A week or two ago, all the buzz on the internet was Turntable.fm. I loved the concept. It was a place where you could place music with other people. There were a few ideas that really stood out to me about it.
First, to get online, you had a sign in with Facebook. In this day, that isn’t uncommon, as lots of sites reach into your social graph for membership. Turntable.fm didn’t just check for a Facebook account to let you in, they checked to see if you had a friend that was already a member. Interesting way to virally spread a new service. Make sure that everyone has at last one friend that is a member. I would love to see their growth statistics to see how exponential it was.
When you get in, you can pick a room based on titles. Immediately, I started a room called electronic and started playing a track that was down tempo, and had a nice groove. After 15 seconds, the track stopped, and I was alerted that if there was no one else in the room, the music stops. Turntable.fm doesn’t want you to be alone, and reminds you that this is a group listening environment, a place to play music with other people. I changed to URL to chill, and found a room with a three other DJs playing some tunes that were music to my ears. What really stood out to me was a song called Ramblin, Man by a band called Lemon Jelly.
I loved the song, and downloaded the album right away. Apparently a British band that released a few albums in the late nineties/early 2000s. Ramblin, Man comes from the 2002 album, Lost Horizons.
This album has a bunch of really great tracks. Nice Weather for Ducks, and Space Walk are among my favorites. There is a part of Space Walk that makes me smile every time I hear it.
Back to turntable.fm… I love the idea of sharing music socially. While I was hanging out on the #Utah channel the other day with a bunch of friends, It reminded me of a modern mix tape, where everyone is a contributor. Love the concept, love the artwork, and I hope to see you all there soon.
For some more, check out Tim Bray’s post.