Music League: the friendly musical competition you need in your life.
For avid playlist curators, genre nerds, and general lovers of music — flaunt your music taste and discover new favorites through this lively game.
The pitch: an app to anonymously tell your friends what you really think of their music taste. A strategy to get people hooked on your most recent obsession. Better yet, a place to discover more songs under your favorite niche subgenre or to dip your toes into something completely new. If any of these scenarios pique your interest, Music League might just be the perfect addition to your life.
How it works: Music League is a song submission game comprising a series of rounds, each of which has its own unique theme. Every week, members of a league submit songs that fit their interpretation of the round’s theme, and the app subsequently generates an anonymous Spotify playlist from those selections. Players then listen to the playlist and vote for their favorite picks prior to a scheduled deadline. Once everyone has voted, the submission identities and finalized song rankings are revealed. Points are accumulated over the successive rounds to crown a champion at the league’s conclusion.
Formulate your themes: When creating a league, players may select from the app’s suggested set of themes (Covers, Instrumentals, Deep Cuts, etc.) or opt to create their own. The option to customize is particularly exciting because it allows for a wide range of potential themes, from the more technical variety (“Key Signature Change”) to the situational (“Songs for a Cold, Rainy Day”) to the abstract (“Music that Embodies an Ocean Wave”). Some leagues even choose to center around one particular artist, genre, or motif such as “Taylor Swift Eras” or “Pop Throughout the Decades.” As a result of this flexibility, there are endless methods of playing the game, making Music League adaptable to the interests of any and all groups.
Open yourself up to discovery: Beyond the excitement of friendly competition, one of the most rewarding aspects of Music League is the flood of new music it can introduce to your library. Remember all those times you sent a friend a song and they forgot to listen? Or maybe it was the other way around (oops!). Regardless, the competitive incentive and built-in deadlines force everyone to put aside a little bit of time each week to listen. Music League is therefore the perfect way to get into that artist you have been meaning to explore or to discover something totally unknown yet perfectly suited to your tastes. The rounds can even bring a new perspective to songs you already love, like drawing your attention to a new element — say, noticing the drumming in a song submitted to a percussion-themed round — or uncovering meaning behind some lyrics that previously flew right over your head.
To give a sense of what this looks like in action, here are some memorable theme-submission pairings that I have encountered:
Unusual Time Signatures — “Moon” by Björk
A whimsical cut in 17/8 off of Björk’s nature-themed Biophilia.
British Artists — “Badman Walking Through” by Jme, Shakka, P Money
Very British, very hype, and very fun.
[Personal] One-Hit Wonders — “Someday We’ll Linger in the Sun” by Gaelynn Lea
Gripping lyrical imagery on top of hypnotic layers of looped violin.
Spooky Songs — “Regnantem Sempiterna”; Jan Garvarek, the Hilliard Ensemble
Eerie instrumentals that will send shivers down your spine.
Songs that Build — “Boys at School” by Spellling
A vivid recounting of adolescence delivered through a grand sonic progression.
Songs that Feel Like Floating — “Archangel” by Burial
Brooding, atmospheric bliss over a propulsive drumbeat.
This is just a taste of the eclectic assortment of songs that have made it out of the league and into my personal collection. But my favorite songs, artists, and themes likely differ from yours, and that’s the beauty of the game. You can craft your personal Music League to your heart’s desire and make it an experience perfectly suited to your own interests. And that’s my humble appeal. Give it a go, give it a listen — you’ll likely end up with a lot of new songs and a shared musical activity that, above all else, is just plain fun.
Download Music League here:
edited by Sha Frasier, Editor-in-Chief.
artwork by Sha Frasier, using resources that belong to Music League.
