Call it: how the Ear Score works

Everyone has a friend who says they heard it first. On Vibnelo you can prove it. When you hear a hook you think is going to climb, you call it, and a day later the app checks. Your Ear Score is the running record of those calls: one number for how good your ear for new music really is.

How a call works

1. Listen first. A call only counts on a hook you have actually heard for a few seconds.
2. Call it. Put 10 to 250 Vibes on it. Vibes are free points; more on them below.
3. Vibnelo notes the moment. The call records the hook’s Heat and the average Heat of the whole chart at that second.
4. A day later, it checks. Did the hook climb more than the chart did? If it did, your Ear Score goes up. If the chart beat it, your score goes down.

You can have one open call per hook and make up to 40 calls a day, and you can’t call your own hook.

What Heat measures

Heat is a score from 0 to 100 for every live hook. It asks a simple question: of the people who heard this hook, how many went on to finish it, like it, save it, comment on it or call it? Each hook is then placed against every other live hook, so Heat is always relative. It counts people, not clicks, and it updates every ten minutes, easing toward its new value so it moves like a market rather than a light switch.

Why “beat the chart” and not just “go up”

If a hook only had to rise, every call would look clever on a good day for music. Comparing it with the chart as a whole rewards the thing that is actually hard: hearing something before other people do. A hook that climbs while everything else stands still is a strong call. One that climbs a little while the whole chart climbs more is not.

What makes a call worth more

• Calling early. A hook that was low on Heat when you called it and then climbed is worth more than one that was already near the top. The app tells you when you “called it early”.
• Calling with conviction. More Vibes on a call means a bigger move in either direction, up to a limit.
• Being new. A fresh Ear Score moves quickly. As your results add up it settles, so a long record can’t be undone by one bad day.

Likes and votes count too

When you are signed in, a like on a hook you have really listened to counts as a small call. If the hook beats the chart, your Ear Score rises a little. If it doesn’t, nothing happens. A like can only ever raise your score, so there is never a reason to hold one back.

Battle votes count as well. When a match closes, siding with the winner raises your score, more so if the winner was the underdog, and siding with the loser lowers it a little. Why our battles are blind covers the battles themselves.

Vibes, and what they are not

Vibes are free points inside Vibnelo. New accounts start with 500. You get 100 on your first open of each day, and more for the day’s missions and your first battle votes. When you collect a call in Charts, your Vibes come back scaled by how far the hook’s Heat moved: if its Heat doubled, so did the Vibes you put in.

Vibes are never money. They can’t be bought, sold, exchanged or cashed out.

Where your score shows

Your Ear Score sits on your profile with a tier. Everyone starts at 1,000, a Good ear. Below that is Fresh ear; above it come Sharp ear at 1,100, Tastemaker at 1,250 and Oracle at 1,450. Every week the Top ears board ranks listeners by the Ear Score they won on calls since Monday, and its top three get Vibes when the week turns.

A sharp ear also opens a door. An artist can ask a Tastemaker panel, a small group of listeners with a Sharp ear or better who have opted in, to hear a new hook before anyone else and say what they would do with it. Each panelist gets 10 Vibes for their take.

Questions people ask

How long does a call take?

About a day. Each call is checked a day after you make it, and the result shows up in your notifications.

Can I lose Vibes on a call?

Yes. If the hook’s Heat falls, collecting the call gives you back fewer Vibes than you put in. Either way, Vibes have no money value.

Can a like lower my Ear Score?

No. Likes only ever raise it. Calls and battle votes can move it both ways.

Do I need an account?

Yes. Without one you can listen, like and vote, but calls, Vibes and the Ear Score belong to an account.

Filed under Call it, Charts, Battles