Boston University senior Zane Mroue considers his music taste “very niche” compared to his friends. He tried to search for other users online who share his preferences, but he found them difficult to find using Spotify and other existing platforms.
“I wanted to have an app where you could discover new music that’s outside your taste, and so I just came up with the idea of posting a song a day,” Mroue said.
Mroue’s idea streamed into reality when he developed “Sway – Song of the Day,” which officially launched March 27 and currently has more than 800 downloads.
Sway is an app where each day, users post one song that “defines your mood,” Mroue said. The app also allows users to view, like and dislike the songs posted by their friends with a goal of allowing users to discover new music.
“I like to call it a BeReal for music,” Mroue said.
Many of Mroue’s friends have downloaded the app and praised the concept of the platform. Senior Miles Malin, Mroue’s freshman year roommate and one of the first to download Sway, said the app helped him overcome “roadblocks” in his music listening.
“Sometimes, I have the songs that I really love and listen to all the time and maybe just aren’t really hitting the same, so being able to find new music easily at the tip of your fingers is great,” Malin said.
Senior Grace Thomas said she likes having a way to “get new music surefire every single day,” as her Spotify algorithm often feeds her the same 200 or 300 songs.
She added it’s hard to keep up with the family and friend’s music tastes back home, but after getting them to download Sway, Thomas can see what they’re listening to every day.
“It helps me, in a weird way, stay in touch with those people, but also, I get new music,” Thomas said. “It’s a win-win.”
Senior Sasha McLeod said she enjoys being introduced to new music on Sway, but also loves discovering she shares her music taste with other users.
“That’s a good feeling, that someone has the same taste as you,” McLeod said. “When someone plays a song and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh. I love that song,’ it’s a connection that you have with someone.”
Mroue began Sway as a personal project, but he said as a college student, working on the app can be time consuming.
However, he said the more feedback and ideas he received from friends, the more motivation he had to release the app. He worked on the app for six to seven hours per day because he wanted to release it before he graduates in May.
“It helps to be still in college because you’re surrounded by your users who will constantly tell you what needs improving, what needs to do better,” Mroue said. “It’s real-time feedback, which is great, even being part of the college community, knowing what people like, hearing feedback either negative or positive. It’s all around you.”
One debated feature of Sway is its inclusion of “dislikes,” particularly the ability for viewers to see the number of dislikes and likes on a posted song, Malin said, though he disagrees with those who oppose the feature.
“Their argument for that was [it would] maybe discourage people from posting the songs,” Malin said. “But, I was pro-dislike because I thought that it was something more unique about the app … and also I feel like it adds a little level of competition.”
Senior Sara Alkooheji also helps Mroue with tweaks to the app, such as proposing he add a feature to filter the feed by genre.
Alkooheji also designed the logo for the app — a musical note with a letter “S” integrated into it. She said as a friend of Mroue’s, she enjoys being able to provide feedback for the app.
“We always want to improve the app, and I hope everyone enjoys it,” Alkooheji said.
Mroue said continuing to update the app after its launch has proven more efficient.
He spent two years focusing on smaller details and touch-ups for “Happening,” an events-based social media app he worked on developing a few years ago. By the time it was released, Mroue said he and his collaborators realized it wasn’t the greatest idea and “put it back to the drawing board.”
“What I learned from my last app was that you don’t need to be perfect,” Mroue said. “You don’t have to have a finished, perfect product to release.”
After Sway’s release, Mroue’s friends joined him to market the app at BU and other college campuses, including Tufts University and Pennsylvania State University.
The group gave away donuts in exchange for downloading Sway Wednesday at the George Sherman Union.
“I think organic growth is important, but at the same time, you need the initial step to get people on the app,” Mroue said. “Just get the app, and then if it entices you to post, then that’s great.”
Malin said young people are always listening to music — which he has seen on BU’s campus with students walking and studying with headphones on all the time — and Sway integrating that into a social media platform will bolster its success.
“Young people do a lot of interacting with their friends and other people online through social media,” Malin said. “Interacting through music and being able to like music and share it with your friends, I think obviously that will definitely attract a younger crowd.”
He said he loves using Sway and looks forward to seeing what direction Mroue takes it.
“Even without knowing [Mroue] or him being my friend, I’d still download the app,” Malin said. “It’s just awesome to see my friend start a new app that’s got such a great idea and premise behind it.”
This story was published at 2:10 p.m.