Trebel music’s logo when you click on their app. Image courtesy of M&M Media.

Music is often a very important part of a student’s life. From getting ready for a workout to winding down after a long day, music sets the mood of our everyday lives. All too often, the music services of today can come at a fairly high monthly cost that can be an unwanted or even out of reach for some college students. UND has been one of the campuses chosen to test out a new music app called Trebel Music, which gives a fresh offering in the bloated music app marketplace.

“This is not a streaming app, and it does not compete with Spotify Premium or Spotify Free,” CEO and founder of M&M Media Gary Mekikian said. “It is actually the perfect compliment to Spotify Free.”

On many of the free versions of music streaming apps, users do not get to select certain songs to listen to but rather playlists that just might contain the selected song.

On the Trebel Music app, individual songs can be downloaded online and then played at the user’s leisure. While other music apps such as Pandora require internet access to stream songs, Trebel Music does not constantly rely on an internet connection or cellular data

“Because you’re downloading this music to your device, you can play this music whether you’re connected to the network or not,” Mekikian said.

Music can be downloaded and played on the app for free, but there is another aspect that sets this app apart from the others.

“As you use our system, you accumulate coins,” Mekikian said. “And with the system you can use coins for the music that you consume.

As songs are downloaded, users view ads to accumulate virtual currency. This can then be used to purchase songs and play playlists ad-free.

“When you play this music and view ads…we use this currency to pay the artist,” Mekikian said.

This is another key aspect of the app: As it is used, artists are paid for their songs. This is in stark contrast with many of the other less reputable music downloading apps.

“Our competition is the mp3 download sites, YouTube rip sites and torrent sites,” Mekikian said. “And artists suffer because they don’t get compensated for the music that gets taken from these sites.”

Many of the people involved in the creation of Trebel Music were millenials, and the style and features of the app reflect that.

“This is an app that was created by young people, for young people,” Mekikian said. “[Trebel Music] will allow you to discover and share music as well.”

The social aspect of this app is also a distinctive part of this app. Playlists can easily be shared with others, and user-to-user communication is planned for the app’s next release.

“This is a campus-centric application,” Mekikian said. “What we’ve tried to do with this app is encourage young people around campuses to create musical networks.”

When asked why UND was chosen to test drive the new app, two main reasons were given.

“We wanted to pick a campus that can exercise our full catalog of music,” Mekikian said. “And we wanted to go to a campus that is social media active and social media savvy.”

The app can be downloaded onto iPhone and Android devices by following the link www.trebel.io/dl or by scanning the QR code next to the Trebel Music logo on page 7.

As the app is still in its beginning phase, suggestions and comments are welcomed and can be directed to Cory Jones at [email protected].

Brendan McCabe is the features editor for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]