App Showcase: SongMaker.AI

What it does

SongMaker.AI is a mobile app that allows users to generate original songs using artificial intelligence. Users can provide a simple text description of a song they want to create, or they can switch to a more advanced mode to input their own lyrics, choose a specific genre, and set parameters like vocal gender and tempo. The app then composes and produces a complete track based on these inputs.

Where it shines

The app excels in its flexibility, catering to both novice and experienced creators. The 'Simple' mode, featuring an "Inspiration" button (00:08), is great for quickly generating ideas without much effort. For users with a specific vision, the 'Custom' mode (00:40) offers impressive control. The extensive library of music styles, ranging from pop and rock to niche genres like acid jazz and shoegaze (00:56), provides a wide creative palette. The workflow is fast, moving from idea to a generated song in minutes.

UX highlights

• Dual Creation Modes: The toggle between 'Simple' and 'Custom' (00:06) effectively serves two different user mindsets, reducing complexity for casual users while empowering advanced ones.
• Inspiration Button: A small but powerful feature (00:08) that helps users overcome writer's block by providing ready-made, creative prompts.
• Comprehensive Style Library: The 'More Style' pop-up (00:56) is well-organized and showcases the depth of the AI's capabilities, making discovery easy.
• Actionable Library Items: The music library (05:01) isn't just a list. Each song has a context menu with useful actions like renaming, adding to an album, copying the style, and deleting.
• Album Organization: Users can create and manage albums with custom cover art (06:19), turning a simple list of songs into a more personalized collection.

Monetization & growth

The app employs a hybrid monetization strategy. After a user generates a song, they hit a subscription paywall to fully unlock the app (01:29). The paywall presents two options, Yearly and Weekly, and highlights the weekly cost of the annual plan to frame it as more affordable. Beyond subscriptions, the app uses a credit-based system for premium features. For example, the "Get tracks" feature to separate vocals and instrumentals costs one credit (05:26), prompting a separate in-app purchase for credit packs. This captures revenue from users who may not subscribe but desire specific, high-value tools.

Who it’s for

This app is ideal for a range of creative individuals. Social media content creators can use it to quickly generate royalty-free background music. Songwriters and musicians can use it as a tool for inspiration or to quickly flesh out lyrical ideas with instrumental backing. Hobbyists and casual users can also have fun experimenting with AI to turn simple ideas into music without needing any technical skill.

Notes & opportunities

The onboarding is extremely fast but presents the ATT tracking prompt without a warm-up screen (00:04), which could be jarring for some users and potentially lower opt-in rates. Error messages like "record not found" (02:59) are a bit technical and could be made more user-friendly. Finally, the AI Chat feature, briefly visible at 01:50, seems like a powerful conversational creation tool but isn't deeply explored in this user flow, suggesting an opportunity to better integrate it into the primary creation experience.