I'm tuned into the jam-packed "Ambient Chillout & Trip Hop" room, not trying to be DJ, but simply fulfilling my need for non-abrasive background music while I work. I do pop in occasionally to give the particularly exceptional picks an "Awesome" vote (and a point to the DJs playing them), which is what happens after a DJ with an oversized blinged-out gorilla avatar plays "Whitewater" by Boards of Canada. The chat dings and a new comment from another DJ reads "BOC = cheating," implying that playing a Boards of Canada song in an ambient music room is unfair practice since the majority of listeners will like the song no matter what it is. Maybe this is how the DJ has racked up so many points and earned his hulking avatar in a mere two weeks, I think, and then I wonder, if you're choosing crowd-pleaser tracks, doesn't that make you a good DJ and worthy of those points?
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, consider this your introduction to Turntable.fm, a free social media service that effectively combines music-streaming and sharing, chat rooms, popular votes and casual gaming into a charming and user-friendly interface. It's like Pandora or Spotify, the buzzed about music streaming site that made its U.S. debut last month, but the big difference is that the playlists you create in Turntable.fm aren't just for you; they're meant to be shared with other users in real time, who in turn share their own sets of songs.
Turntable.fm is reached via a Facebook portal and set up so that you can easily become a member. Get started by signing in and choosing an alias and avatar. Then you either create a virtual room where your avatar can play tracks themed any which way you want, hopefully enticing other users to join your room (because you can't listen to the playlist you've created unless you have an audience of at least one), or you can crash someone else's already-established room. "Indie While You Work," "Dubstep," "DJ Wooooo's Party Rock!" and "mashup.fm" are all popular choices, but smaller less-populated rooms give you more opportunities to DJ, and rooms with friends are the best. The fewer points you have, the more naïve your avatar appears, and newbies (or anyone who's racked up less than 100 points) are instantly recognizable as puny, youthfully cute, wet-behind-the-ears characters. Build up points as a DJ, and you not only unlock cooler avatars (like the aforementioned gorilla, worth 1,000 points), but get instant credibility and respect on sight alone.
Each room supports up to five DJs and comes with its own theme and rules. If there's an open slot, you can hop on the "stage" to share tracks off your playlist, created from your own uploads or from the Turntable.fm library. Just make sure said tracks fit within the room's theme, as every song you play is voted on by the other DJs in the room as well as anyone who's just hanging out listening. You also get to vote on every track by hitting a green "Awesome" button if you like it, or a red "Lame" button if you don't. Every time someone else gives you an "Awesome," it prompts the bobbing and swaying of avatar heads throughout the room and you rack up points. Votes against your songs leave the avatars standing in staring stillness so quiet you can almost hear crickets. If the lack of bobbing heads isn't bad enough, too many "Lame" votes and your track gets skipped all together. If the moderator (the person running the room, either the original DJ or whoever has hijacked the seat) is feeling particularly harsh, he or she can boot you from the DJ booth entirely and invite someone else up for a shot.
You can interact with other people in the room through a real-time chat feature that's fun if you're doing it with friends (but also extremely distracting), and that also serves as a nice way to post bonus props beyond the obligatory "Awesome" vote. You can also become a fan of your favorite DJs, and get notifications any time they're hanging in Turntable.fm so you can drop in and listen to what they have to play.
And you'll want to. Turntable.fm is inherently enticing, both as a means to turn people on to music, and as a place where the possibilities of discovering new music seem endless. It's also a sort of musical popularity contest, a place to play the songs you love while feeling a sense of achievement and instant gratification when you play something everyone else loves, too.
The site surpassed 140,000 users in its first month, and that number only seems to be growing. With everyone from music enthusiasts to artists to record labels hopping aboard the Turntable.fm bandwagon, the service recently confirmed deals with leading music-licensing organizations ASCAP and BMI. This implies that Turntable.fm is more than just a passing phenomenon, though its longevity remains to be seen. In the meantime, I'll be spinning tunes with other Tampa Bay area and Orlando folks in the Creative Loafing Lounge, The Nerdery or Cool Tunes Bro. Come and join me — and get ready to hit the "awesome" button.
This article appears in Aug 4-10, 2011.