New iPhone music app lets any fan rap like Tinie Tempah

British rap star Tinie Tempah has launched a new mobile app for fans to lip-sync along with tracks from his new album – using his lips.
The app – Rap Demonstration – identifies songs from the album (and a few of his older hits) being played in the real world, for example on the radio, in clubs or on a nearby TV or hi-fi.
It then synchronises with the exact point in the track, and plays video of Tempah’s lips rapping in time to the song. The idea being that fans hold their iPhone up to their mouth with the screen facing outwards. They will also soon be able to visit a companion website to record animated Gifs of themselves using the app.
British agency We Make Awesome Sh. developed the app, working with Tempah and his label Parlophone. The company, which works with various brands and music industry clients, previously made an app for Calvin Harris that got fans to dance in order to stream his latest album.
Co-founder Syd Lawrence told the Guardian that the Tinie Tempah project shows how official artist apps can be much more creative than simply pushing news, download links, videos and social networking updates to fans, as many do.

We Make Awesome Sh. also developed its own music identification technology for the app. While apps like Shazam can identify a track playing in the real world, this app only works if it can identify the exact point a song is at, in order to synchronise its video footage.
Video for one track, Lover Not a Fighter, is included, with the others downloaded on the fly when they’re needed. The app is free, but points fans to Apple’s iTunes Store to buy the album, with the carrot that they’ll be able to play the individual videos on demand if the songs are stored on their device.