Smule = Sonic Media: An Intersection of the Mobile, Musical, and Social

We explore the potential for and implications of musical (or proto-musical) social interaction and collaboration using currently available technologies embedded into mobile phones. The dynamics of this particular brand of social intercourse and the emergence of an associated aesthetic is described. The clichéd concept of a global village is made a vibrant reality by introducing instruments with inherent communal and collaborative properties. A proximate sonic connection encouraging social linkage within a microcosm is coupled with a global communal music network. We describe the development path to this paradigm describing a series of commercial iPhone applications that each introduces a unique aspect of sonicbased social community building.