With so much emphasis on social media elements in band apps, Maroon 5 makes a move bolder than much of their music by pushing that trend to the side in order to emphasize .… well … themselves.
Sure, there is still a tab on the Maroon 5 app to get blog updates, latest news and latest tweets from the band members, but these features are hardly the focus of the app. Instead, Maroon 5’s app takes a more intimate look at the process of Maroon 5 the band.
The opening tab in the app, Studio, is, on its face, just a listing of the band’s discography. But the only thing you’ll find on the page (other than links to buy the albums, naturally) are the band’s lyrics. Sure, they might not exactly be all-time greats, but for a band to put its most intimate aspects front and center is quite a move.
The Notebook, one of the best features I’ve ever seen in a music app, follows. While it’s difficult to decipher, because there doesn’t seem to be any zooming allowed, Notebook appears to be photocopies of a literal notebook made during the creation of Maroon 5’s latest record, “Hands All Over.”
The Notebook is a fascinating look into the songwriting process for Maroon 5, and a unique feature for a band-driven app. The Timeline, the next tab in the app, keeps up the intimacy by lifting the veil on the band and showing Maroon 5’s humble roots as an entity that sounded (and looked) a lot different than the hit-makers they soon became.
If there’s one deficit to this app, it’s that, for all its focus on band intimacy, it falls short on sharing as much music as it could. Any music in the app has to be purchased, and there’s no streaming to be found. Granted, it’s not an unheard of stance to take, but what better to get you in a Maroon 5 state of mind than to let you hear some tunes while you read the app?
Regardless, if you’re curious about what a very popular band goes through when they’re making a record, Maroon 5’s app might be as close as you’ll ever get to finding out. It wouldn’t hurt if you liked them in the first place, either.
