Tech observers have noticed a music mobile app developed in Canada that has been downloaded 85,000 times in just 24 hours. Groove broke records and secured a top spot in 30 countries, topping the charts in the Canadian app store over other music apps, including Rdio and Songza.

The free app differs from other existing playlist apps because it uses you own library to populate content. It lets users rediscover songs they already own and may have long forgotten.

It automatically organises music based on the owner's listening taste and tag but can pair with friends' lists to combine tastes. It makes Groove a perfect app to set mood in parties because it provides music in a way that has high chances of pleasing majority, if not all of the guests.

In the past 12 months, Groove had more than 1 million downloads in the App Store, largely because aside from its good features, it is free.

Ian Jeffrey, general manager of FounderFuel, which developed Groove, said going free is an effective tool for some startups with the potential to gain some early traction but too focused on income early on. It was a similar experience for the Transit App, another FounderFuel company, that recently went free and got 35,000 downloads for its app in just 72 hours.

"Free is not necessarily always the way to go, but in both cases it made sense," TechCrunch quoted Mr Jeffrey, who also admitted such strategies could raise the question if it is sustainable on the long term.

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