Look, it’s harder and harder for musicians to make a living at what they do. You have to be more and more creative to figure out ways to turn music into money. But how about this: A lollipop that costs nine dollars and plays a song in your head while you eat it? Boom. Problem solved. A new golden age has dawned. Everybody’s getting rich.
At the annual Las Vegas tech trade show CES, a company called Lava Tech Brands just debuted a new candy called Lollipop Star. According to DesignBoom, this product “reimagines candy as an audio interface, embedding bone-conduction technology into a lollipop stick to deliver music directly through the teeth and jaw.” They’ve already got deals in place with three artists: Akon, Ice Spice, and Armani White. I know you’re already halfway out the door, but you should be advised that Lollipop Star won’t be available in convenience stores until later this year.
In videos from CES, you can see people trying these lollipops while blocking out the sound of the convention hall with earplugs. They bite down on the lollipops, and they say wow, weird, you really can hear the song. A rep for Lava Tech Brands tells the New York Post, “It uses bone conduction technology, so from the back of your mouth, you’ll start to feel the different vibrations that go up into your ear.” The best part of the Post video is the very end, when you can hear someone in the background, pitching his artist Bone Crusher to the Lava reps. I can tell you right now that I would be much more likely to buy a nine-dollar lollipop if I heard “Never Scared” in my head while eating it.
According to DesignBoom, it works like this: “A small electronic module hidden inside the lollipop stick generates vibrations that travel through the teeth to the inner ear using bone conduction, a technology more commonly associated with niche audio wearables. Sound bypasses the air entirely. There are no speakers, no earbuds, and no outward noise.” The candy features exclusive tracks that you can only hear via lollipop, and you already know that Ice Spice is saving her best material for this. In my opinion, though, they’re leaving money on the table if they don’t license Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop.”
Scott would like me to point out that these lollipops sound a lot like the musical toothbrushes that have been around since the ’70s. Those products have the added advantage of being good for your teeth, rather than actively harmful. But do they use bone conduction technology? Obviously, you should sign up for the Lollipop Star waitlist here.
