I love turntable.fm.
It’s a well-executed simple app offering virtual music “rooms”. You can just listen, or be one of 5 DJs selecting songs for that room. It’s a fun way to share music with friends and co-workers. It’s taking off fast.
I think we’re entering the next chapter for music, following the iTunes era, and it’s all about social. Apple’s Ping service has the right social buzzwords, but isn’t quite right. Turntable.fm is dead on for one aspect of social music, and Facebook has big plans for music.
(And if Facebook is smart, they acquire Turntable.fm now or just copy the feature. Unfortunately, I don’t think Turntable.fm lasts independently & competitive long-term; it’s so obvious that it should be part of Facebook).
It will be interesting to see how Apple reacts. Is the iTunes era ending?
I love Turntable.fm too… and it has been fun to watch the site just blow up! They are absolutely crushing it. I’ve been waiting for a site that plugs me into new music and this one hits the nail on the head.
Interesting to see the pivot story too. Like how Odeo… led to Twitter and now StickyBits… led to Turntable.fm. First Round Capital’s Howard Morgan had a recent blog post about the pivot: http://bit.ly/mM7Aec
Andy,
Agree with everything you’ve said. Instead of looking at it from the music perspective though, I am equally intrigued by the possibility that this is mass market IRC. The music is just the social lubricant to get people to talk about other stuff. Has certainly been true for the rooms I’ve been in.
I agree — this is why I think this wants to be a Facebook feature in the end. It’s part of the whole social interaction, including chat.