Facebook's internal R&D group, NPE Team, has released the next experimental app, called BARS. The app makes it possible for rappers to build and upload their raps using professionally designed beats, and is the second launch of the NPE Team in music space after its recent public debut with the Collab music video app.
Although Collab focuses on creating music online with others, instead, BARS is targeted at potential rappers looking to make and upload their own videos. Users can choose from any of the hundreds of professionally designed beats in the app, then write their own lyrics and record a video. BARS will also automatically recommend rhymes as you write lyrics and provide various audio and visual filters to accompany videos as well as auto-tune functionality.
There is also a "Challenge mode" available, where you can freestyle with auto-suggested word cues, which has more of a game-like aspect to it. Experience is built to please people who just want to have fun with rap, something like Smule's AutoRap, maybe, which also provides beats for users' own recordings.
The videos themselves can be up to 60 seconds in length and can then be saved to your Camera Roll or posted on other social media sites.
Like NPE's Collab, the pandemic played a role in the development of BARS. The pandemic shuts down access to live music and locations where rappers could experiment, explains DJ Iyler, a member of the NPE Team, who also writes hip-hop songs under the pseudonym "D-Lucks."
"I know that access to high-priced recording studios and production equipment can be restricted to aspiring rappers. On top of that, the global pandemic shuts down live performances where we sometimes build and share our work," he said.
BARS was created with a team of young rappers and has been launched into a closed beta.
Despite the emphasis on music and rap in particular, the new app can be seen as yet another attempt by Facebook to establish a TikTok competitor—at least in this content category.
TikTok has also become a launch pad for up-and-coming artists, including rappers; it has helped rappers test their lyrics, favored many beatmakers, and also inspired what kind of music they're making. Diss tracks have also become a very popular format for TikTok, mostly as a way for influencers to stir up drama and chase views. In other words, there's already a huge social group around rap on TikTok, and Facebook wants to move some of that focus back.
The app is also similar to TikTok in terms of its user interface. It's a two-tab vertical video interface—in its case, it has "Featured" and "New" feeds instead of "Following" and "For You" feeds from TikTok. And BARS positions the engagement buttons on the bottom-right corner of the screen with the creator name on the bottom-left, much like TikTok.
However, instead of hearts to favorite videos, your taps on the video give it "Fire"—a fire emoji keeps track of it. You can also tap "Fire" as many times as you like. But since there's (annoyingly) no tap-to-pause feature, you could accidentally "shoot" a video when you were looking for a way to stop it from playing. To step forward with BARS, you swipe vertically, but the interface lacks a simple "Follow" button to track your favorite writers. It's covered under the top-right three-point menu.
The app is focused on content from members of the NPE Team, which includes other aspiring rappers, former music producers and publishers.
The BARS beta is officially live on the U.S. iOS App Store and is opening its waiting list. Facebook says it will open access to BARS batches, beginning in the U.S. In the meantime, updates and news about prompts will be announced on Instagram.
Facebook's latest releases of its experimental applications division include Collab and Collage Developer E.gg, among others. Not all of the applications stick around. If they struggle to gain momentum, Facebook shuts them down—as they did last year with the Pinterest-like Hobbi video app.
0 Comments