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HURD's New Release window, where a musician uploads a song, names it and picks a release date, on a dark field with a purple and lime glow

Start-up · HURD · 2023

One song in, a whole release out

An AI tool for independent musicians: upload a song and get the press release, music links, social captions and release plan. MXM designed it in 2023.

Client
HURD
Year
2023
What we did
Start-up, Music, Product design, AI writing

HURD is an AI tool for independent musicians. Upload a song, and it prepares what a release needs: a press release, music links, social captions, lyrics, genres and moods, and a plan for the weeks before release day. Make X Media designed it in 2023.

How HURD works

A musician uploads the song as an MP3 or WAV file, adds the artwork and picks a release date. HURD then prepares the pieces of the release and keeps every release in one place, artist by artist.

HURD's New Release window: the uploaded song, its name, an artwork slot and a release date, with the list of artists on the left
The New Release window, from the HURD early-access page. It recommends starting at least eight weeks before release day.

Everything a release needs

  • Press releases, ready to email.
  • Music links: one link to every streaming service, made with SongWhip.
  • Social captions for each platform.
  • A release plan: dated tasks for the weeks before release day.
  • Lyrics, genres and moods, ready for playlist and database submissions.
  • HurdGPT, a ChatGPT helper set up to answer questions about releasing music.
Four HURD feature cards: press releases, music links to Apple Music, Spotify and SoundCloud, social captions, and a release plan on an October calendar
Four of the eight feature cards on the early-access page.

Writing that sounds like the music press

Sliders steer the writing toward the style of named music publications, for example mostly Rolling Stone with a little Pitchfork. The press release comes out in a fixed layout: headline, artwork, streaming links and a quote from the lyrics.

HURD's style sliders set to 85 percent Rolling Stone and 15 percent Pitchfork, and a press release layout with headline, artwork, stream links and lyrics quote
The style sliders and the press-release layout.

What MXM did

MXM designed and planned HURD in 2023 together with Pascal Righini and Lauren Waller: the product idea, the design of the app and the early-access page.

See the HURD page.

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