Focus@Will
Founded2012
FounderWill Henshall, John Vitale
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California
,
United States
Websitefocusatwill.com

Focus@Will is a subscription service that offers sequenced playlists of instrumental music intended to improve users’ productivity. The company is based out of Los Angeles.[1]

Service

All of the music in the application is instrumental.[2][3] Users choose from a number of different channels, including classical, up tempo, focus spa, cinematic, and ambient.[4]

The app allows its users to personalize the effectiveness of the focus enhancement by skipping tracks that they find distracting.[5][6][4] The service also includes a timer function and a productivity tracker.[7][8]

The company offered a white paper describing the benefits of its style of music, but it was not peer-reviewed.[9] Jack Curtis Dubowsky, a composer, described this as "flimsy pseudo-science" and compared it to Muzak, which claimed in a report in 1956 that it increased worker productivity.[9]

History

Founder and CEO Will Henshall was previously a professional musician, then founded a company that created online collaboration tools for musicians, sold to Avid Audio in 2003.[5][10] He cofounded Focus@Will with John Vitale and Graham Lyus.[11]

The beta version of Focus@Will was released in December 2012.[6]

Beginning in April 2013 the company expanded the service to international markets.[12][13] The expanded service incorporated a timer for users to set work session intervals, and a productivity tracking function to measure efficiency and focus.[12][7]

A Focus@will mobile app and freemium service were released in May 2013.[14][15][16]

The company is backed by the Pritzker Foundation, other private investors, and Singularity University.[5][1] As of February 2013, it had raised approximately $3.5 million.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Benjamin F. Kuo (February 25, 2013). "How Focus@Will Uses Music To Help You Concentrate Better". socaltech. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  2. ↑ Kevin Smith (June 3, 2013). "This New Music App Promises To Help You Focus And Increase Your Productivity". Business Insider. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  3. ↑ Kelli B. Grant (January 7, 2013). "CES: Can this music make you more productive?". Market Watch. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  4. 1 2 Paul Sawers (February 7, 2013). "Focus@Will: The music-streaming service that wants to help you concentrate". The Next Web. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 Anthony Ha (May 31, 2013). "Aiming To Make You More Productive, Focus@Will Launches A Music App For iOS". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  6. 1 2 Philip Michaels (January 7, 2013). "Focus@Will builds music playlists to help you concentrate". PCWorld. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  7. 1 2 Jill Duffy (May 22, 2013). "Focus@Will". PC Magazine. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  8. ↑ Chaey, Christina (December 19, 2012). "Focus@Will Says Its Streaming Music Will Make You More Productive". Fast Company. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  9. 1 2 Dubowsky, Jack Curtis (2021-05-27). "Productivity music persists". Easy Listening and Film Scoring 1948-78. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-99766-2.
  10. ↑ Frank Kalman (February 15, 2013). "Can Music Make for Better Learners?". Chief Learning Officer Media. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  11. ↑ Stuart, S.C. (November 18, 2016). "This Music-Subscription Service Aims to Help You Stay Focused". PCMag. Retrieved 2022-10-05.
  12. 1 2 Josh Ong (April 24, 2013). "Focus@will readies Android and iOS versions of its productivity music service". The Next Web. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  13. ↑ "New Music Service Aims To Keep You Focused". SoundCheck. March 11, 2013. Archived from the original on July 17, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  14. ↑ Paul Sawers (May 7, 2013). "Focus@will goes global, freemium and takes its concentration-boosting music-streaming app to Android". The Next Web. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  15. ↑ Dr. Bertalan Mesko (May 8, 2013). "Focus@Will: Neuroscience Based Service Increasing Your Attention With Music". ScienceRoll. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  16. ↑ Stormy Beach (May 7, 2013). "Focus@Will, the new mood setting productivity music App". Android Spin. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
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