Reaction videos watching anything from new music artists to cooking tutorials have been on the rise, with some even achieving viral status — and now a new app is aiming to make those videos easier to record. Reaction.cam is an iOS app that allows music artists to easily request and record reactions from fans, officially launching on Thursday, February 15.
Designed by former Spotify employees under developer 47 Center Inc., Reaction.cam allows users to request a reaction video — a video of a viewer reacting to another video — and then view the resulting shots. Users paste a video link inside Reaction.cam. The software then generates a new unique URL to share with fans. Using that link inside the iOS app, fans can use their smartphone camera to record the reaction to the video and share the results. The original user requesting the reaction video can see the shared reactions. And in some cases, the developers say, those reaction videos can even wind up in a new music video.
“Up until now, it hasn’t been easy for new or unsigned artists to request reactions from their fans, or for the fans to create and share these reaction videos online with their friends,” Reaction.cam co-founder and CEO Ricardo Vice Santos said in a press release. “We see ourselves as a launchpad for new artists to take off and for fans to become music influencers themselves through reaction videos.”
Along with simplifying the process of creating the reaction videos, the developers are working to integrate a social element into the type of video. “We wanted to create a social layer for fans to discuss and share music as they do in person, and it turns out that reaction videos are the perfect medium for it,” Vice Santos said.
During the app’s beta testing, Reaction.cam recorded over 80,000 hours of reaction videos while getting a 5-star average from early reviewers, according to developers. During testing, the most popular reaction video was for 98KB’s Lit NDA music video, which generated 200 reactions over two days.
Reaction.cam is now available from the App Store for iPhone and iPad as a free download.