The Independent Musician’s Guide to Self-Promoting on Turntable.FM
Connecting directly with your fanbase online has become so much easier over the past 7 years. In a world when previously you could only engage in conversation via a forum board or an individual IM- there are now endless options! Currently, in January 2012: The most interactive way to reach out- since MySpace and Twitter- is without a doubt, Turntable.FM.
TT.FM is a place (currently only open to the U.S.) that truly allows individuals to unite and listen to music TOGETHER. There is no awkward live video feed; the site combines the internet of yore (AOL-like chatroom) with the best high speed internet has allowed us to do (streaming audio, animation).
Understanding the basics
The social network is divided into “rooms,” which can be created by anyone. As an artist looking to reach new ears, you have the option of either:
- creating your own room,
- or tapping into a pre-existing community.
Before we get too deep into that though, let’s figure out how to use turntable.fm in the first place!
The first time you visit Turntable.FM you will see the screen below and will be asked to sign up with either your facebook account, or your twitter account.
I am going to use my project’s twitter account to walk through the steps with you. After you complete logging in, you will be brought to the Lobby, as seen below.
Anyone you follow/are friends with, who is using tt.fm at this very moment, will appear in the right column, along with the room they are in. Before you venture into any rooms though, you should choose which avatar you’d like to use, and set up your DJ profile.
While in the lobby, your settings are located in the top right. Click that.
Let’s scope out the avatar options.
There’s 9 avatar choices when you’re just starting out. Click on the one you like the best, hit the “x” in the upper left, and you’re good to go!
Turntable has 5 upgrade tiers. You can unlock the upgrades by earning points. Points are earned by DJing.
Let’s set up our profile before we embark on DJing. Click “Edit profile” in your settings, and the following dialog box will appear:
Here you can pick what your DJ name will be!
You may also (but do not have to) enter:
- your Twitter name
- your Facebook URL
- your website address
- a short bio
- your favorite artists
- and where you like to hang out on Turntable
I strongly suggest picking a name that pertains to you as an individual. The twitter, facebook, and website links are the perfect spots to place your band’s links.
Once you’ve got all that information typed in and have hit “save changes,” we’re ready to enter a room!
Since someone I follow on twitter is already in a room, let’s scope that one out.
Cool! One of the DJs is using a Linux Operating System! It’s looks like a zoo in there! Music is playing! Wow, what now?
Well as you see on the bottom, there’s a meter. Every time someone in the room presses “awesome,” the current DJ gets a point. In addition to giving the DJ spinning the awesome track a point, that button-pusher’s avatar begins to “bop” (dance). Conversely, when someone in the room hits lame, the needle goes toward the red. Too many lames, and the song gets skipped entirely.
That’s a pretty frightening concept, if you’re merely trying to share your music. If the spotlight is on you, and you’ve finally gotten your chance to engage the room, it would be a pretty big bummer for your song to get lamed. Plus if two of your songs get lamed and skipped, your avatar automatically gets “booed off stage.”
All that being said, “awesome” every single song, even if you don’t particularly like it. That will give off the vibe that you are not a douchebag, and are present. If something being played is completely violating your ears and sense of being, you can always click the speakers to mute the audio.
I suggest you hang out for a while in a room. Scope it out, see what’s going on. Engage in the current conversation. Definitely check the room info (the little tab underneath the “share” buttons). See what was played recently, go over the room’s rules. Look around to determine who created and moderates the room.
The lower left button in the chatbox shows the “Guest List.” Click that and you’ll see the names of everyone in the room. If they have a green shield next to their name with an “M” inside, that person is a moderator of the room. Moderators have the ability to remove people from stage and also boot abusers (trolls) from that room.
Hovering your mouse over a user’s avatar will reveal what their DJ name is, how many points they’ve earned, and how many fans they have. You also have the option to “Become a Fan” of that individual. When you are a fan of someone, you can see what room they are in when they are on TT- along with your pre-existing friends from the account you logged in with (remember the Lobby?).
To read someone’s profile, just click their avatar.
When a seat become vacant, you will see a “Play music” button. Click that to grab it! But you must have some songs in your queue/playlist first.
Building your DJ queue
There’s 3 ways to add songs to your DJ queue.
- Search through TT’s library
- Upload an MP3
- Yoink tracks
One cool thing about your DJ queue is- everything you place in it will remain there, no matter what computer or device you access Turntable on.
Let’s go through the ways to add to your queue. When you hover your mouse over the stage marquee, you’ll see 6 buttons.
Clicking the “T” adds the currently playing song to your queue (and shoots a sweet 8 bit heart out from your head). The other buttons locate the song within Amazon MP3, iTunes, Last.FM, Spotify, and Rdio- respectively.
This may be stating the obvious, but definitely do not play a song that was just played. Maybe you’ll want to grab a song for your queue to play later on or in a different room. You can also add any songs to your queue that appear in the “Room info” by clicking that same “T” button.
Search Turntable.FM’s Library
Have a particular song in mind that you’d like to add to your DJ queue? Click “+Add Songs” at the top of your Q and you will be taken to a search bar.
Type in what you’re looking for in the search bar (an artist, album title, or song title), then strike your “enter” key.
Everything that matches your search terms pops up.
Hit “+” on the song you want. The play buttons are song previews. Not every song has a preview, however everything that appears may be added to your own DJ Queue.
*Turntable.FM’s music library is populated by MediaNet. If your own music is not in the library, look into TuneCore.
But what if TT doesn’t have the song you want… and you have it on your computer? As long as the file is an MP3, you can upload it.
Uploading music
Once the song is processed, click “top” to bring it all the way to the top of your queue! Your songs play in the order they appear.
*Only MP3s may be uploaded, and they stream at the bitrate of the file. There is a limit of 30mb per song upload. Songs added from the library stream at 128kbps.
*If the MP3 tags are corrupted- the artist will appear as “Unknown” and the song title will appear as “Untitled” after the upload is processed. If this happens to you, delete the song from your queue, fix the tags, and then reupload the song.
Now you’re ready to begin DJing! Once a spot opens up, click “play music” and your avatar will grab a seat on the stage!
When the spotlight reaches your avatar, your top song will begin to play.
I recommend that you do not start off with an original song of yours, unless conversation insists you do. Establish yourself as just another music aficionado first. There are plenty of new Turntable users who bounce around from room to room to play their own music. Members of room communities are more interested in sharing similar tastes and will be more inclined to become an actual fan, and also add your songs to their queues, if you interact with them on their level.
The average Turntable user is rather technologically savvy, and uses several different social networks… so keep that in mind as well. Even if a room has 3 other people, you never know who they may be, who they know, or even how loudly their word echoes online and offline.
*Each room is limited to 4 songs per artist (or 3 songs per album), every 3 hours.
Make sure to “Become a Fan” of everyone you interact with. You are unable to see who is a fan of you (unless your settings are set to send you an email every time you are fan’d). When someone becomes a fan of you, they will be able to see (in the lobby and in the room list) what room you’re in whenever you are on Turntable.FM.
In short-
I’m worried about piracy!
Are you? Don’t spin any tunes you are afraid could bite you in the ass later on. I’d love to lie and say songs can’t be ripped since the service is streaming… but come on, there’s always a way to get something off the internet- if someone wants it bad enough. Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows had to push up a single release because a song the guitarist spun on Turntable landed on YouTube.
AbsolutePunk.net staff writer & Mind Equals Blown editor, Jack Appleby- who is also a publicist for two different record labels, feels Turntable.FM is “a great place to test reactions.” I have to agree with him. Don’t let the D.R.U.G.S. story hold you back. If you’re in a place where playing a demo, rough mix, or new song will interfere with a pre-set promotional plan or your record label… but you’re really interested to give the tune a test-drive, I strongly recommend tagging the song as a different artist and uploading it that way.
Creating your own room
It’s super simple to create your own room.
You can do so either from the room list or the lobby.
You can create a private room, or one that appears in the room list. If you click “advanced options, you can also decide upon a minimum number of points DJs must have in order to spin (if, say, you don’t want any “noobs” to DJ). Another advanced option is number of DJ spots.
If you do create your own room, make sure to tweet, facebook, tumblr, everything you have- to pull in an audience.
You will also be able to pick moderators. To do so, hover your mouse over their avatar and click “Make a Moderator.” You can just as easily remove modship by hovering and clicking “Remove Moderator.”
Rooms die off. Pop Punk/Rock/Alternative/Emo aka BestRoomOnTT has been around since July and there is almost always an experienced moderator present. In PPRAE we encourage DJs to let go of genre restrictions and just play what moves them. Generally, the room is rooted in the punk/ska scene, but everything from folk to metal also gets love. We have a solid base of regulars who are quite helpful in explaining how everything works to new users. The one rule about music selection in Pop Punk/Rock/Alternative/Emo is- no dubstep. There are plenty of rooms on Turntable dedicated to that genre.
Turntable.FM has begun a series called, “Turntable Tuesdays,” where they invite a major label artist to DJ in their special room. These artists (such as Snoop Dogg) get their own unique avatar and give fans a rare opportunity to interact. The drawback to these rooms are- there is a maximum capacity. No more than 200 people are allowed in any single room on Turntable, at a time.
I highly suggest room hopping before you decide to create your own room.
*If you’re interested in scheduling a special event for yourself in Pop Punk/Rock/Alternative/Emo- shoot me a tweet, email, or just pop into the room!
Setting yourself apart
If you are Indie/DIY, chances are Turntable.FM will not create a special avatar for you. The entire company is a team of about 10 people, and designing a unique avatar takes quite a bit of time. You can, however, verify your account.
To become verified, send an email to info(at)turntable(dot)fm with:
- your TT DJ name
- Twitter links
- Facebook links
- Soundcloud links
- …anything that can validate your identity and establish that you are an active artist
Helpful tools/resources:
- Autobop
- Accessing Turntable.FM outside the United States
- Introduction to TT.FM in Pictures!
- TurntableScrobbler
- TT + Last.FM + Spotify
About Neesh
I do freelance social media consultation for bands: set-up, and maintenance. I write bios and press releases. I develop and maintain street teams. I am the Online Community Development Specialist at HubSoMe. I write music news for the website of the online rhythm game, ThirdStyle. I have a digital distribution label with focus on artist development and web presence- Oratorium Records. My main artist, Session 606, will be releasing his debut EPs in 2012. I also work with the independent label, Music For End Times. I’ve done work with the indy record labels: Metal Blade and Equal Vision. I love listening to music and discussing it on Turntable.FM! Feel free to hit me up if you are interested in working together :)
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