• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, November 8, 2012

Jam with Chrome might seem like a simple and entertaining experiment in musical teamwork, but dig a little deeper and marketers will find that this sophisticated Web-based application demonstrates the power of real-time collaboration and ad targeting on the Web.

Google released Jam with Chrome Thursday, a Web-based musical project created with DinahMoe, Stockholm, Sweden. It enables people from around the world to pick a musical instrument, form a band and jam in real-time inside the Chrome browser. Pluck a string on a guitar and hear the sound.

Users can share their Jam session with others through Twitter and Google+, allowing others to pick an instrument and join in. Live chat allows people who joined to communicate. Tweeting an invitation to join in, one piano player and drummer joined. I could hear both instruments. Up to three people can join per session.

A blog post explains how the companies developed the project using an open-source framework, Web Audio API , Canvas, CSS3, and HTML5, among other technologies. A logic engine controls the music interactively in real-time and a synchronization component ensures all players in a session hear the music at exactly the same time -- a prerequisite for being able to play together.

Developers from a variety of companies are working on Web audio. As part of the HTML5 Rocks projects supporting Web Audio design, contributors include developers from Adobe, DeviantArt, R/GA, Lost Decade Games, Red Hat, Liquid Web and others.