UPDATED: Turntable.fm Raises $7.5 Million, Offers Look At Monetization Strategy
(UPDATE: This round of funding for Turntable.fm is not be closed yet, thanks to competition among venture capitalists scrambling to jump aboard.) Red hot social music startup Turntable.fm has raised $7.5 million on a $37.5 million valuation. Originally, launched as Stickybits, stickers that link physical goods to the net, the founders pivoted and grew to 140,000 active users in their first month.The original investors came back for more including First Round Capital's Charlie O'Donnell who offered a hint at how the site plans to monetize its now free music service.
"If Turntable.fm asked me to pay a subscription to take it mobile… I'd do it in a heartbeat," O'Donnell tweeted last week.
Turntable.fm may have cracked the social music code. It's enjoyable as both a passive and active music experience. Enter or create a music themed room as one of 1 of as many as 5 live DJ's or just listen as they take turns picking tunes. There are also opportunities to vote, chat and interact.
MORE:
- How To Use Turntable.fm To Interact With Fans & Promote Your Band
- Turntable.fm Focuses on "Playing Music Together"
I liked the site until they limited the ability of one dj to listen to a couple of seconds of a song until another person entered a room. I want to listen to the music I want to hear right then and there not wait around for one of my friends to come in and dj with me.they say the song is still playing so they must be paying streaming royalties at that time I presume.
Hurry up Spotify!
Yes, but that’s nothing compared to the type of royalties/license fees they’d have to pay if their service was deemed an on-demand music streaming service, which is what would happen if they’d let people create their own rooms with their own playlists.
It’s a shame that that’s the way it is.