Duolingo, a language studying app with over 500 million customers, is engaged on a music app, TechCrunch has discovered.
The Pittsburgh-based tech firm at present has a small group engaged on a music product and is hiring a studying scientist who’s an “skilled in music training who combines each theoretical data of related studying science analysis and hands-on educating expertise,” in line with a job posting listed on Duolingo’s profession web page. The corporate additionally posted a job that was soliciting a contract music composition and curricular guide, however the firm is not accepting functions for that place.
The job itemizing means that the app will train fundamental ideas in music idea utilizing standard songs and academics.
Duolingo has slowly grown past language studying into a number of auxiliary new tasks which will signify important income streams within the years to come back. For instance, The Duolingo English Take a look at, which spun out from a hackathon challenge in 2014, is a web based certification examination that exams language proficiency. The corporate additionally launched Duolingo ABC through the pandemic, which is a free app targeted on English literacy for teenagers ages 3 to six.
In October 2022, the corporate introduced Duolingo Math in its first topic enlargement past its authentic roots of language studying and literacy. The mathematics app is free and just like language studying; each require methodical pondering and the power to use features to get to solutions.
Music is a topic that sits within the pedagogical center of language, which requires nuance and context, and math, which requires concentrate on formulation to offer appropriate solutions, or on this case, sounds.
Language, math and music in Duolingo all require customers to know the fundamentals. And that’s how Duolingo differentiates itself: It focuses on constructing blocks, as a substitute of particular mastery, as a method to study a talent.
Plus, it doesn’t harm that there seems to be some govt buy-in to the idea general: Duolingo chief enterprise officer Bob Meese is an investor in Trala, a tech firm that gives digital violin classes. It lately raised $8 million in its Sequence A.
Thus far, the broader purview seems to be resonating. Duolingo greater than doubled its paid subscriber base final 12 months, in line with its final quarterly replace. Whole income additionally practically doubled at $369.5 million for 2022.
It’s unclear how Duolingo’s music app will materialize over the following few months — for instance, we don’t know whether or not the app will assist folks learn music, write music, study devices, or the entire above — or if it’s only a tiny experiment inside a corporation identified to like a take a look at or 10. TechCrunch reached out to the corporate for additional remark and can replace if we hear again.