Hackers and Musicians Rock “Music Hack Day”

While most of America was home watching the Grammys, hundreds of sleep-deprived hackers, musicians, record label execs, and members of the press from around the globe were packed into the main room of GeneralAssemb.ly where teams were presenting 48-hour hacks that clicked, beeped, tweeted, and screamed at Music Hack Day NYC.

This, the 12th incarnation of Music Hack Day (brainchild of SoundCloud’s Dave Haynes) featured over 70 teams hacking around the clock on more than 20 APIs offered by a flock of cutting-edge startups (including my own beloved Hunch API, presented via Emacs).

Among my favorite hacks at the competition were:

Youzakk

“Make music your Foursquare check-ins love.” Enter any Foursquare venue name to generate a personalized playlist (via the Hunch API) for that spot, tailored to the venue’s audience. Perfect for bars, clubs, and coffee shops.

Automatic DJ

In the same vein, my hack with @brianloveswords is the world’s first automatic DJ that spins music based on the guests at your party — based solely on their face. When guests enter your party we snap their photo at the door. We run the image through the Face.com API to determine a Facebook ID (it’s scary accurate for your friends) and then use Hunch’s rockin’ music API to generate playlists based on the taste of everyone at the party. Props to Boxee for a super-slick interface to boot. Would be a perfect addition to shops and clothing stores that want to play music tailored to their clientele or bars that want to blast your theme song when you enter.

Mash Me

This hack generates music mashups based on your Hunch music profile and the EchoNext Remix API. The result is pretty damn cool. Share your creation on bit.ly, Facebook, Twitter, or send it to someone’s phone with Twilio. @jonmarkgo also incorporated the Fanbridge API to create special e-mail lists for each mashed up artist and offer users the possibility of subscribing for future updates.

Tweets on Beats

Just tweet with the hashtag #beatify to create a hip-hop masterpiece. Go on, give it a try and then check the TweetsOnBeats twitter feed.

Bionic DJ

Hunch’s CTO Matt Gattis created my favorite Kinect hack, transforming all your limbs into a MIDI controller.

Honorable mentions to djtxt.me, Screaminator, and Invisible Instruments for great hack ideas.

Keep hacking, NYC!