This might be fun timesuck: a new music-based game called Hipster Bait

Looking for an “interactive rock’n’roll music discovery game?” Then check out Hipster Bait, which is now available for iOS and Android.

What is it? Paraphrasing the app’s press blurbs, it’s an augmented reality game in which they will “release” songs from new artists and then place these tracks in real-world locations–digitally, of course. Players are then encouraged to search out these songs–on digital virtual cassettes–on a sort of scavaneger hunt/geocasching/Pokemon safari. Once you find one of these cassettes, you can re-hide it for someone else to find.

Okay, so what about the music part? The identity of the artist behind the song stays hidden for two weeks, which removes preconceptions and forces people to evaluate the song on its own. In other words, this gamefies music discovery.

Don’t go looking for Hipster Bait cassettes just yet unless you’re in the US Pacific Northwest. Bruce Pavitt, the co-founder of Sub Pop, is an advisor. At this point, the game is rock only, but that could soon expand.