Turntable.fm Design Flaws, Recommendations, and Business Model?

For those who haven't used the new online music player Turntable.fm...you're missing out!  Turntable.fm is Pandora meets throwback chat room meets DJ Hero game mechanics.  The platform allows music listeners to join themed "rooms" in order to "play music together," as five DJs take turns selecting songs that the listeners vote and comment on.  DJs collect points based on the quality of the songs as voted by the listeners and songs are skipped if too many people vote "Lame."  This is the ultimate blend of social and music as First Round Capital Principal, Charlie O'Donnell, put it, "Some services just tell you what your friends are listening to--the digital data exhaust of an inherently unsocial experience.  You listen to music on your own, and your data is broadcasted to your graph."  Turntable.fm is a tremendous tool for discovering new music while "socializing" with users who share a similar taste in music.  The site launched in late May and is still in Beta but there are some potential UI/UX changes that could be made to improve the user experience with this exciting app:


1) Limit the amount of time a user can be a DJ.
I might be impatient but DJ turnover can be nonexistent in some rooms. Limiting the number of DJs is reasonable but providing more opportunities for new DJs to play songs more often would be a welcomed improvement.

2) Show stats for how long a DJ has been in a room and playing music.
This change could entice the audience to pressure an embedded DJ to leave the stage negating the need for recommendation 1.

3) Allow people to buy “Skips” or “Multi-lames”

Sometimes the moderator is off duty and a song was recently played or doesn't meet the genre of the room. Users should be able to buy the power to skip and song which could become a potential revenue source for Turntable.fm. By selling the power to skip you limit how often it will be used and it allows more passionate users to moderate the experience. 

4) Free DJ positions typically open on the right side of the stage but the "Room Info" tab covers this spot making it difficult to watch for an opening.

Moving this screen to the left side of the stage or over the "My DJ Queue" would eliminate this problem.

5)  The confirmation screen for adding a song to your que, Itunes, lastfm, and spotify covers the DJ table creating the same issues as number 4.

This screen could easily be moved below the DJ stage.

6) Allow listeners to mute for just one song.

The mute button is key but its easy to forget that you have the player muted. Creating a one song mute button would be useful and I've seen some users suggest showing their Avatar plugging his ears to show their distaste to the DJ. 

7) Allow users to sort songs based on genre to make the transition between rooms easier.

Every time I switch rooms my que becomes irrelevant forcing me to spend time resorting my music. Allowing users to sort by genre would simplify the process freeing my attention to follow the DJ openings.

8) Show/highlight Avatars or show their profile when you highlight their name/post in the Chat.

Crowded rooms can make connecting with people nearly impossible as scrolling over 100 tightly packed avatars can be a daunting task. Highlighting avatars or making them prominent after they've chatted could make this task easier.

Business Model?

There has already been plenty of chatter about the viability of this project though it is still clearly a MVP and the team is still in the early stages of development. The obvious revenue stream is advertising but Turntable.fm could generate commissions or transaction fees from Itunes referrals and could consider premium functions similar to the previous design recommendations. One revenue model that clearly wont fly is pay for service as this seems to be a platform that could be easily duplicated. Turntable.fm has the early mover advantage but that would be quickly eroded if they started charging for the service.

Thank you to Charlie O'Donnell for alerting me to this platform (time suck)