Focus@Will

Focus@Will is a subscription service that offers sequenced playlists of instrumental music intended to improve users’ productivity. The company is based out of Los Angeles.[1]

Focus@Will
Founded2012
FounderWill Henshall, John Vitale
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California
,
United States
Websitefocusatwill.com

Service

All of the music in the application is instrumental.[2][3] Users choose from a number of different channels, including classical, up tempo, focus spa, cinematic, and ambient.[4]

The app allows its users to personalize the effectiveness of the focus enhancement by skipping tracks that they find distracting.[5][6][4] The service also includes a timer function and a productivity tracker.[7][8]

The company offered a white paper describing the benefits of its style of music, but it was not peer-reviewed.[9] Jack Curtis Dubowsky, a composer, described this as "flimsy pseudo-science" and compared it to Muzak, which claimed in a report in 1956 that it increased worker productivity.[9]

History

Founder and CEO Will Henshall was previously a professional musician, then founded a company that created online collaboration tools for musicians, sold to Avid Audio in 2003.[5][10] He cofounded Focus@Will with John Vitale and Graham Lyus.[11]

The beta version of Focus@Will was released in December 2012.[6]

Beginning in April 2013 the company expanded the service to international markets.[12][13] The expanded service incorporated a timer for users to set work session intervals, and a productivity tracking function to measure efficiency and focus.[12][7]

A Focus@will mobile app and freemium service were released in May 2013.[14][15][16]

The company is backed by the Pritzker Foundation, other private investors, and Singularity University.[5][1] As of February 2013, it had raised approximately $3.5 million.[1]

References
  1. Benjamin F. Kuo (February 25, 2013). "How Focus@Will Uses Music To Help You Concentrate Better". socaltech. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  2. Kevin Smith (June 3, 2013). "This New Music App Promises To Help You Focus And Increase Your Productivity". Business Insider. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  3. Kelli B. Grant (January 7, 2013). "CES: Can this music make you more productive?". Market Watch. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  4. Paul Sawers (February 7, 2013). "Focus@Will: The music-streaming service that wants to help you concentrate". The Next Web. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  5. Anthony Ha (May 31, 2013). "Aiming To Make You More Productive, Focus@Will Launches A Music App For iOS". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  6. Philip Michaels (January 7, 2013). "Focus@Will builds music playlists to help you concentrate". PCWorld. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  7. Jill Duffy (May 22, 2013). "Focus@Will". PC Magazine. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  8. Chaey, Christina (December 19, 2012). "Focus@Will Says Its Streaming Music Will Make You More Productive". Fast Company. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  9. Dubowsky, Jack Curtis (2021-05-27). "Productivity music persists". Easy Listening and Film Scoring 1948-78. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-99766-2.
  10. Frank Kalman (February 15, 2013). "Can Music Make for Better Learners?". Chief Learning Officer Media. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  11. Stuart, S.C. (November 18, 2016). "This Music-Subscription Service Aims to Help You Stay Focused". PCMag. Retrieved 2022-10-05.
  12. Josh Ong (April 24, 2013). "Focus@will readies Android and iOS versions of its productivity music service". The Next Web. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  13. "New Music Service Aims To Keep You Focused". SoundCheck. March 11, 2013. Archived from the original on July 17, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  14. Paul Sawers (May 7, 2013). "Focus@will goes global, freemium and takes its concentration-boosting music-streaming app to Android". The Next Web. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  15. Dr. Bertalan Mesko (May 8, 2013). "Focus@Will: Neuroscience Based Service Increasing Your Attention With Music". ScienceRoll. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  16. Stormy Beach (May 7, 2013). "Focus@Will, the new mood setting productivity music App". Android Spin. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.