Facebook has doubled down on its efforts to take on thegrowing Chinese short-video making platform TikTok, this time by launching anew app for creating and sharing raps.
Called BARS, the app is now available in the Apple AppStore in the US and makes it easy to create and share raps so that rappers canfocus on and experiment with the content, "rather than investing heavilyin equipment and production".
"Audio production tools can be complicated,expensive and difficult to use. With BARS, you can select one of ourprofessionally-created beats, write lyrics and record yourself droppingbars," Facebook said in a statement on Friday.
"BARS auto-suggests rhymes as you're writing to keepyour flow going. You can also jump into Challenge mode and freestyle withauto-suggested word cues. Choose from a variety of audio and visual filters totake your creations to the next level," the company added.
Facebook's internal R&D group, the New ProductExperimentation (NPE) Team, is behind the new experimental app.
BARS is NPE Team's second launch in the music space,following its public debut of music video app Collab last year.
Collab brings together creators and fans to create,watch, and mix and match original videos, starting with music.
For BARS, no formal rap experience is required. "Youcan create something great whether you've just thought of a dope couplet orhave been freestyling for years," Facebook said.
A rapper Erica aka @Bliss posted on Facebook: "Thefinal product on the BARS app sounds like you went to a studio and recorded it.I just create for myself, but hearing my creations sound good, and the positivefeedback from other people makes me feel like, "Hey maybe I can reallycreate a good song and put it out there and people will like it!"
The company said it will open up invites in batches forthe app, starting in the US.