Turntable.fm
Encyclopedia
Turntable.fm is a social media
website that allows users to interactively share music. The website is run by Billy Chasen, who started it in January 2011, using revenue generated by his previous start-up to fund Turntable.fm. The service allows users to create "rooms," which other users can join. Designated users, so-called "DJs," choose songs to be played to everyone in that room, while all users are able to talk with one other through a text interface. The service opened to the public in May 2011, and by late June had already reached 140,000 active users. The company uses the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
to license the music that is played on the website; because of this, only individuals from the United States are allowed to use the service.
. Rooms are set up around certain musical genres, moods, or real-world atmospheres. Some of the most popular rooms include "Indie While You Work," "Ambient Chillout & Tip Hop," "Coding Soundtrack," and "Dubstep." When users are present in a particular room they are represented by their avatar who appears as an attendant in the audience. If there are open DJ spots, users may "hop up" on to a DJ turntable and play music for the rest of the room. The DJ either provides a song that they possess on their local computer or may select a song from Turntable.fm's library. Available platforms to access the service include the hosting website, http://turntable.fm, a Facebook
application, and an iPhone
app.
The users who are in the audience vote on songs that are currently being played by a DJ either by clicking the "lame" or "awesome" buttons. Too many "lame" votes triggers the room to skip to the next DJ while "awesome" votes gives DJ points to the current DJ. More DJ points allow for users to unlock additional avatars. The service additionally allows users to chat in the rooms and to "follow" other users.
DJ "Woooooo," a developer for other music-related apps, is the most followed DJ on Turntable.fm with over 5,000 fans and 43,000 DJ points as of September, 2011. "Woooooo" believes he has risen to fame within the Turntable community due to his self-attested "delicate mix of popular songs and experimental tracks." He claims that the turntable community can be "fickle" because of their desire for different sounding songs that fit the "vibe" of the room but works within the constraints of the genre.
using it. The board then pulled the plug on Stickybits and went ahead with turntable.fm.
By July 2011, turntable.fm raised a $7 million round at a $35 million valuation in a funding led by Fred Wilson at Union Square Ventures. All initial investors of Stickybits were involved in the round, including First Round Capital, Polaris Venture Partners, and Lowercase Ventures. A number of entertainment executives have also invested, including Lady Gaga
and her manager, Kanye West
, Troy Carter, MTV's Courtney Holt, former Facebook executive Tim Kendall, The Roots
, and Madonna's manager, Guy Oseary
. As of September 2011, turntable.fm has been used by over 600,000 people and streams around 1 million songs per day.
On July 28, 2011, a turntable.fm dance party was held at The Canal Room
in New York City which simulated the features of the website in real life. DJ's were chosen from an applicant pool prior to the party and were allowed to play songs in turns during the celebration. DJ's were rewarded with "points" for how many patrons were on the dance floor during a given DJ's song. If too few patrons were on the floor or there was a general lack of interest, DJ's would have their turn skipped.
. The company does have a deal with MediaNet
that provides them with millions of songs, which are what users can build their playlists with if they do not wish to upload their own music.
Turntable has models of many other music streaming website to follow and learn from in striving to avoid any legal issues, the key to which is to be a "non-interactive" web radio service. One such model is Pandora, which also operates under Section 114 of the DMCA
and pays music owners a flat fee for every song that gets streamed each month. Another example of successful DMCA compliance comes from 8tracks, which takes several measures to remain a "non-interactive Webcaster" such as not showing all of the tracks on somebody's mix until the user plays it, limiting how many songs by one artist can be included in a mix, and not letting users go back in a mix without reloading the whole thing.
Similarly, Turntable has taken measures to attempt to ensure DMCA compliance. First of all, only US residents can use the service in order for it to follow the DMCA. The site has also made key constraints in a similar manner to 8tracks, including prohibiting users from playing music in a room by themselves, limiting the number of times one can play a song every hour, and not letting people see the songs that will be played next. One potential problem in achieving this compliance is that while sites like 8tracks have users upload their own music, Turntable also provides songs to its users.
Following this period of operating in a "legally dubious gray area" and relying on DMCA compliance, Rolling Stone reported on July 20 that the site had officially signed a deal with the ASCAP that ensured songwriters, composers and publishers would be appropriately compensated for their works being used on Turntable, effectively making the site completely legal.
credentials, and only if you had another Facebook friend who was already a Turnable user. Chasen announced that as of September 23, 2011, the site dropped the requirement of needing a Facebook friend already on Turntable in order to use it. If you have Facebook friends online on Turntable while you are, it will show you what room they are in so you can join them.
Turntable released an iPhone app in September 2011, accessible with any iOS device with iOS 4.0 or greater. While some features like creating and joining a group take a bit longer, the iOS app has all features available on the desktop version.
While listening to a song, users can hover over the DJ panel booth to see connections to other music services such as Spotify
, ITunes
, and Last.fm
and click on the icon to add the current track to their account with that program. Additionally, there are buttons at the top of the rooms for various social networks like Facebook
and Twitter
, as well as email and Permalink
, so users can share the room they are in with their friends.
Social media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...
website that allows users to interactively share music. The website is run by Billy Chasen, who started it in January 2011, using revenue generated by his previous start-up to fund Turntable.fm. The service allows users to create "rooms," which other users can join. Designated users, so-called "DJs," choose songs to be played to everyone in that room, while all users are able to talk with one other through a text interface. The service opened to the public in May 2011, and by late June had already reached 140,000 active users. The company uses the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization . It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to...
to license the music that is played on the website; because of this, only individuals from the United States are allowed to use the service.
Usage
Turntable.fm "combines music-streaming, chat rooms, and voting" by simulating a virtual environment filled with audience members and DJs represented by player avatarsAvatar (computing)
In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It can also refer to a text...
. Rooms are set up around certain musical genres, moods, or real-world atmospheres. Some of the most popular rooms include "Indie While You Work," "Ambient Chillout & Tip Hop," "Coding Soundtrack," and "Dubstep." When users are present in a particular room they are represented by their avatar who appears as an attendant in the audience. If there are open DJ spots, users may "hop up" on to a DJ turntable and play music for the rest of the room. The DJ either provides a song that they possess on their local computer or may select a song from Turntable.fm's library. Available platforms to access the service include the hosting website, http://turntable.fm, a Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
application, and an iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
app.
The users who are in the audience vote on songs that are currently being played by a DJ either by clicking the "lame" or "awesome" buttons. Too many "lame" votes triggers the room to skip to the next DJ while "awesome" votes gives DJ points to the current DJ. More DJ points allow for users to unlock additional avatars. The service additionally allows users to chat in the rooms and to "follow" other users.
DJ "Woooooo," a developer for other music-related apps, is the most followed DJ on Turntable.fm with over 5,000 fans and 43,000 DJ points as of September, 2011. "Woooooo" believes he has risen to fame within the Turntable community due to his self-attested "delicate mix of popular songs and experimental tracks." He claims that the turntable community can be "fickle" because of their desire for different sounding songs that fit the "vibe" of the room but works within the constraints of the genre.
History
Turntable.fm was founded in May 2011 by Billy Chasen and Seth Goldstein, the co-founders of the company Stickybits. Stickybits was a mobile app with which brands could stick QR codes on their products and allow users to scan them for rewards. While Stickybits was picked up by some brands, it failed to gain the widespread attraction of users. By January 2011 it became clear that Stickybits would not work, so Chasen and Goldstein presented their investors with the idea of turntable.fm By May, turntable.fm was released, and within weeks the site went viral with such celebrities as Sir Mix-A-LotSir Mix-a-Lot
Anthony Ray , better known by his stage name Sir Mix-a-Lot, is an emcee and producer based in Seattle, Washington. The founder of the Nastymix record label, he debuted in 1988 with Swass...
using it. The board then pulled the plug on Stickybits and went ahead with turntable.fm.
By July 2011, turntable.fm raised a $7 million round at a $35 million valuation in a funding led by Fred Wilson at Union Square Ventures. All initial investors of Stickybits were involved in the round, including First Round Capital, Polaris Venture Partners, and Lowercase Ventures. A number of entertainment executives have also invested, including Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
and her manager, Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
, Troy Carter, MTV's Courtney Holt, former Facebook executive Tim Kendall, The Roots
The Roots
The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...
, and Madonna's manager, Guy Oseary
Guy Oseary
Guy Oseary is an Israeli-American expert businessman who began his career in entertainment at 17 at what was to become Maverick Records. He is Madonna's manager.-Maverick:...
. As of September 2011, turntable.fm has been used by over 600,000 people and streams around 1 million songs per day.
On July 28, 2011, a turntable.fm dance party was held at The Canal Room
Canal Room
Canal Room is a music venue located at 285 West Broadway between Canal Street and Lispenard Street in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The space was formerly known as "Shine". It underwent a $1 million renovation in 2003 by owner Marcus Linial, a former J Records star...
in New York City which simulated the features of the website in real life. DJ's were chosen from an applicant pool prior to the party and were allowed to play songs in turns during the celebration. DJ's were rewarded with "points" for how many patrons were on the dance floor during a given DJ's song. If too few patrons were on the floor or there was a general lack of interest, DJ's would have their turn skipped.
Legal
Turntable originally had no deals in place with any record labels, and was instead operating under the Digital Millennium Copyright ActDigital Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization . It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to...
. The company does have a deal with MediaNet
MediaNet
MediaNet is the premier cable operator in the Maldives. The company was established as a subsidiary of the Maldives Electronic Services Company in 2001 as CableNET. Today the company is the leading cable provider in all the atolls of the country, providing more than 90 channels today...
that provides them with millions of songs, which are what users can build their playlists with if they do not wish to upload their own music.
Turntable has models of many other music streaming website to follow and learn from in striving to avoid any legal issues, the key to which is to be a "non-interactive" web radio service. One such model is Pandora, which also operates under Section 114 of the DMCA
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization . It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to...
and pays music owners a flat fee for every song that gets streamed each month. Another example of successful DMCA compliance comes from 8tracks, which takes several measures to remain a "non-interactive Webcaster" such as not showing all of the tracks on somebody's mix until the user plays it, limiting how many songs by one artist can be included in a mix, and not letting users go back in a mix without reloading the whole thing.
Similarly, Turntable has taken measures to attempt to ensure DMCA compliance. First of all, only US residents can use the service in order for it to follow the DMCA. The site has also made key constraints in a similar manner to 8tracks, including prohibiting users from playing music in a room by themselves, limiting the number of times one can play a song every hour, and not letting people see the songs that will be played next. One potential problem in achieving this compliance is that while sites like 8tracks have users upload their own music, Turntable also provides songs to its users.
Following this period of operating in a "legally dubious gray area" and relying on DMCA compliance, Rolling Stone reported on July 20 that the site had officially signed a deal with the ASCAP that ensured songwriters, composers and publishers would be appropriately compensated for their works being used on Turntable, effectively making the site completely legal.
Connections
When users were first able to access the Turntable beta , the only way to log in was by using your FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
credentials, and only if you had another Facebook friend who was already a Turnable user. Chasen announced that as of September 23, 2011, the site dropped the requirement of needing a Facebook friend already on Turntable in order to use it. If you have Facebook friends online on Turntable while you are, it will show you what room they are in so you can join them.
Turntable released an iPhone app in September 2011, accessible with any iOS device with iOS 4.0 or greater. While some features like creating and joining a group take a bit longer, the iOS app has all features available on the desktop version.
While listening to a song, users can hover over the DJ panel booth to see connections to other music services such as Spotify
Spotify
Spotify is a Swedish-founded, UK-headquartered DRM-based music streaming service offering streaming of selected music from a range of major and independent record labels, including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal. Launched in October 2008 by Swedish startup Spotify AB, the service had...
, ITunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
, and Last.fm
Last.fm
Last.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....
and click on the icon to add the current track to their account with that program. Additionally, there are buttons at the top of the rooms for various social networks like Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
and Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, as well as email and Permalink
Permalink
A permalink is a URL that points to a specific blog or forum entry after it has passed from the front page to the archives. Because a permalink remains unchanged indefinitely, it is less susceptible to link rot. Most modern weblogging and content-syndication software systems support such links...
, so users can share the room they are in with their friends.