with the latest news, songs released, and updates on Facebook and send any questions or feedback to support@smule.com.

Changes to K-Pop Song Availability

Localizing content around the globe is an ongoing mission for us here at Smule. We pride ourselves on seeking and receiving permission to use all content in all territories of the world, which means respecting the wishes of all rights holders. As we expand our catalog, we will continue to bring a wide variety of music to everyone in the Smule family, but for the time being, the majority of our K-Pop content will be limited to users within Korea. These catalogs will grow, so keep an eye out for new content every day!

We have blogged before about the intricacies of the publishing world (see post here: all of these complexities extend to our regional content. We are continuing to work with all our licensors to bring K-Pop (and more!) to Smuleans everywhere, and we will post here with any updates or announcements, so please Follow us to get the latest news as soon as it happens.

Have any special requests? Visit our Facebook page to tell us what songs you would like to see in Smule apps! Rock on!

Magic Piano - Daily Global Challenges!

Introducing the new Daily Global Challenges feature in Magic Piano:

  •  Compete against Magic Piano players from around the world with Daily Global Challenge!

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  •  The top ranking performers win the Challenge Song and an XP bonus for FREE!

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Stay in touch with the latest news, song releases, and updates on our Facebook page. We love to hear from you, so feel free to send any questions or feedback to support@smule.com!

The Largest Online Community of Sing!ers Turns One! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SINGTOPIA!

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March 2014 marks a very important time in the history of the Smule Community. Smule’s largest online community of Sing!ers known as Singtopia! Singtopia was founded one year ago this month! They are a vibrant, world-wide community of people supporting each other in their creative endeavors and providing all sorts of fun new ways to interact, collaborate, and share the joy of making music. The story of this group is a classic tale of a few individuals banding together to create, develop, and sustain a vision that has strengthened over time to help make Sing! Karaoke what it is today!

The History of Singtopia

Maria Limperos (Maria66), Nikki Nemeyer (NikkiSongs), and Adrian Sings (AdrianSings) met while creating performances in Sing! Karaoke during the second half of 2012. After many months of singing together and discovering a ton of other Sing!-happy people, their absolute love for the app drove them to want to do something different and spectacular and give back to the Sing! community. This common interest led to the birth of Singtopia, which couldn’t be a more fitting name.

Since the group was founded, a few other key members have stepped up to help support the group as official admins: ElyssHARMONY, iAm_Vince_Encore, iMezlopes_PGS, KingRR, swtsndzz.

If you hop on over to Singtopia feel free to introduce yourself to them :)

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What Makes Singtopia Special

It is impossible to sum up the Singtopia community (which now has over 1,300 members) in a single blog post. What started as a simple Facebook group has expanded beyond its single group origins and is now essentially a mini-empire of Sing!ers spread across the internet. But as far reaching as it is, this group manages to stay true to its roots and maintain its ability to act as an enhancement of the Sing! Karaoke app experience.

I connected with Maria (who is known as the face of Singtopia) to help me create this post and try to distill the group into a few of its parts.

Singtopia’s Mission

“Our mission was simply to be all-inclusive and to provide a fun, interactive place for Sing! users to collaborate with each other, share performances, learn about the Sing! app features and updates, interact within the community and the app and overall just to have fun and enhance the Sing! experience” - Maria

Singtopia Programs and Affiliated Groups

Singtopia is home to a variety of programs that keep the group fresh and members feeling welcomed, engaged, and connected. One of the programs, my personal favorite, called Singtopia International, is a series of collaborations sung in many different languages including: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, German, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Korean, Arabic, Tagalog, Portuguese, Dutch, Italian. The International program really drives home the fact that music is a universal language, and reflects the core mission of Smule to connect people around the world through music. I HIGHLY recommend checking out some of the performances that SI has generated!

Singtopia has also spawned a number of spin-off groups that address more specific musical interests, making sure that there really is something for everyone. One such group called Singtopia Vocal Skills Workshop is for people who want to learn and grow as vocalists. People in this group share tips on how to be a better singer, provide constructive criticism about each other’s performances, and there have even been free vocal lessons from some Sing!ers who are professional vocal coaches!

Sounds of Singtopia

Considering the group is centered around making music, I asked Maria to send me a couple performances that are representative of the group. Here’s a few songs that represent the various facets of Singtopia!

  • Japanese Collaboration and first Singtopia! International Feature


  • First Singtopia group song - celebrating the group reaching 150 members
  • Dedication to one of Smule’s greatest emerging artists, Guy Lockard!!
  • TrebleX (group formed out of Singtopia) singing in sympathy of a family of member


  • Largest Singtopia International Collaboration
  • Just plain awesome. Mashing up Bollywood with Justin Timberlake

Happy Birthday!

Of course this is just a smattering of some of the cool things Singtopia has been up to over the past year. For me personally, watching Singtopia’s progress has been an absolute pleasure and I’ve been delighted and inspired on a daily basis by the awesome stuff coming form the group.

So happy birthday Singtopia! We look forward to all of the things you produce in year two!

Join The Community

If YOU would like to join in the fun of Singtopia, feel free to join the group on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/Singtopia and check out some of their favorite performances by searching for the hashtag #SingtopiaTurns1 on Smule.com or in the app. Happy Singing!

We’re excited to announce a brand new web feature that is designed to bring even more of the community’s creativity into the Smule network, and into Sing! Karaoke. We have always tried to empower our users to exercise expressivity — a quality which we believe is crucial for musical creation — and now we’re expanding on this belief. We’re opening up our network for users to showcase recordings created anywhere, and unlike any social music network out there, giving the community the ability to join in, collaborate, and create music together. As you probably guessed from the title of this post, uploading open mics is exactly what it sounds like. If you are a Sing! VIP, you will now be able to upload any .mp3 or .m4a to smule.com, and you can turn this upload into a solo, duet, or group song.  This means that anyone in the Sing! Karaoke app can join your open duet or group song, just as if you created it in the app. Just log into smule.com and click on the “Upload” button to get started. Happy uploading! Shae & the web team ps - If  you run into any issues or want more detailed info about specification and requirements, check out our FAQ.
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We’re excited to announce a brand new web feature that is designed to bring even more of the community’s creativity into the Smule network, and into Sing! Karaoke.

We have always tried to empower our users to exercise expressivity — a quality which we believe is crucial for musical creation — and now we’re expanding on this belief. We’re opening up our network for users to showcase recordings created anywhere, and unlike any social music network out there, giving the community the ability to join in, collaborate, and create music together.

As you probably guessed from the title of this post, uploading open mics is exactly what it sounds like. If you are a Sing! VIP, you will now be able to upload any .mp3 or .m4a to smule.com, and you can turn this upload into a solo, duet, or group song.  This means that anyone in the Sing! Karaoke app can join your open duet or group song, just as if you created it in the app. Just log into smule.com and click on the “Upload” button to get started.

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Happy uploading!

Shae & the web team

ps - If  you run into any issues or want more detailed info about specification and requirements, check out our FAQ.

We are excited to announce that J-Pop songs are now available in both Magic Piano and Sing! Karaoke in Japan! Our catalog of localized content will continue to expand, so please stay tuned – we will always let you know when new songs are added. Why only Japan? Here’s the deal: As a result of the copyrights controlled by Japanese publishers, we do not have global distribution rights for all J-Pop content and so most of our J-Pop content can only be offered in Japan. While it is true that Magic Piano and Sing! are global apps, and we want people to enjoy playing and singing together, we take pride in honoring the licenses that we are granted. If you are located in Japan and are having difficulty viewing J-Pop content, please contact support@smule.com. Have any special requests? Visit our Facebook page to tell us what songs you would like to see in Smule’s apps! Rock on!
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We are excited to announce that J-Pop songs are now available in both Magic Piano and Sing! Karaoke in Japan! Our catalog of localized content will continue to expand, so please stay tuned – we will always let you know when new songs are added.

Why only Japan? Here’s the deal: As a result of the copyrights controlled by Japanese publishers, we do not have global distribution rights for all J-Pop content and so most of our J-Pop content can only be offered in Japan. While it is true that Magic Piano and Sing! are global apps, and we want people to enjoy playing and singing together, we take pride in honoring the licenses that we are granted. If you are located in Japan and are having difficulty viewing J-Pop content, please contact support@smule.com.

Have any special requests? Visit our Facebook page to tell us what songs you would like to see in Smule’s apps! Rock on!

Introducing embeddable Smule players!

As our community grows, more and more amazing content is created. We discover new artists and amazing recordings inside our apps and on our website everyday, and what it’s made us realize is that we need to share this talent with the world. We need to set our content free for everyone to enjoy, and what better way than giving you the total freedom to put your content where you want it? Your blog? Website? You name it.

Share your music with the world…with embeddable players like this one:

 

Recording by our very own Mo playing guitar, and beautiful vocals by community member @tineelam.

It’s super simple and straightforward. It’s just 3 steps to make this happen. First, find it! As shown in the picture below, the option to embed your recording is located within the “share icon” on all performance pages.

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Second, when you see the modal appear (below), click the embed tab and copy the code provided for you.

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And last, go to your website, blog, whatever, and paste it where you want it!

That’s it. We hope you enjoy sharing your music more easily, with more people, in more places.

p.s. - Support for wordpress.com coming soon!