Is turntable.fm legal?

http://allthingsd.com/20110621/turntable-fm-really-is-awesome-is-it-legal/

by almightygod • 15 years ago

29 24 15 years ago

gabaix• 15 years ago

I don't like turntable. While the idea is appealing (streaming music for friends or strangers), the UI is awful. There's too much color and illustrations are not helping. I would be happy to help if founders are reading this.

cyanbane• 15 years ago

I think the color and illustrations are what give it its appeal. It isn't your run of the mill streaming service, its fun and it has its own character. I currently pay for rdio and would probably pay a minimal amount for turntable.fm also if it came to that being what had to be done to keep it around.

untog2• 15 years ago

If by 'illustrations' you mean the avatars... well, I'd argue that they are helping. Turntable seems deliberately colourful and kitchy to me. It's part of their image- if it was a Pandora-like page with a list of people's names it wouldn't be that interesting.

Stwerner2• 15 years ago

I wouldn't be surprised if they start seeing legal trouble soon if it hasn't started already. I would gladly pay money to use it, if it comes to that, as I haven't had this much fun with a site for a very long time.

almightygod2• 15 years ago

agreed - i think they could make considerable $ on affiliate traffic with iTune/Amazon if they improved the process to bookmark songs and purchase later

badclient2• 15 years ago

Disagree. You make pennies on an mp3 purchase at best. It takes a lot of pennies and purchases just to hit 10 bucks.

catch23• 15 years ago

you'd probably make more money on ads than on affiliate for $1 mp3s.

Stwerner2• 15 years ago

I'm suggesting a little bigger than that - Blizzard is making a ton of money from WoW subscriptions every month, and $12/month for turntable would be pretty easy for me to justify.

olex• 15 years ago

Well, they already had to limit the service to US only.

untog2• 15 years ago

Haven't they already signed a ton of licensing deals?

mikx• 15 years ago

The only time i would stop using turntable would be if there were commercials.

tuxidomasx• 15 years ago

How does this sort of legal uncertainty factor into the way investors view a product/company? On one hand, I feel like the risk could make it a less attractive investment since its an extra liability.

Or would it be a reason for founders to ask for more money, under the idea that they need a warchest of funds to fight expensive lawsuits?

On the other hand, being in a legal grey area could be seen as a barrier to entry for people who don't want a potential litigation nightmare hovering over their heads.

cbs• 15 years ago

I’d say it’s astonishing no one has done it before, but it’s not: The music business has a long tradition of resisting good ideas.

I'd say it's astonishing he doesn't know internet radio station have existed for ages. It took a little bit more know how before getting getting put on the web, but its always been there.

almightygod2• 15 years ago

turntable.fm is more then just an internet radio station. I've been disappointed by those for the last generation (besides NPR) - now with turntable.fm, I'm literally listening all day

apgwoz2• 15 years ago

Don't they use, and have an agreement with MediaNet (http://www.mndigital.com/) which provides all the licensing they need (since MediaNet has deals in place with the record labels)?

eli• 15 years ago

They have an agreement with MediaNet yes, but it's definitely not some sort of blanket immunity to use copyrighted music.

As a simple example: turntable allows uploads. What happens when I upload an MP3 from a band that isn't part of the MediaNet catalog? And at what point does streaming radio become a "digital locker"?

apgwoz2• 15 years ago

> Develop your own streaming or radio service. Pair this capability with our recommendation engine to have the ability to create track and/or artist based playlists on the fly with minimal effort.

(source: http://www.mndigital.com/services/content-fulfillment.html)

Seems pretty compelling that as a customer of MediaNet, their service (aside from uploads) is totally legal, unless MediaNet is somehow not.

But they could simply turn off uploading should they be called out for that--I should have addressed that in my original comment. My guess is that much of the community wouldn't care if that feature was gone.

antiterra• 15 years ago

They supposedly pay SoundExchange for every play, and that's what's required to cover streaming radio in the US no matter the band. Other than that, it's a question of whether it's legal for them to host the file. To claim their hosting is illegal, the argument would have to be made that storing with them was somehow entirely different than storing on, say, dropbox.

Is turntable.fm legal?

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