
Turntable.fm shutting down - new "Turntable Live" introduced - phaedryx
http://blog.turntable.fm/post/67777306411/turntable-live-turntable-fm
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tks2103
Turntable dunked all other music streaming sites in playlist quality for the
simple reason that the intelligence behind song selection resided in humans
rather than an algorithm.

It was a specific application of the general idea that social recommendations
are more powerful than algorithmic recommendations. I don't know how valid the
general idea is, but when it came to Turntable, it worked. People search the
space of musical works much more effectively than algorithms.

And then Turntable did nothing with that power. They had high quality
playlists being minted by the thousands on a daily basis, and I could not
access any of them.

At least for a time, they were focused on live engagement. Unfortunately, it's
just too hard to grow a music streaming product that demands each listener be
present to click a button for every song. I loved the service, but I also have
a job. I cannot be on the site all day long. At the risk of being
presumptuous, I would guess that the product leaders were blinded by their
devotion to live engagement.

Focusing instead on their brilliant, yet simple, solution to the problem of
"What song should go on next?" would have been the right call. But they did
not walk this path.

As for their new product, which predictably focuses more intently on the live
engagement aspect, I am unconvinced. Turntable Live provides a subset of the
functionality that Twitch.tv does, with less reach.

Best of luck to them. No doubt, they are an extremely talented team.

And I'm really, really going to miss Turntable. Kickass idea. (yeah yeah
plug.dj, whatever)

~~~
wanderr
FWIW, Grooveshark has a feature called Broadcast that, while not the same
thing as Turntable, has the human curated music selection part of the
experience. We're also about to release functionality that lets you view past
broadcasts, hopefully addressing your main complaint. :)
[http://grooveshark.com/#!/broadcasts](http://grooveshark.com/#!/broadcasts)
Full disclosure: I work there!

~~~
makomk
Yeah, Grooveshark broadcasts are neat, I just wish they worked on the
HTML5/mobile version of the site...

~~~
wanderr
Oh, they do! We added that functionality a few weeks ago. It's listening only
for now, and until a week ago didn't work on older Android (2.3ish), but it's
there. :)

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johnthealy3
As much as I loved the concept of turntable, it was always a music service for
me rather than the interactive experience they intended. The best part about
it was that other users, not bots or radio station managers, determined the
playlist and therefore led to new and interesting tracks. However, the
interface didn't really support my usage and hearing familiar tracks became
more and more rare as the rooms became more established.

Their decision to focus on virtual events makes sense from a monetization
standpoint, and I couldn't agree more with their approach. I do think there's
a sweetspot to be had for user-generated radio, as Pandora is too repetitive
while Turntable was not repetitive enough.

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ihuman
I don't see this move being popular. They are basically demoting the users
from both consumers and curators to just consumers of the music. What made
turnable.fm awesome was that it was people like yourself deciding on what
everyone wanted to listen; if people didn't like the choices, someone else
could be selected. Now that control is out of the equation. The artists are
selecting what everyone wants to hear, they are choosing based on what they
want you to hear. Don't like the music? All you can do about it now is leave
the room. Only time will tell if this is what brings turnable.fm into the
spotlight, or sink it down into the depths.

~~~
untog
I actually always thought the tt.fm model was a bit broken in that respect.
Only five people got to DJ, and there was next to no rotation. I enjoyed using
it in a small room with friends, but in a room of any size there was a very
low chance that I would ever influence the playlist.

In any case, the simple fact of the matter is that there was no way tt.fm was
making money. They have to change.

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Ryanmf
Obligatory [http://boilerroom.tv](http://boilerroom.tv) shoutout.

No salivating VCs, no cutesy avatars, the redesigned site is nice but nothing
exceptional, and for some reason I doubt they even consider themselves a
"technology company"—but they nail all the important bits. Great acts,
frequent events, live audiences provide effective WoM and a sense of
exclusivity for those who attend, and perhaps most importantly, everything's
available on YouTube[0] and Soundcloud[1] in perpetuity.

Wake me up when anyone else is doing anything half as compelling.

[0]
[http://www.youtube.com/user/brtvofficial](http://www.youtube.com/user/brtvofficial)
[1] [http://soundcloud.com/platform](http://soundcloud.com/platform)

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rb2e
Actually believe this would be a good plan. I listen to live music in Second
Life (Don't laugh) and I've found live music works well when streamed live
both audio only and video.

For musicians, its great to perform live for people but having to tour and go
from gig to gig, lugging equipment around, and most of the time only being
paid beer money and travel expenses.

Being able to perform for an audience but not having to leave your doorstep
saves you both time and money. You can reach more people worldwide than you
can in a small pub holding fifty to a hundred.

I understand people love turntable.fm but the labels have pretty much killed
innovation by the licensing so to me it isn't a surprising that streaming
companies are having problems.

Maybe the new turntable.fm can be the Twitch.TV of the live music world. Who
knows but anything is possible!

~~~
ebolamonkey
Right now the artists have to go to their studio in NY to perform. You can't
just cast from your bedroom.

~~~
rb2e
Hmmn that sucks then. If you could do it from home, would be so much better.
It kinda defeats the purpose then if you have to goto a studio. From home you
could just do it on Justin.tv or YouTube but these are for general purposes.
If It was a site dedicated to live music where artists could sell merchandise,
MP3 etc or collect tips, would be a winner.

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Fzzr
I left turntable for plug.dj almost exactly a year ago. Honestly, I'm not
surprised.

~~~
crisnoble
Wow plug.dj is everything I hoped tt.com would become. The ability to play
videos is awesome. Thanks for tip.

~~~
mixmastamyk
I enjoy the site a lot, but it's challenging if you don't want to listen to
dubstep 24/7.

~~~
crisnoble
What do you mean? Didn't you see they have a drum and bass channel :p

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rhizome
Turntable.fm was the first site I watched from the very inception of its hype
cycle, which appeared white-hot. I had just checked in with them the other
day, "yep, still alive," but I hadn't heard zilch about them in years.

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taybin
Alas, tt.fm. You will be missed. I've been in the same room every day for two
years, meeting friends and listening to new music.

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gee_totes
Yes, I agree. I would just hang out in rooms all day; tt.fm was like a rush of
nostalgia from my IRC days.

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kintamanimatt
This pivot is probably as a result of not sufficiently and consistently
marketing the site. Why did they stop? They were white hot when they began,
but as they toned down the promotion they were just forgotten. This is a
horrible shame because there's still so much potential in this service,
especially as they have a community of engaged users that could probably be
encouraged to pay for additional stuff and features. It feels like they're so
close to having a winner in what they already have going, not what they're
planning to go to.

I loved them and have only known about them for about a year. Pip pip cheerio.

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rajbala
Live music doesn't translate well to a live Internet experience.

~~~
troymc
I think it depends on the music. Lots of people watch live hockey on TV.

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MichaelTieso
That's too bad. I was a big listener for awhile. I was a regular in the
Chillout rooms.

~~~
fumar
I was always in the chillout rooms. They were generally a great place to
hangout. I could even drop some original content. T.fm will be missed.

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dreamling
I am seriously disappointed by this move. I've been hanging out in a great
electro swing room called Boomswing Cabaret, and the music and the people have
been awesome.

They only recently set up subscriptions, pay what you want, and made a lot of
changes to the service, ie adding music only through soundcloud, which saved
them tons on licensing fees.

I'm fairly certain that most of the user base has no intention of moving into
the live events.

So, they spent all this time building a brand, gaining users who would be
happy to pay a bit each month, and then just let them all go? Isn't the #
users part of the product when getting funding and advertising their new live
TT?

I guess the move goes on to plug.dj, but it's a pain to try to add all the
songs built up in the tt playlists, I can't seem to find a way to import the
csv to plug. or soundcloud for that matter.

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blktiger
I'm not really surprised, they didn't exactly have a plan to make money from
turntable.fm. I loved the concept, but I find it a bit too distracting to
listen to most of the time anyway.

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mikeruby
I've really enjoyed turntable and had some great memories jamming with the
original turntable at a few hackathons. For me the element of listening to
music with people physically around me was the key.

The pivot is interesting and definitely an opportunity there.. but no doubt
there is nothing like experiencing music live in person. At least to me the
format of the new pivot is too similar to just a listening to a live album.

All the best guys and thanks for some awesome memories!

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Altaer
It looks like Mixify is doing something similar now as well [1], but focusing
on booking clubs instead of a bunch of individuals like Turntable. Both seems
like a pretty neat concept. I think this will be great for low population
areas that artists wouldn't typically go to.

[1] [http://www.mixify.com/clubcast](http://www.mixify.com/clubcast)

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OnyeaboAduba
I read an article a while back about the founders not being on the same page
might explain the pivot

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tmimicus
wow - 'turntable live' looks really lame...

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phaedryx
It was my favorite place to go for music to code to; at least they let me
export my playlists.

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ljlolel
so sad...

