You are pretty much nobody in the music world unless you got an iPhone app. Or so it seems, as we are now starting to see a swarm of music icons warm up to the device. Generally speaking when everyone jumps on the bandwagon of what's hot, it's easy to be flooded by a bunch of me too apps, or underwhelming experiences. But so far, we have been quite surprised by the diversity of what's available. Sure there are the standard repackaging twitter, Wikipedia, and YouTube videos, like Britney Spear's "It's Britney!"  app, but musicians seem to want to jump into the iPhone scene with something that stands out.  

Here are a couple examples of the wide variety of officially licensed musician apps.

The Carter (Price: $1.99)
Made to compliment rap artist Lil Wayne’s upcoming autobiographical film, “The Carter” app taks an interesting approach in its way that it markets itself. The equivalent of “special features” and “additional content” to the film, the app combines both additional behind the scenes pictures/videos and updates from the film’s producer. Lil’ Wayne himself can be seen contributing to the status of the film and the app by syncing his live twitter updates with a page in the app, along with several pages detailing his tough childhood growing up. It seems like over time this app will be built up into something more robust, especially as the film approaches. The Carter is a perfect way for devout Lil Wayne fans to support the film.

Lady Gaga Revenge (Price: $4.99)
Lady Gaga has released her own version of “Tap Tap Revenge” mixing the addictive portable rhythm game with her top hits. Several other artists have created similar apps, some also in the “Tap Tap Revenge” series, though none carry the funky grooves quite as well as the GaGa. This app combines both a well developed game for Lady Gaga fans and a newsfeed of Lady Gaga’s most recent updates, this is probably one of the slickest packaged apps we seen for a hot a html_removed rtist. 

I Am T-Pain (Price: $2.99)
This hot app was on fire for a while, making the rounds of hollywood and the music scene. Ever wish you sounded like a chart topping music artist, or at least like a robot? Even if  you don't know how to sing? Very appropriately, T-Pain’s top hit app allows you to transform you own voice with audio tone. Now if only we could put our audiotone voices to a good beat. OH WAIT, YOU CAN! Using this app you can have your amazing vocals matched with a T-Pain beat and launch your career. Definite points on pure amusement and originality as compared to many other musician apps. Did we mention the track list includes the SNL parody “I’m On a Boat”?

Coldplay Strawberry Swing (Price: Free!)
Promoting Coldplay’s latest single “Strawberry Swing,” this app features the music video for the song, all previous Coldplay videos, and even a wacky game.  Coldplay Strawberry Swing gets special recognition because out of all the musician licensed apps listed so far, it’s free! Not only do Coldplay fans get the music video straight on their iPhone, but also a fitting game to go with it. The premise for the game revolves around rescuing a princess from evil squirrels. Extra points for originality at the very least.

Hammer Time (Price: Free!)
While falling under the category of repackaged twitter, Wikipedia, and youtube, that many celebrities try to sell, this app deserves recognition for staring your favorite bankrupt 90's rapper! Hammer Time is also 100% free, a surprising rarity in the celebrity app market. Keep updated with MC Hammer's everyday shenanigans and get the live updates about upcoming performances. Seriously, now if MC Hammer does a tour with Vanilla Ice you'll be the first to know! Parachute pants not included...for now....