A new app called Rewind wants to make it easy for music fans to discover the top songs of decades past. Hoping to satisfy consumers’ need for a nostalgic music experience, Rewind allows users to “time travel” through music charts from 1960 to 2010 to find out what songs How old has influenced today’s hits.
The app was built by developer Ziad Al Halabi, whose day job involves mobile app development at music streaming service TIDAL. The developer says he enjoys working on music apps, having previously launched an audio player for musicians, come back, has achieved about 2 million installs.
With Rewind, which originally started as a weekend project, the goal was to provide a portal to discover the old tunes that once dominated the top charts.
“[What] What would it be like if you opened your favorite music app in 1991? Or 1965?” the app’s description asks. “What were the biggest hits at the time? Who are the top artists or emerging artists?”
Image credits: Rewind
For older music fans, those questions may be easier to answer. But Gen Z brings in a new group of users who are discovering music through apps like TikTok, where a song’s release date doesn’t necessarily matter. Currently, TikTok has proved successful in introducing popular music from previous generations to young people, such as by Kate Bush “Run up that hill“or of Fleetwood Mac”dream” — both went viral on the video app, hitting the top charts years after their initial run. And they are not alone.
This interest in old music aligns with other Gen Z “nostalgic” trends, such as grab the flip phone, Y2K . fashion, wired headphones, disposable camera, 90s music (actually a hobby that spans generations), and of course, vinyl.
“I have always been interested in how music has changed over time,” says Ziad. “Rewind is the place to bring all the music, artists and major events in one place. This app provides a new way to discover new old music based on historical periods with a hint of nostalgia,” he continued. Ziad added: “It’s exciting to see momentum with thousands of listeners, Rewind is the perfect choice for tastebuds and fans who want to discover new music from the good old days.
Image credits: Rewind
However, this app is more than just a way to browse through charts from previous years. It takes things a step further and even includes some modern twists.
For starters, users can discover a certain year’s music by top albums and top music videos, in addition to developing top Billboard charts. It also dives into relevant trends over a certain period of time. For example, browsing through 1991 offers a selection of “grunge-defining records,” like Nirvana’s Nevermind and Pearl Jam’s Ten, among others. Other sections present tracks that were broadcast on major radio during that year, highly anticipated releases and emerging bands that emerged that year, etc.
In addition, Rewind has a “news” section that covers the main events and moments of the year in question. It also includes ads that give off a sense of nostalgia. For example, in 1965, listeners would see the first distortion guitar ad while users browsing through the 1980s might see an ad for a new synthesizer that helped shape their sound. 80s.
For fun, the app leveraged ChatGPT to write short reviews of music albums in its “Discover Weekly” feature, and used AI technology to assemble tapes for different years by asking ChatGPT asks questions like “can you make me a 90s tape? best guitar riff?
Another feature that offers a way to scroll through the TikTok-style music feed comes with each year. Here you can listen to song clips from time to time in the vertical feed. This particular feature could be better developed to include “like” or “comment” buttons, but you can now play or pause a track or open a song directly in TIDAL.
Image credits: Rewind
Not surprisingly, with Ziad’s work, Rewind integrates more deeply with TIDAL, allowing subscribers to stream the full range of tracks. This is because his work at TIDAL allows him to easily access the TIDAL API and catalog, the developer explains. But if Tua is popular again, he wants to add support for other music apps. However, even without a TIDAL subscription, users can still stream a 30-second preview and scroll through the app’s TikTok-like feed.
“The feedback I get from users is that even without a TIDAL subscription, it’s still an enjoyable experience to browse the different years, explore the weekly album, scroll through the style feed. TikTok,” Ziad told us.
Launched last month, the app hit several thousand downloads by its launch weekend and is slowly growing. It is available as a free download on both Android and iOS and is currently not generating revenue.
