As a music junkie, one of my favorite companies right now is turntable.fm, the collaborate music DJing and listening site that allows you to listen to music with your friends, chat, and try to accumulate enough points to upgrade to a sweet DeadMau5 avatar (below). 
According to reports last week, the service has now accumulated 140,000 users in its first month. By all accounts, Seth Goldstein and Billy Chasen have really created something compelling here. By combining elements of social (chat rooms are cool again!), music discovery, and gaming, its the most fun I’ve had listening to music in a long time. However, as Turntable grows in popularity, the key question, as Peter Kafka asked last week, will very quickly become “is it legal?” I’ll leave that debate for others more familiar with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the intricacies of music licensing than I, however, assuming the lawyers can work out a solution to keep Turntable spinning, I believe the business potential for the site is tremendous.
As The Next Web pointed out in a post over the weekend, the service has a number of future directions that would not only expand its platform and usefulness to users, but generate meaningful revenue. These include:
- Customizable and branded rooms
- Celebrity guest appearances
- Audience engagement by media companies
I completely agree with these opportunities and they are already materializing. Silicon Angle reports that such companies as Gowalla, Path, Zaarly, and Vaynermedia already have a presence on the site. In fact, I became aware of Zaarly as a service through interaction on Turntable.fm, when they tweeted to invite me into their room. Music is a powerful tool through which brands can interact with their audiences and there will be no shortage lining up to do just that via Turntable – IF they can keep their legal house in order. As we saw in the early days of YouTube, advertisers are skittish about placing their brand against content of questionable legality.
However, I think that another significant business opportunity for Turntable would be to engage with the very same music labels and publishers that may question this legality. Turntable could be a powerful tool for bands themselves to engage with their fans. Imagine getting an email (as Turntable’s “fan” feature currently allows) that your favorite band is having an album release party for their new record in a Turntable room. Or that you could catch the debut of the latest mash-up track from Girl Talk. Or that Foster the People (check these guys out if you haven’t yet – they’ll be huge) will be hosting a replay of their latest sold-out live set that you couldn’t get tickets to. And that you could chat with the artist during the event. And that all your friends could (virtually) go. You’d pay for that right? I know I would.
As the $400 million of investment in music start-ups this year indicates, lots of smart people think the music industry isn’t dead as a profitable business. In fact, Rick Rubin. former co-Chairman of Columbia Records recently stated that “the music business could be bigger than ever.” I certainly agree, but it will require the labels and publishers to finally accept that their model has irrevocable evolved and start thinking about companies like Turntable as a giant opportunity to make money, and not a threat. As I tweeted last week, if the music industry establishment chooses the latter, they truly have no vision for the future of music in the digital era. And that future looks a lot like Turntable.fm
Fan me on Turntable.fm: DJ AP
[Update (7/6/2011): Music + Fashion site One Band One Brand recently held a marketing event in a Turntable.fm room that includes trivia contests and giveaways: http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2011/06/1band-1brand-holds-turntablefm-party.html. Look for more of this!]
Pursuits... 