The voice of social media is (apparently) mobile music messaging

Melod.io, a mobile music messaging platform, has raised $300K to launch a service that lets users of social networks create and share personalised music and audio messages.

Using an onscreen slider, users can preview and download different music packs and search across genres for rhythms and vocal styles. They can create their own backing music using pre-loaded effects, loops and beats before recording their voice messages over the top of the backing track and sharing the track across social.

According to the company, social media users want to do more than send text-only communication because it doesn’t allow them to express themselves enough. It also suggest that music and audio messaging can be a new m-commerce platform that can lead to sell-through and retention. Time will tell… it might have a chance.

The service is available os a freemium no-ads model on the Apple iTunes Store and is ‘coming soon’ on the Google Play store for Android. The company will release a freemium version with ads and a premium model later this year.

In the Lebanon… play and avoid flying shisha pipes for iPad and UNESCO

Lebanon-based iOS developer Game Cooks has launched its new game Run for Peace on the iPad and 5% of all proceeds will be donated to UNESCO.

The game sells for $1.99 so that’s 10 cents per download and follows the adventures of one Salim who ‘avoids dangerous obstacles on the way to bringing peace to the Middle East’ starting in Saudi Arabia and ending in Algeria.

The press release describes the difficulty of being a developer in the Middle East because of ‘fighting outside of (sic) your office’, which is a little melodramatic, have they never heard of South London?

However, the part that most appealed to me were the flying shisha pipes that Salim has to avoid. That’s GOT to be worth $1.99…