Turntable FM and why you should care as a dj/producer
For some strange reason the DJ TT Turntable FM article won’t approve my comment so here is my 2 cents.
I’ve been on Turntable FM for quite some time now. Here’s my opinion so far:
1. You owe it to yourself to at least check it out.
This has the potential to be the next big thing for dj’s/producers after SoundCloud. If you’re outside US, use a free VPN service with a server in the US to get in. It’s very easy to set up, reed instructions in the comments below.
2. Why you should care:
It’s really very addictive and 140.000 users in the first month of existence only illustrates that. A leading technology blog called it the “the most exciting social service of the year” and lots of major players in the industry like Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Eric Wahlforss (SoundCloud) have been spotted there.
It’s a perfect way to discover great music and expand your collection in no time because of this killer feature, the “t” button. Every time you hear something played by others that you like, hitting that button will instantly add that track to your collection, brilliant! You can also instantly check out a track on Amazon, iTunes, Spotify and Last FM.
This is one of the better ways to instantly connect with people who like the same music as you do. Like groups on SoudCloud, there are a communities for every style called rooms. However, Turntable FM brings it to next level, because of the build-in chat and rating system that makes your avatar dance to the music if you like the stuff others are playing. There’s some real sense of chemistry and unity that can be felt, when a whole room full of people are virtually dancing and freaking out on the same tracks.
It’s a great way to promote yourself as a dj. You earn points and new avatars when people dig your music. The killer feature as described in the article is however that others can “fan” you. This means that they can see in which room you are but also, they will receive an email the moment you start dj-ing. Also you can send out Twitter and Facebook messages to instantly invite others to your virtual party. All perfect tools to gang up with like-minded people in no time.
Good testing stage for producers. Testing your new track will give you direct and valuable feedback as people can vote “lame” or “awesome” for it and will throw suggestions at you via the chat.
It’s an awesome radio station when you prefer just to listen to it in the background. The social control generally prevents dj’s from playing inappropriate tracks for the room they are playing in. If you spin a dubstep track for instance in an chill out room, people will immediately hit the “lame” button and your turn is instantly over. You can even get booted for that. This peer pressure to be on the top of your game and play your best tracks generally keeps the quality in the rooms very high.
If you want an invite, hook up to my Facebook and pm me and be sure to hit me in this room if you love (nu) disco music. We’re already with a bunch of cool players to share the best music in this genre with each other
[quote=“Mi.Lo, post:2, topic:27258, username:Mi.Lo”]
holy crap, that works just in US!!!
[/quote]You can easily get around that. Subscribe to one of the many free VPN services (I use this one) with a server in the US to make Turntable FM “think” you are a US citizen. It’s dead easy to set-up. The trick is to disconnect from the VPN service once the page starts to load as you only need it for ID purposes. After that you can move around in all the rooms freely as long as you don’t refresh your browser.
If you are experiencing connection problems, clearing your browser cache or switching browsers usually does the trick.
[quote=“vjnikon, post:9, topic:27258, username:vjnikon”]
im blind or there is no free plan for mac linux users and cant download dmg file for mac only exe
[/quote]I’m not on Mac OS but there are many excellent free VPN solutions out there for all platforms, just do a search.
Another way it get in is to use a free proxy service. Although these proxies are generally not suited for streaming audio, you only need it to get in and then disconnect.
Everyone seems to like it so I’ll be the negative nancy. I pretty much never listen to music unmixed (especially edm with 3 minutes of intro/outro… and loading silence between tracks) so there’s already enough negativity fueled on that alone.
IRC with more sensory stimulation, a tried and true formula that’s kept MMOs trucking for years… not interested
I find a lot more quality tunes (before they’re released, as well) just from radio shows/podcasts by the big artists. Wouldn’t expect a wave of really new stuff from TTFM, and the fact that its less enjoyable to listen to makes the choice easy.
Probably true… obviously I haven’t put in enough time to judge the depth of the user base.
Could be right if you can work the chat enough I guess?
This actually sounds like a nice idea. A room full of people playing their own tunes would be a good way to share and discuss stuff with realtime feedback.
If you’re into mixes then you are better off at MixCloud and SoundCloud.
As a dj however, I personally want to listen to full tracks because it allows me to check all the breaks/build ups and general flow of the track before I decide to buy it.
[quote]
IRC with more sensory stimulation, a tried and true formula that’s kept MMOs trucking for years… not interested[/quote] Social listening has been around for years indeed. Turntable FM seems for me the first one to have nailed it just right, imo.
[quote]
I find a lot more quality tunes (before they’re released, as well) just from radio shows/podcasts by the big artists. Wouldn’t expect a wave of really new stuff from TTFM, and the fact that its less enjoyable to listen to makes the choice easy. [/quote] That really depends who you meet on Turntable FM and how important it is for you to go for the newest stuff only. Once you’ve connected to a few people with your taste these can be a superb inspiration source for new and unknown tracks. Especially when you value great tracks you didn’t know about more then just the newest of the newest.
[quote]Could be right if you can work the chat enough I guess?[/quote] It’s the fan button combined with your music taste that does a lot of magic here. Especially because there’s no mixing involved, people get almost solely judged by their ability to play the right track at the right moment. I know some people that have carved out quite a name for themselves is this way on TT FM.
I checked out Turntable FM yesterday and oh boy I, was heaving a blast! This is so cool and as has been said here, very addictive
Discovered lots of amazing tracks in just an afternoon and met quite a few cool people who seemed to be hitting all the marks when it comes to my choice of music. We already started tracking each other in order to exchange more music.
The best time I had was in the smaller rooms. Atmosphere seemed more relaxed and music appeared more in line with the room descriptions. Not sure if this is generally the case?
Setting up a VPN was pretty seamlessly with Hot Spot Shield although the ads of that service are annoying.
Thks for these tips so far, Rolfski. Btw, checked out your deep disco Soundcloud group and it’s pretty sick. All those tons of free downloadable cool disco tracks, damn!
