Beatrobo lets you share music using cute robot avatars

Adorable robots are not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you think about a music sharing app.

That could change, if Beatrobo becomes immensely successful. Founded in February 2012, the Japanese startup has tickled music lovers with its quirky take on sharing music.

Upon signing up using Facebook Connect, users can design their robot avatar by customizing the facial features and color. They can then see which of their fans are using Beatrobo, as well as the avatars that represent them.

More items can be unlocked once their robot levels up, which is achieved by listening to music and doing activities in Beatrobo.

Accompanying the user’s robot is a playlist, which they can add songs to by searching YouTube from within the app or selecting their favorite track from their friend’s playlist.

From left: Co-founders Yosuke Kobayashi, Hiroshi Asaeda, and Cohe Aoki.

While popular online music services like Rdio and Spotify emphasize their ability to let users listen to music whenever and wherever they like, Beatrobo is more focused on social sharing. Not only can music lovers share tracks with their friends, they can also talk about these songs.

“We are trying to bring back the culture where you can find new music in a passive manner, like your friends telling you about a new song, or lending you a CD they listened to,” explains founder and CEO Hiroshi Asaeda, a Japanese serial entrepreneur who has started two other companies.

Together with three other co-founders, Hiroshi has secured a seed round of US$612,500 in 30th March this year.

Recently, Beatrobo was declared the winner of the Japanese Satellite of Echelon 2012, a leading technology startup conference in Asia that will be held in Singapore that will be held from 11th to 12th June. They will be pitching on stage as the top ten finalist for the region.

The web app is currently free-to-use, with a mobile version coming soon. They’re also working to generate revenue through a variety of sources, namely: Ads, membership plans, partnerships, and the sales of gadgets.

Beatrobo’s key challenge will be to get enough users in order to generate substantial revenue.