Turntable.fm

Turntable.fm is a new music discovery tool where users, as avatars, go into music-themed rooms to rate and play music. Users can act as the DJ and have their selections evaluated by everyone in the room. DJs earn points when listeners in the room rate their songs as “Awesome.” The DJ points are extremely important. They not only play a role within the world of Turntable, but should also not be underestimated in terms of Turntable’s appeal to music fans. Within Turntable FM, all the users can see your DJ points, and a lot of points means a lot of people like the music you play. Points are also used to upgrade your avatar. With more points come more avatar options, culminating in the “super user” option where you choose one of the two Daft Punk helmets to cover your avatar. The concept of the points, though, goes much further in terms of Turntable’s success.

If we’ve learned anything from online communication, it’s that we don’t exist on the web in a vacuum, and when it comes to what we’re fans of, we don’t want to either. Sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Last.FM, and Flickr did not gain millions of users because people wanted to keep their interests and tastes to themselves. People want to share, and even more, they want you to like what they share.