Playing with my Turntable.fm

If you have been paying attention to digital music land lately, it is highly likely you have heard of a new(ish) digital music service on the market. In beta currently, turntable.fm may just change the way we listen to music. Billed as a kind-of interactive web radio, turntable allows users to take turns spinning their favorite tunes in genre-based rooms. Take the interactive nature of second-life and juxtapose it with a Pandora-like service and you have turntable.

I was skeptical at first, but have to admit after playing a few times, this is quite addictive. Content-wise they have all of the popular stuff... as you head to the not-so-common genres, it gets scarce. That is where the user uploaded content comes into play. All users have the ability to upload their own tracks making it truly a choose-your-own-adventure listening experience. The legalities of the uploaded content has many scratching their heads, but I have it on good authority that they are flying safely below the infringement line thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. On the legal side, they are paying for the uploaded recordings via Sound Exchange so it is all above board (for now).

Legal issues aside, this is a very cool and fun way to hear new music. Once it is out of Beta, I foresee this becoming a popular alternative to Pandora and last.fm.

Digital Music Consumption in 2010

This is a really interesting Music Website "Heat map" put together by the good folks over at Virtual Music. This represents overall usage of all of the major music websites where music is streamed or downloaded. The green color indicates growth where the red color indicates a decline.

The most interesting part of this visualization is the reality of where all of these services stand in comparison with Youtube and Pandora (see below). Be sure to go over to their site to see the actual usage numbers (hover your mouse over each section of the map for user numbers and other detail

Thou Shalt Not Steal- Digital Media Consumption Manifesto

This was just forwarded to me.  The Digital Media Consumption Manifesto breaks down some very realistic guidelines for remaining lawful with digital media.  I personally find their pricing guidelines a bit interesting but nevertheless this is an noble effort.  Sign the manifesto if you can commit.