Turntable.fm Takes Social Music Sharing to the Next Level, Lets You Be the DJ

Founded in early 2011, Turntable.fm provides a unique social music experience. Instead of posting a non-interactive tweet, Facebook post, or email about favorite songs and playlists, users of Turntable can hang out in a virtual club. Each “club” is complete with DJs, chat, and an audience. Thousands of rooms exist, each with users of different musical tastes. Anyone can step up to the to DJ table and play one of millions of songs in Turntable’s library, or a song that they have uploaded, making it a great way for new artists to introduce themselves and share their tracks.

When a DJ is playing a song, members of the audience can vote on it by clicking the “Lame” or “Awesome” buttons at the bottom of the screen. If enough people click “Lame”, the song will be skipped. Clicking “Awesome” gives the DJ points, which can be used to unlock new avatars. Plus, it makes your head start bobbing to the music, which is surprisingly satisfying.

Since rooms often contain people with similar tastes, listening in on one can be a great way to discover new music. One might argue that it is even better than music recommendation services like Pandora because every song is hand picked, and they might be from new or underground artists.

Anybody can create a new room with the click of a button, and they will be given the option of choosing a room description, a room name, and a privacy level (public or private). Creating private rooms is a fun way to organize music for a party, a gaming clan, or even a workplace.

Although the HTML5 and Javascript powered browser interface is great, you may find yourself wanting to listen to your favorite rooms on the go. Fortunately, there are official iOS and Android apps available that provide almost all of the functionality as their browser counterpart. They sport extremely intuitive and elegant interfaces that make using them fun and easy.