CASE STUDY
How Easy Tracks Built an App That Lets Musicians
Learn by Ear
Industry
Music
Location
Global
Founder Bobby James was looking to build a completely new type of instrument-learning app—one that could isolate and remove music components, such as the guitar, drums, and base so that musicians could play along (similar to how karaoke removes only the vocals).
The coolest app for guitar players and drummers
When EasyTracks founder and CEO Bobby James set out to build EasyTracks he didn’t know how it would be done. But as a professional drummer, he knew there was a huge market need for an app that would allow musicians to isolate the stems in tracks, so they could hear their part alone and also play along to a song with their instrument’s part turned off.
Bobby chose to work with a pro team of mobile app developers who he could trust to create this challenging product.
What EasyTracks gets with DevSquad
awdwa
Expert mobile development
Product management that keeps devs fast and focused
Creative responses to challenging problems
Building something that hasn’t been built before
After getting referred to DevSquad by one of the company’s investors and exploring an app that DevSquad had built, Bobby felt comfortable choosing them for the mobile development project. “My biggest concern was of course money. As a music composer, I’ve worked on video games before. I’ve never made a game, but I’m familiar with how much games cost to make, so I was concerned about what the cost of an app would be.”
Another big challenge and concern was the fact that the concept was so new. “Nothing like this has been built before. Our isolated tracks are of the highest quality,” says Bobby. There was no other app on the market quite like EasyTracks. This meant there was no easy path to follow. Some of the ways that DevSquad typically builds mobile apps (such as top down coding to make the app compatible with both iOS and Android) wouldn’t work with the challenging concept of isolating tracks.
After getting referred to DevSquad by one of the company’s investors and exploring an app that DevSquad had built, Bobby felt comfortable choosing them for the mobile development project. “My biggest concern was of course money. As a music composer, I’ve worked on video games before. I’ve never made a game, but I’m familiar with how much games cost to make, so I was concerned about what the cost of an app would be.”
Another big challenge and concern was
the fact that the concept was so new. “Nothing like this has been built before. Our isolated tracks are of the highest quality,” says Bobby. There was no other app on the market quite like EasyTracks. This meant there was no easy path to follow. Some of the ways that DevSquad typically builds mobile apps (such as top down coding to make the app compatible with both iOS and Android) wouldn’t work with the challenging concept of isolating tracks.
THE SOLUTION
Expert mobile development and management
In order to keep the project within budget, Bobby and the DevSquad team chose to move forward with a native iOS app as well as a web-based app that could be used on any device.
Upon working together, Bobby soon noticed that DevSquad’s proactive communication and management kept the project on track. “The thing I’m most impressed with is how my DevSquad product manager manages the tasks that need to be done. We get together at the beginning of the week and go over what will be built that week. He estimates how many hours it will take and he’s always very close. It was clear to me from the beginning that they have an ironed-out system for breaking things down and accomplishing all of the little, bite sized things we needed to do.”
Bobby appreciated always being in the loop and knowing the status of the project and how things were moving in relation to their goals for launch timeline and budget. However, that didn’t mean he wanted to micromanage. “I still don’t know how they managed to make the stems work, and I don’t need to know,” says Bobby. “It was so complicated, I’m not sure how they did it.”
In order to keep the project within budget, Bobby and the DevSquad team chose to move forward with a native iOS app as well as a web-based app that could be used on any device.
Upon working together, Bobby soon noticed that DevSquad’s proactive communication and management kept the project on track.
“The thing I’m most impressed with is how my DevSquad product manager manages the tasks that need to be done. We get together at the beginning of the week and go over what will be built that week. He estimates how many hours it will take and he’s always very close. It was clear to me from the beginning that they have an ironed-out system for breaking things down and accomplishing all of the little, bite sized things we needed to do.”
Bobby appreciated always being in the loop and knowing the status of the project and how things were moving in relation to their goals for launch timeline and budget. However, that didn’t mean he wanted to micromanage. “I still don’t know how they managed to make the stems work, and I don’t need to know,” says Bobby. “It was so complicated, I’m not sure how they did it.”
An app that users love
“Our main demographic is guitar players,” says Bobby. “We’re creating all the tunes that you want to play along with with your guitar, except we’ve remade them so you can isolate the stems.”
The core value of the app is pretty simple. Bobby explains, “EasyTracks is basically karaoke for your guitar or whatever instrument you play. You can learn your part a lot easier because you can hear it by itself and then you can turn that stem off. You essentially ‘solo’ the instrument, and then when you’re ready to play it, you mute that instrument and allow all of the other stems to play.”
After launching just a couple weeks ago, the positive reviews from users are already pouring in and their average rating on the Apple app store is four and a half stars.
MOVING FOWARD
Developing coupon tracking for affiliates
Next up, DevSquad will be building a coupon tracking system that EasyTracks can use to manage the payouts of different affiliates using their own unique coupons. Partnering with music teachers and musician influencers is a big part of EasyTrack’s go-to-market strategy.
The project is going so successfully that Bobby has recommended that his in-laws’ company (TruGolf, a golf simulator) work with DevSquad, and they’re already collaborating together to help expand the capacity of TruGolf’s in-house team of developers. “I recommend DevSquad to other entrepreneurs and founders I know because they produce high quality work,” says Bobby. “They helped me create an app unlike anything on the market. There was no predefined path for us to follow, but they always moved forward and stayed on budget regardless.”
Next up, DevSquad will be building a coupon tracking system that EasyTracks can use to manage the payouts of different affiliates using their own unique coupons. Partnering with music teachers and musician influencers is a big part of EasyTrack’s go-to-market strategy.
The project is going so successfully that Bobby has recommended that his in-laws’ company (TruGolf, a golf simulator) work with DevSquad,
and they’re already collaborating together to help expand the capacity of TruGolf’s in-house team of developers. “I recommend DevSquad to other entrepreneurs and founders I know because they produce high quality work,” says Bobby. “They helped me create an app unlike anything on the market. There was no predefined path for us to follow, but they always moved forward and stayed on budget regardless.”
Key skills DevSquad offered
Architecture Strategy
Product Strategy
Prototyping
Product Management
MVP Development
Freemium Plan & Upgrade Flows
App Store Release
Build the best product possible
Compete to win with a strategic, beautifully designed, and QA-tested product.
