Show HN: Tiny Guitar reaches 1 million downloads

[ronyeh]

I'm an indie developer making iOS games.

My guitar app, Tiny Guitar, has reached 1 million DLs after about 14 months on the App Store.

Check it out here: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id504720445

It reached 128K weekly active users this March, and is currently hovering at around 100K weekly actives. http://i.imgur.com/Z4Zha73.png

I'm anxiously waiting for the new Nexus 7 to get released, so I can explore porting some of my apps over to Android. You may have seen me post about my piano app in the past: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id477014214

I'm currently also exploring Tiny Drums, a natural follow up to my two music apps... but I'm not yet sure how I can make it simple yet engaging.

Lemme know if you have any questions!

[throwaway1979]

How did you go about dealing with licensing the various songs used in the app?

[ronyeh → throwaway1979]

In short, I do not, since I could not find an appropriate type of license through HFA or similar outlets.

Specifically, the app does not contain any samples from the MP3s. It also does not include song lyrics or any printed sheet music.

It DOES include link outs to iTunes, so our apps drive downloads to the artists songs. My goal is to compensate artists by generating more downloads for their songs (not that they really need my help).

If any music executive ever contacts me regarding licensing, I'll be more than happy to accommodate them. In fact, I'd LOVE to make a branded app for artists such as Bruno or Taylor or Katy. Or, if they are not interested in including their song in my app, I can simply remove it.

[Jeremy1026 → ronyeh]

While I'm not a lawyer, I believe claiming ignorance won't keep a lawsuit away if the record labels choose to come after you for using their copyrighted material.

[ronyeh → Jeremy1026]

Thanks for the feedback. I am not trying to feign ignorance, and I would like to find a way to properly license the content and compensate the rights holders.

However, I've looked into it and I don't currently think there is a license type (mechanical/synchronization) that is appropriate for these apps. The apps do not contain any recordings and do not offer un-aided playback of the "songs." The user has to tap out his/her own interpretation of the notes, to make it sound like the song.

[ronyeh]

Clickable Links:

Tiny Guitar: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id504720445

Tiny Guitar Weekly Actives: http://i.imgur.com/Z4Zha73.png

Tiny Piano: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id477014214

[rfnslyr]

General open question: How could someone make money off this? A free app with millions of downloads.

[ronyeh → rfnslyr]

Ads, primarily. I use iAd and AdMob.

[rfnslyr → ronyeh]

What has your experience been like?

[ronyeh → rfnslyr]

Pretty good. Making a free app with ads means that you need to increase engagement (i.e., make the app more fun). That sort of aligns your interests with the user's interests, since the user wants more content, and you want more eyeballs looking at the ads.

I also offer in-app purchases which will unlock more content, and also remove ads permanently. About 1.5% of users will upgrade / remove ads.

[rfnslyr → ronyeh]

Awesome, best of luck to you. What app if you don't mind my asking?

[ronyeh → rfnslyr]

Both of my apps, Tiny Piano & Tiny Guitar, use the same business model. Free + Ads, then IAP to remove ads and unlock more content. It works great for indie developers because I don't have a big marketing budget to convince a user to spend $0.99 on my app before they've even tried it.