You, the SpotDJ community, have spoken and awarded Carlson grand prize in SpotDJ’s first Hot Spot contest with his “dildo” spot on Steely Dan’s “Cousin Dupree.” Hear it for yourself here:
Other terrific spots that were finalists in the contest were spots from Candeelion, Scott Parent, HowardGr, and ChemistryofStars:
Thanks to everyone who voted, and prepare yourself for more contests coming soon!
Good news SpotDJ fans - the famous SpotDJ cactus (known for his darting looks and “Crazy!” interjections) made his public debut at MacWorld yesterday. Take a look at how handsome he is!
SpotDJ’s cactus mascot, who we’ve named Loco (after his eyes and favorite English word), will continue to make appearances in your iTunes and around the world. Keep a look out, you might just see him dancing on the street. Crazy!
SpotDJ was on the top of yesterday’s NBC TechNow! We led the half-hour segment with a solid 3 minute product tour of SpotDJ.
Featured in the show are SpotDJ’s Ben Fong-Torres with this spot about U2 and Scott Parent with this spot from Fall Out Boy.
Grant is disappointed that there’s no hedcut of him in today’s Wall Street Journal article. However, you will find him quoted in today’s front page story about our building, saying:
“On this floor, companies have pretty sane business ideas,” says Grant Goodale, a product architect at SpotDJ, a 10-month-old business with three employees. “Nobody has too much money. Everyone is cognizant of the rules.”
And it’s true, we’re only a handful of folks here at SpotDJ, but we’re trying to do a lot with a little. Given the positive feedback we’ve received from you so far, we couldn’t be happier with the progress we’ve made in such a short period of time.
Thanks for being one of our early supporters, and keep the feedback coming!
SpotDJ was mentioned in today’s Rolling Stone magazine! We’re in the December 14, 2006 issue along with Snoop Dogg, My Chemical Romance, and Tenacios D.
Rolling Stone covers our launch, in which writer Nicole Frehsee describes the service as well as highlights this spot by Ben Fong-Torres where Iggy Pop talks about Jim Morrison’s impact on the Stooges. Crazy!
I spent the last 3 days in Vancouver at the Transmission music conference, showcase and festival. This was the first year for the event, which is the brainchild of Tyl van Toorn and Brad Josling and was chaired by Laura Foti Cohen and Ted Cohen (who sits on SpotDJ’s board of advisors).
Thursday morning began with Nic Harcourt (Music Director at KCRW in Santa Monica) interviewing Terry McBride (CEO of Nettwerk Music Group) about the future of the music industry. Terry described a world in which the best radio station is programmed by the listener, the future of music is fan-to-fan, and fans’ passion about music drives leads them to create their own content about music. He terms this new era the wePod generation, which combines the personalization of the iPod with the community nature of social networks and the web. We couldn’t agree more!
The rest of the two days was packed with interesting discussion groups focused on many of the hot topics in the music industry today — how technology is changing the industry, the changing role of the artist and fan, and the growth of user-generated content around music.
Thursday and Friday night were reserved for listening to some great music, and the organizers brought in a fantastic lineup of bands from around the world. Almost all the bands participating in Transmission recorded spots about their music — talking about songs on their most recently album, their early influences, and why they were excited about the Transmission Showcase, for example. You can hear from all the artists on our Transmission page. Check ‘em out!
Oh boy! New stuff from SpotDJ! Here are a few of the latest features you’ll see:
SpotDJ has been mentioned in several articles since we launched, but I wanted to highlight this one in particular.
The article, which appeared in the UCLA Daily Bruin, talks about how radio and radio-like services are adapting to match shifts in the way that people obtain and enjoy music. Of course, it highlights SpotDJ as a big part of that, but I think it’s this quote that really hits the nail on the head:
Ian Rios, a fourth-year religious studies student, is excited by any chance to connect music and community. He receives much of his music from his friends. He was intrigued by the idea of reaching a community through programs such as SpotDJ.
“For me, sharing music is very important. The experience is kind of like judging a work of art — on its own it can mean nothing, but it’s the people and context that give it meaning,” Rios said.
That’s exactly why we built this product. I’ve always felt that you get more out of music when you’ve made a personal connection through it, or you’ve learned something a little deeper about the music.
(That’s Post-Halloween, by the by.)
Well, the candy may just barely be disappearing from the American palate, but SpotDJ is hard at work rolling out new features for your enjoyment. This week’s updates are focused around making your listening experience even more customizable and letting you share your Spots with the world.
First off, you’ll notice a new profile field, catchily named “I Record Spots in”. As our plan for global domination unfolds, we’ve noticed that many of you want to record spots in your native language. No problem - let everyone know! There’s a corresponding preference that lets you choose whether you want to hear spots in your native tongue, English, or both, so you can hear just the spots you want. If your language or country of choice isn’t on the list, let us know and we’ll add it.
Next up is the newly renamed Connect tab, formerly known as ‘Invite’. Here you can invite friends to SpotDJ just like before, but now you can invite a bunch of ‘em at once! Just enter their email addresses separated by commas and you’re good to go. In addition, we’ve added a Bling section, where you can grab a SpotDJ badge and share your SpotDJ profile page with the world! The best part is, if someone signs up after clicking on your badge, they’re automatically your fan. How cool is that?
Finally, we’ve tweaked the SpotDJ application to be a little more helpful. Now, when we’re not going to play a spot for you we’ll tell you the reason why rather than getting all tight-lipped about it. In addition, we’ll occasionally show you a list of spots you’ve heard recently, or a list of spots we might’ve chosen, just so you’ve got something to check out.
There’s plenty more on tap - stay tuned!
SpotDJ is a service that adds a something new and, frankly, !*#$@ing awesome to your music listening experience. You listen to your music just like normal, but every once in a while, SpotDJ will play a “spot” between songs.
A spot is simply a short snippet of audio about the song you were listening to. It could be basic information about the song, a story about the artist, an interpretation of the song, news, gossip, recommendations, whatever!
A SpotDJ is also a person — and by using SpotDJ you become a SpotDJ. All of the spots on SpotDJ are created by our users. So if you’re listening to a song and have something to say about it, just flip to SpotDJ, click the “Spot this Song!” button and record your spot. Other SpotDJs listening to that song will hear your comments at the end of the song.
SpotDJ also makes an excellent dessert for a summer afternoon. Mix 3 packets of SpotDJ with 12 ounces (by weight) of all-purpose flour, 1 cup of light brown sugar, 2 eggs, and a teaspoon of vanilla. Mix until combined. Then spread the SpotDJ mixture on a greased baking pan and sprinkle with the shredded packaging from an iPod Nano. Bake for 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven, or until topping is crisp and golden brown, or when it has ignited. Serve immediately.
