Sony folds its social network into music software

Sony's ACID Music Studio is a loop-based music creation tool favored by electronic and hip-hop artists. Now in its tenth year, Sony announced its social network for Acid artists will be more tightly integrated with Acid Xpress 7.

AcidPlanet is a social network for musicians with a popularity-based ranking system similar to PureVolume or Reverb Nation. Users can upload their original music to connect with fans and other musicians, or to compete popularity contests such as "The Duel." There is also an associated Web radio station that plays the best artists from the site.

But the novel part of the site is its integration with the new freeware version of Acid Xpress 7. The desktop software fetches how-to tutorials and forum posts from AcidPlanet, and integrates the free loops from the site's remix and composition contests into the software. Completed songs, in addition to being exportable as desktop music files, can be published directly to AcidPlanet.

To obtain Acid Xpress 7, users do not need to be members of AcidPlanet; but registering with the site opens further free content.