Apple is celebrating the 15th anniversary of its popular music creation app GarageBand on Mac this upcoming Sunday, January 6.

garageband
Apple says GarageBand, introduced at Macworld 2004 by its late co-founder Steve Jobs and musician John Mayer, has grown to be the most widely used music app in the world and is now on over one billion iPhones, iPads, and Macs globally.

Apple provided a timeline of significant GarageBand milestones, including the releases of iPhone and iPad versions in 2011:

  • January 2004: GarageBand debuted at Macworld by Steve Jobs with John Mayer

  • April 2005: NIN release "The Hand That Feeds" as GarageBand project file that fans can remix

  • December 2005: T-Pain creates his first album,"Rappa Ternt Sanga" in GarageBand for Mac

  • March 2007: Rihanna "Umbrella" built with GarageBand bundled drum loop "Vintage Funk Kit 03"

  • March 2007: Fall Out Boy records "Thnks fr th Mmrs" in GarageBand for Mac

  • November 2007: Duran Duran releases GarageBand version of "Nite-Runner" that fans can remix

  • February 2008: Usher "Love in This Club" built with GarageBand bundled synth loop "Euro Hero Synth 02"

  • February 2008: Ting Tings record "Great DJ" on GarageBand for Mac

  • April 2008: Radiohead release "Nude" as GarageBand project file that fans can remix

  • 2008: "It Might Get Loud" documentary shows Edge from U2 using GarageBand on his laptop

  • 2009: Learn to Play and Artist Lessons announced on GarageBand for Mac

  • May 2009: St. Vincent creates "Actor" album in GarageBand

  • March 2011: GarageBand for iPad announced

  • November 2011: GarageBand for iPhone announced

  • October 2013: GarageBand 10 for Mac with new design announced

  • August 2014: Haim records "My Song 5" in GarageBand

  • June 2015: Marc Maron interviews President Obama in a podcast recorded in his garage using GarageBand for Mac

  • January 2016: Live Loops feature added to GarageBand for iOS

  • May 2016: GarageBand for Greater China announced with traditional Chinese instruments

  • April 2017: Steve Lacey produces the Kendrick Lamar song "PRIDE" using GarageBand for iOS

GarageBand is a free download on the Mac App Store and App Store for iOS devices.

Tag: GarageBand

Top Rated Comments

keysofanxiety Avatar
keysofanxiety
40 months ago
Me in 2004: Awesome! I'm going to use that all the time!
Me in 2019: Whoa... is that thing even still on my computer?
Genuine question: what's changed between then and now for you not want to use it? It's fast, stable, and has some really decent sounds.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Musocat Avatar
Musocat
40 months ago
GarageBand is what got me on to Macs. About a week before the announcement, I had bought one of those 4-track cassette recorders to make demos on. You know, the all-in-one decks where you could record a whopping 4 tracks... onto a cassette. lol. Anyway, when I heard about GB I checked out how much an iBook cost, and it wasn't much more than that 4-track cassette recorder cost. So I returned the 4-track and used the $ to get a 12" iBook G4, which came with GB. Typing this on a 13" MBP 15 years later :-)
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DocMultimedia Avatar
DocMultimedia
40 months ago
A pity they didn't feel like maintaining Aperture. In a mere two years they could have done the 15th anniversary for it.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Soba Avatar
Soba
40 months ago
15 years later, I still think this was one of Apple's most effective product introductions, ever. It's fun to watch even now. (We miss you, Steve!)

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
otozuz Avatar
otozuz
40 months ago
I remember watching the presentation keynote 15 years ago (streamed through the old QuickTime Player) with my dad when I was 17 year-old and being super excited by it. In the following years I then recorded probably 150 songs/ideas with my Fender Strato :):):) So much fun.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JimmyJimmyYam Avatar
JimmyJimmyYam
40 months ago
GarageBand is a truly awesome piece of software - there is nothing else like it (except of course, Logic Pro X, but GB is really Logic Pro X Lite these days). If you have aspirations to make music, it justifies the price of entry into the Mac ecosystem IMHO.

On the downside, it makes me worry what I will do when my 2015 MBP gives up the ghost - hopefully by then USB C audio interfaces will be plentiful, the emoji bar will be consigned to the dustbin of “interesting ideas that didn’t pan out”, and the design balance will have tipped back from thinness to power / versatility!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments

Popular Stories

iPhone 14 Mock pill and hole thumb

ProMotion Now Expected to Remain Exclusive to iPhone 14 Pro Models, Not Expand to Entire Lineup

Sunday January 16, 2022 8:56 am PST by
Continuing the tradition set with the iPhone 13 Pro, only the highest-end iPhone 14 models will feature Apple's ProMotion display technology, according to a respected display analyst. Ross Young, who on multiple occasions has detailed accurate information about Apple's future products, said in a tweet that ProMotion will not be expanded to the entire iPhone 14 lineup and will remain...
Read Full Article • 91 comments
safari icon blue banner

Safari Bug Allows Websites to Track Your Recent Browsing Activity in Real Time [Updated]

Sunday January 16, 2022 3:37 pm PST by
A bug in WebKit's implementation of a JavaScript API called IndexedDB can reveal your recent browsing history and even your identity, according to a blog post shared on Friday by browser fingerprinting service FingerprintJS. In a nutshell, the bug allows any website that uses IndexedDB to access the names of IndexedDB databases generated by other websites during a user's browsing session....
Read Full Article • 227 comments
ipad air 4 video

New iPad Air Rumored to Launch This Spring With A15 Chip, 5G, Center Stage Camera, and More

Saturday January 15, 2022 8:05 pm PST by
Apple is planning to release a fifth-generation iPad Air with similar features as the sixth-generation iPad mini, including an A15 Bionic chip, 12-megapixel Ultra Wide front camera with Center Stage support, 5G for cellular models, and Quad-LED True Tone flash, according to Japanese blog Mac Otakara. Citing reliables sources in China, the report claims that the new iPad Air could be...
Read Full Article • 158 comments
Unlikely Products 2022 Feature

Six Rumored Apple Products You're Unlikely to See This Year

Saturday January 15, 2022 2:06 pm PST by
Much has been said about what consumers could see from Apple in 2022, but the company is also working on a handful of rumored products that aren't expected to be unveiled for at least another 12 months, and in some cases a lot longer. Of course, that's assuming they get released at all. Apple works on many potential products some of which ultimately never see the light of day. With that in...
Read Full Article • 67 comments
AirPods Pro Gen 3 Mock Feature Red

AirPods Pro 2 Could Start a New Accessory Ecosystem

Friday January 14, 2022 2:34 am PST by
Apple's second-generation AirPods Pro could arrive alongside a new series of accessories, recent leaked images suggest. Alleged leaked photos of the next-generation AirPods Pro obtained by MacRumors showed a charging case with a metal loop on the side for attaching a strap. Apple has not used this design for any of its other AirPod models and it is unclear why it would be added in this...
Read Full Article
netflix2

Netflix Again Raises Prices for All Plans, 4K Streaming Now $20 Per Month

Friday January 14, 2022 12:46 pm PST by
Netflix today updated the prices for its streaming plans, and all of its offerings are now more expensive. The Basic plan is now priced at $9.99 per month, the Standard plan is priced at $15.49 per month, and the Premium plan is priced at $19.99 per month. The Basic plan is $1 more expensive, up from $8.99 per month. This plan allows users to watch on just one screen at a time, and it limits ...
Read Full Article • 432 comments
tesla carplay solution

Developer Showcases Apple CarPlay Workaround for Teslas

Monday January 17, 2022 7:24 am PST by
A Tesla Model 3 owner has resorted to a workaround to implement Apple CarPlay in his vehicle, amid no sign of official support from Tesla (via Tesla North). Apple CarPlay and Apple Music support are among the most-requested Tesla features, but with no indication that Tesla is willing to implement Apple CarPlay in its vehicles, Polish developer Michał Gapiński took matters into his own...
Read Full Article • 232 comments
top stories 20220115

Top Stories: iPhone 14 Pro Rumors, iCloud Private Relay Controversy, iOS 15.2.1 Released, and More

Saturday January 15, 2022 6:00 am PST by
Hole-punch? Pill? Hole-punch and pill? Rumors about what the front camera system on the iPhone 14 Pro will look like are evolving rapidly, and it now appears we might be getting a novel but potentially controversial design later this year. Other major stories this week included some confusion and controversy about iCloud Private Relay being disabled for some T-Mobile customers, increasing...
Read Full Article • 10 comments