Clubhouse Adds Music Mode, A New Audio Setting For Musicians And Creators

Clubhouse has introduced Music Mode on its app, which will first roll out to iOS devices and later on Android soon after. While its name sounds like an entirely new mode, the addition is actually a new audio setting that is tailored specially for musicians and creators who use the platform to broadcast their music. 

According to Clubhouse’s recent blog entry, activating Music Mode will optimise the platform’s audio streaming capability to deliver “high quality and great stereo sound.” In addition, enabling it will also allow musicians and creators to hook up professional equipment such as a USB microphone or a mixing board to be used during their broadcasts. 

To enable the mode, simply tap on the three dots at the top right corner, select Audio Quality, and then choose Music from the list. Keep in mind that this Mode is only for broadcasters, and regular users and audiences are not required to tweak their settings in order to enjoy the “high quality” music streaming.

In fact, Clubhouse had added a much appreciated audio enhancement feature for all users earlier this month. As we’ve reported prior to this, the platform previously introduced spatial audio support to its app, adding a sense of depth to its overall sound delivery – which is great for chat rooms, presentations, and also live music performances.

Being the pioneer of audio-only broadcasting, Clubhouse continues to face steep competition from its rivals such as Twitter, Facebook and even Spotify. All of which had only recently jumped into the scene after realising the fledgling platform’s ever growing success. Ever since, Clubhouse has vigorously been introducing improvements and new features to its app in order to be a step ahead of its numerous competitors.

Clubhouse Now Allows Conversations To Be Recorded And Shared

Clubhouse has launched a suite of new features and among them is the ability to finally record conversations. One of them is called “Clips”, a new button that will allow anyone in the room to record the last 30 seconds of the conversation.

The feature has to be enabled by the creators of the room and can be disabled at any time. It’s only available for open/public rooms, meaning private, social, and club rooms will remain private. For now though, Clips will only be rolled out to select creators as it’s still beta.

When Clips is enabled, both the creators and the audience can tap on the scissor-shaped (✄) button at any point during the conversation to get a shareable and editable clip of the last 30 seconds. Don’t worry if you’re not included in Clips’ beta, as there’s a new feature coming this month that will let every user save and distribute their conversations. “Replays” will let you save your entire room’s conversation, download it, and make the room publicly discoverable for as long as you want.

There’s also Universal Search that lets people search for specific rooms, clubs, people, and future events. As a bonus, Android users are also getting support for Spatial Audio. These new updates seem to be focused on expanding the reach of its creators, addressing the issue of a lack in shareability.

Clubhouse App No Longer Invite-Only Across All Platforms

Clubhouse has announced that it is no longer invite-only across all mobile platforms. As revealed by company co-founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth via its official blog, this major change is made effective immediately through the latest version of the app that is now available for download on both iOS and Android platforms. 

The decision to remove its invite-only approach is a long time coming, the company revealed. Ever since its launch a year ago, Clubhouse has always been intended to be accessible by anyone in order to have “meaningful conversations” with each other – bypassing limitations such as distance, especially during these trying times.

“The invite system has been an important part of our early history. But we’ve always wanted Clubhouse to be open,” the company said in its latest blog post. “Everyone in the world should have access to meaningful conversations. And the best rooms on Clubhouse are the ones where you meet people from far outside your social circle, with very different views and lived experiences, who change your perspective on the world.”

It added that the invite-only approach was necessary in order to keep things under control during its early stages, especially while the company continues to introduce newer features and improvements to its app. However, this also unintentionally gave Clubhouse a members-only, closed-doors appeal – a similar vibe given by exclusive nightclubs or even secret groups.

Further building up the public’s desire to gain access during this phase are the multitudes of endorsements by public figures and celebrities, who hold exclusive talks or hangout sessions via Clubhouse. This led to a good number of existing members taking advantage of their limited app invites by selling them on various e-commerce platforms, usually at exorbitant prices. Thankfully, this cheeky way of profit-making has become obsolete now that the app finally opened its doors to the public – a move that would definitely anger both scalpers and those who previously paid a premium in order to score an invite.

Along with the announcement, Clubhouse also unveiled its new logo (shown on top) in the same blog post. This will be used to represent the company for general usage such as marketing and so on but will not replace its app icon, it noted. Clubhouse will continue its tradition to update its icon every month, featuring a monochrome image of selected public figures to represent the platform’s community.

With its invite-only element now gone, will Clubhouse retain its appeal? Being a pioneer to the audio-only chat room craze that has spawned numerous clones by competing social media companies, it looks like the app will see no problem by removing the restriction. If anything, it might cause it to flourish even further, especially with the number of well-known names that have been relying on the platform throughout the months since its debut.

Clubhouse Heading For General Release In Summer

Clubhouse was just open to more Android users, albeit still in beta just earlier last month. But it looks like the app is on its way to being available to everyone. In an announcement, the company says that it is heading for a general release “sometime in summer”.

The announcement came via a town hall meet within Clubhouse itself. In a recap posted on Twitter, the company also says that it is getting closer to feature parity between Android and iOS platforms. Also announced is quite the milestone for the app, as it now has over two million users on Android.

It’s probably safe to assume that Clubhouse will only become available to the general public once it reaches that feature parity. From the tweet, it sounds like it’s still a few updates away. And the window of summer is a very large one. For us without four seasons, this range starts from the end of June, going all the way to the end of September.

Of course, while it may be the one to popularise the idea of a voice only communication, Clubhouse is not the only one anymore. Other social media companies have begun working on their own version of the feature.

Clubhouse For Android Opens Registration Of Interest In Malaysia

The popular Clubhouse app has had an Android version in the works for awhile now. Last week, it started its beta tests for the platform for a limited number of users. Now, the beta test is expanding to more people in the US, and the app is accepting pre-registrations in Malaysia.

In its announcement blog post, the company says that it plans to collect feedback from the community over the next few weeks. Then it will be addressing said feedback, fixing issues and adding features before a broader rollout outside of the US. No date was given as to when this is happening. It could take awhile, considering that in a week the Android version of Clubhouse went from what’s basically a closed beta to an open one for the US only.

Fortunately for everyone outside the States, pre-registration for the Android version of Clubhouse is open. Signing up for this will automatically download the app when it becomes available. That being said, it looks like actually being able to use it still depends on you getting an invite.

And for Android users, this presumably comes from an existing iOS user. This will remain the case as the company slowly scales up the backend of its operations.

If you would like to sign up to get Clubhouse for Android early, you can do so by following the link below. This would save you the trouble of sifting through all the fake ones, and some harmful ones at that.

Clubhouse Starts Rough Android Beta Tests

Clubhouse became one of the biggest apps to hit iOS, and many on Android have been clamouring for it. We previously saw a possible release window in May. Now, it looks like a small scale beta testing has begun for the app on Android.

The app’s latest release notes say that the Android beta is being rolled out to a “handful of friendly testers”. This would suggest access to the beta as exclusive as the full Clubhouse app itself.

The release notes also say that the company will be welcoming more Android users “over the coming weeks”. Though this could mean extending beta testing access to more people, or a full on release for Android.

Clubhouse co-founder Paul Davison did say back in March that its Android version will take a couple of months. That and the company plans on dropping the invite-only model. This could coincide with the Android release, or come at a later date.

All in all, it’s good to know that Clubhouse is sort of sharing its progress on the Android app. It should keep desperate people off the many fakes that can be found on the Google Play Store, which could be malware in disguise.

Facebook Announces Clubhouse Clone Live Audio Rooms, Set To Launch Mid-Year

Facebook announced a new feature called Live Audio Rooms that mimics much of what popular audio-based app Clubhouse does. It is expected to launch by summer – that’s mid-2021 for the rest of us who don’t live in the Northern Hemisphere.

Rumours have swirled around the development of Facebook’s Clubhouse clone. Facebook has already been beta testing Hotline, a Q&A-based app that’s quite similar to Clubhouse, but Live Audio Rooms seems to be a separate feature that’s fully integrated within the existing Facebook ecosystem.

Before launch, Facebook said it intends to test Live Audio Rooms in Groups, making it available globally for Group users and their communities. Public figures will also have access to the feature, allowing them to host conversations with other public figures, experts, and fans.

Live Audio Rooms will also be available on Messenger at launch – which comports with rumours last month that the social media giant was working to build a broadcasting feature into Messenger. Unlike Clubhouse though, content creators have the options of turning a live conversation into a podcast for later listening, and sharing audio excerpts from a session in the form of Soundbites (also a new feature). In contrast, Clubhouse’s philosophy emphasises privacy and the app generally doesn’t allow recordings – an attribute that made it initially popular in China before it was banned there.

Facebook is taking a different route probably based on commercial considerations – it wants to make things easier for creators, attracting a large pool of them. While unveiling Live Audio Rooms, the social media giant also pointed to creator monetisation opportunities through its Star feature, and announced an upcoming ability to charge access to a Live Audio Room through a single purchase or a subscription.

Earlier this month, Clubhouse itself announced its first monetisation feature called “Payments”, which enables direct payments to creators.

Facebook Announces Clubhouse Clone Live Audio Rooms, Set To Launch Mid-Year

Facebook announced a new feature called Live Audio Rooms that mimics much of what popular audio-based app Clubhouse does. It is expected to launch by summer – that’s mid-2021 for the rest of us who don’t live in the Northern Hemisphere.

Rumours have swirled around the development of Facebook’s Clubhouse clone. Facebook has already been beta testing Hotline, a Q&A-based app that’s quite similar to Clubhouse, but Live Audio Rooms seems to be a separate feature that’s fully integrated within the existing Facebook ecosystem.

Before launch, Facebook said it intends to test Live Audio Rooms in Groups, making it available globally for Group users and their communities. Public figures will also have access to the feature, allowing them to host conversations with other public figures, experts, and fans.

Live Audio Rooms will also be available on Messenger at launch – which comports with rumours last month that the social media giant was working to build a broadcasting feature into Messenger. Unlike Clubhouse though, content creators have the options of turning a live conversation into a podcast for later listening, and sharing audio excerpts from a session in the form of Soundbites (also a new feature). In contrast, Clubhouse’s philosophy emphasises privacy and the app generally doesn’t allow recordings – an attribute that made it initially popular in China before it was banned there.

Facebook is taking a different route probably based on commercial considerations – it wants to make things easier for creators, attracting a large pool of them. While unveiling Live Audio Rooms, the social media giant also pointed to creator monetisation opportunities through its Star feature, and announced an upcoming ability to charge access to a Live Audio Room through a single purchase or a subscription.

Earlier this month, Clubhouse itself announced its first monetisation feature called “Payments”, which enables direct payments to creators.

Clubhouse Launches New Payment System For Content Creators

Clubhouse has launched its first monetisation feature for content creators, and it is  simply known as “Payments.” The audio-based social media app said the feature would be the first of many upcoming additions to allow creators to earn money directly on the platform.

If you’re on Clubhouse, you’ll already be able to send payments to members, but the company is gradually rolling out the ability to receive payments – starting with a small test group. The platform said it wants to first collect feedback, make necessary adjustments , and then release it to all users.

Those who want to try Payments can tap on the profile of a creator who has the feature enabled and tap “Send Money”. Users would then have to specify how much they’d like to send via a credit or debit card. Clubhouse claims it will take nothing from the transaction, though a small card processing fee will go to its processing partner, Stripe.

With potential competitors chomping at its heels, it seems Clubhouse is eager to attract a solid base of content creators before they do. Spotify, LinkedIn, Facebook, and ByteDance are all reported or rumoured to be working on their own clones of the application.

Facebook Tests Hotline; A Q&A Competitor App To Clubhouse

Facebook is now beta testing Hotline, a Q&A-based app that might soon offer tough competition to Clubhouse. While Clubhouse is audio-only, Hotline will allow content creators to stream video as well.

“With Hotline, we’re hoping to understand how interactive, live multimedia Q&As can help people learn from experts in areas like professional skills, just as it helps those experts build their businesses,” Facebook said.

TechCrunch, likely the first to report on the new app, noted its interface similarities with Clubhouse – a speaker section at the top for the mobile version (or to the left on desktop) and a listeners’ section at the bottom (or to the right on desktop).

But probably the most important difference is that Hotline records all sessions.

Clubhouse is beloved by many because it supposedly doesn’t keep recordings of conversations – an attribute that made it wildly but briefly popular in China before it was banned there.

Hotline is taking the completely opposite route – hosts will be given two recordings of a session after it ends; both in different formats (mp3 and mp4). These can then be uploaded by content creators to relevant platforms like YouTube or Facebook, TechCrunch said.

Hotline reportedly will be free at launch with no limits on audience size, but this is presumably subject to change.

Tech platforms, from Spotify to Facebook, have been trying to build competitors to Clubhouse, owing to the app’s phenomenal growth in a short space of time. Twitter also attempted a more direct approach and, according to Bloomberg sources, engaged in talks to acquire Clubhouse for US$4 billion (~RM16.5 billion). However, those talks went nowhere.

Malware Disguises Itself As Clubhouse For Android Which Doesn’t Exist Yet

Clubhouse co-founder has recently said that it will only have an Android version of the app in “a couple of months“. Because of this, there are plenty of fake apps pretending to be the app plaguing the Google Play Store. But a new one is trying to bypass this by making you download it directly from a fake website.

ESET malware researcher Lukas Stefanko found a clone of the official Clubhouse website pushing the BlackRock malware. And because the official website is so simple, it’s not too difficult to make a perfect copy of it.

Though naturally, there’s something that gives its identity as a poser away. One is that it uses the .mobi domain rather than .com that the official Clubhouse website uses. The other is that the Apple App Store download button is replaced with one for the Google Play Store. And when you do hit the button, rather than redirecting you back to the Google Play Store like most legit apps, it downloads the malware to your device directly.

The ESET report on the fake Clubhouse for Android website also explains the nature of the BlackRock Trojan type malware. What it does is scans your device for login data and steals them. And it does so for over 458 online services, from messaging and social media apps all the way to shopping and banking.

It’s a sophisticated attempt to infect victims to be sure, but not being one is, in contrast, pretty simple. And it’s down to simply killing the FOMO and accepting that Clubhouse for Android is a few months away.

How to use Clubhouse if you don’t have an iPhone

Who hasn’t heard of Clubhouse by now? The trendy social network for voice messaging is gaining unprecedented momentum, and competitors such as Twitter and Facebook promise to present their analogues as soon as possible.

But right now only owners of iOS devices have official access to this platform, just like when Instagram was first launched. However, if you like a challenge and don’t lack command line skills, you have the opportunity to join the Clubhouse right now.

How? Let’s figure it out

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to create an account without an iPhone. It’s easier to ask for an invite, and, having received a text message to your number, register online using a friend’s iOS app. Then you can exit the app and leave your friend in peace.

If this is problematic, you can use a service for testing iOS applications that provide a “virtual” iPhone for your needs, like BrowserStack, but such services aren’t usually free. For example, BrowserStack’s Desktop & Mobile package costs $39/month. Too much to our needs.

So, you’re in. What’s next?

For listening to rooms and for others, we will use a console application written in Python: https://github.com/stypr/clubhouse-py

It is based on the hacked Clubhouse protocol and the author promises to remove the app after the official version for Android is released. For it to work, you need Python version 3.7 or higher. The application works on Windows and macOS.

Installation is simple:

git clone https://github.com/stypr/clubhouse-py
cd ./clubhouse-py
pip3 install -r requirements.txt
pip3 install agora-python-sdk

Next launch:

python3 cli.py

You’re online!

And if not?

First, as of February 19, 2021, the agora-python-sdk library compilation for Windows is broken, so instead of installing via pip, it’s better to build the project by hand. The tutorial is available here.

Secondly, for macOS, you need to give Terminal and Python access to Microphone and Accessibility. And also, you will probably need to change the key combination for the “raise your hands” command, since in macOS the module for binding hotkeys will not work properly. To do this, open cli.py in any editor and change:

if not channel_speaker_permission: 
print("[*] Press [Ctrl+Shift+H] to raise your hands for the speaker permission.") 
keyboard.add_hotkey( 
"ctrl+shift+h", 
_request_speaker_permission, 
args=(client, channel_name, user_id) 
)

to

if not channel_speaker_permission: 
print("[*] Press [3] to raise your hands for the speaker permission.") 
keyboard.add_hotkey( 
"3", 
_request_speaker_permission, 
args=(client, channel_name, user_id) 
)

Thirdly, on macOS, you will have to run apps via sudo:

sudo python3 cli.py

After launching, the app will ask you to specify the phone number and enter the authentication code, after which it will save the received token in settings.ini

This is how the program window looks like:

And here is a small video demonstrating the working app:

If 20 channels and 20 users in rooms is not enough for you, you can increase the limit by making changes to cli.py

max_limit = 30

Hope it was all worth it. Chat away!

ByteDance Reportedly Developing A Clubhouse-Like App, While Xiaomi Launches China-Only MiTalk

The current popularity of Clubhouse is very apparent – to the point that major social media players such as Facebook and Twitter are introducing their own spin of the app’s invite-only chatting feature to their respective platforms. Not excluded from this equation are Chinese companies including TikTok owner ByteDance which, according to Reuters, is developing its own Clubhouse clone.

Individuals familiar with the matter told the news agency that the company’s unnamed app is in the early stages of development, but further details are still kept under wraps. One source said that discussions regarding TikTok and ByteDance on Clubhouse sparked interest in the genre from the Chinese company’s executives, including CEO Zhang Yiming. It is also not known if this upcoming app will be released globally or is intended to be a China exclusive. 

Other than ByteDance, Xiaomi had recently relaunched its China-only MiTalk app as a competitor to the US-made chatting platform. As expected, the app also offers chat rooms that require an invite in order to participate – a huge turn in direction from its original approach which mirrors regular chatting apps such as WeChat and WhatsApp.

The sudden (and inevitable) surge of Chinese companies wanting to replicate Clubhouse’s success and popularity with their own clones is interesting yet peculiar, especially in terms of privacy in China. As previously reported, the country recently cracked down on the US-made app and banned it outright as it was reportedly discovered that Chinese users were using its chat rooms to discuss subjects that are considered taboo and controversial.

The question remains: what are the steps that ByteDance and Xiaomi are required to take in order to prevent such scenarios from repeating on their own respective apps? And of course, there’s also the concern of chat logs and user data potentially being snooped upon by the Chinese government for the purpose of censorship.

Clubhouse Chat Audio Stolen; Causes Privacy Concerns Yet Again

Clubhouse chats may not be as private as expected. According to Bloomberg, Clubhouse spokesperson Reema Bahnasy said a user was able to stream audio from “multiple” rooms into their own third-party website – an action that is clearly against the app’s intended purpose (and selling point) of only allowing people within chatrooms to exclusively hear or discuss certain topics.

The app’s developers claimed that the aforementioned user has now been “permanently banned”, and that new “safeguards” has been newly installed in order to prevent a potential repeat incident. However, some privacy and security analysts aren’t entirely convinced.

“Clubhouse cannot provide any privacy promises for conversations held anywhere around the world,” former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos told Bloomberg. Stamos now heads the Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO), which last week revealed the social app’s potential vulnerability to spying by the Chinese government.

The SIO had also pointed to Clubhouse’s links to Agora, a Shanghai-based company that is subject to China’s internet laws and legal requests. Agora handles a good chunk of the app’s back-end operations, including the processing of data traffic and audio production.

Bloomberg added that the Chinese company’s value has climbed over 150% since mid-January, making its current worth close to USD$10 billion (~RM40.4 billion). Clubhouse itself has seen astounding growth, doubling its global downloads in a span of weeks. In Malaysia, it is currently holds the ranking of most popular free iOS software available on the Apple App Store.

Anyway, if you’re a Clubhouse user, we strongly urge you to be cautious when using the app. For the time being (at least), just assume everything you say in chatrooms on the platform isn’t private.

Clubhouse Surges In Popularity Throughout The World, Including Malaysia

Audio-based social media app Clubhouse seems to be the hottest thing right now. The app has doubled its global download numbers in just over two weeks according to BBC, citing estimates by analytics firm App Annie.

From 1 February to 16 February, Clubhouse global downloads grew from over 3.5 million to 8.1 million, App Annie said. In the US alone, the app has been downloaded more than 2.6 million times, helped in large part by the appearances (on the app) by high-profile figures like Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Things are no different in Malaysia as well. According to the data gathered by another analytics firm Sensor Tower, it has skyrocketed to the top of the free iOS apps category. As points of comparison, MySejahtera and TikTok are second and third respectively.

Astro Awani has pointed out that notable Clubhouse users include Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, former Prime Minister Najib Razak, his brother who is also CIMB Group Chairman Nazir Razak, AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes, and Selangor’s Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari. In fact, Minister Khairy just recently participated in a public Clubhouse session to answer questions about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Both sides of Malaysia’s political aisle and industry leaders seem to have embraced Clubhouse as a way to reach out to average citizens and discuss sociopolitical issues. This is in contrast with China, where the app remains blocked by government authorities after users began discussing sensitive topics like China-Taiwan relations, Uighur Muslims, and the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

For now, Clubhouse remains an iOS exclusive and requires an invite to use – a fact that clearly hasn’t slowed the remarkable pace of downloads. The BBC said that Clubhouse is encouraging downloads anyway because new users – even those without an invite – already able to reserve their username for the future.

If you want to learn more about Clubhouse, don’t forget to check out our editorial piece regarding the app right here.

Elon Musk Invites Vladimir Putin To Chat On Clubhouse; Russia Open To Idea

Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk just asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to a chat on audio-based social app Clubhouse, and the Russian government isn’t ruling it out. The Kremlin is looking to hear more details of the proposed chat, however.

Musk, who is known (and arguably beloved) for his maverick moves, first tweeted in English at the official Twitter account of the Russian president, proposing a Clubhouse conversation. He then followed that up with a Russian tweet saying, “It would be a great honour to speak with you.”

Moscow’s response was non-committal, but crucially, not fully dismissive either. “In general, this is of course a very interesting proposal, but we need to understand what is meant, what is being proposed… first we need to check, then we will react,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to Reuters.

Peskov said the Russian president doesn’t use social media directly. Putin has been publicly critical of Western social media companies, and according to Time magazine, suggested that big tech threatened “legitimate democratic institutions.” Last year, he signed new laws apparently aimed at restricting access to US social media websites, Reuters reported.

As for the Clubhouse, the young app has been booming in part because of Musk. His popularity in China initially drove the app’s uptake in the country before it was blocked by authorities. Musk’s interview with Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev (a man at the heart of the Gamestop drama) went viral across the Internet, and he could be looking to do the same with Putin.