The SpotDJ Blog

A spot is a short audio clip that you hear between songs. While you’re listening to music, SpotDJ checks to see if there are spots that are relevant to the song you’re listening to. When the song is over, you hear the spot!

A spot can be just about anything. A spot might tell you something interesting that you didn’t know about one of your favorite songs, like this spot about Jay-Z:

Other spots contain artist updates, concert announcements, trivia, interpretations of songs, etc. You name it, someone has probably spotted it!

The spots you hear with SpotDJ are created by other SpotDJ users. You can also easily create your own spots for the world to hear. Got something to say about a certain song or artist? Some gossip to share? Some knowledge to assert? Be heard!

If you’re having trouble logging into SpotDJ, keep in mind that there are two components to SpotDJ that both require logins — the SpotDJ application that you download and install, and the SpotDJ web site, where you can browse spots and customize your DJ page.
Here are some hints for logging in:

• If you just signed up for SpotDJ, did you confirm your email address? You should’ve received an email message when you signed up with a link to confirm. If you’d like, we can send the confirmation email again. Just attempt to login to the SpotDJ web site, and it’ll offer to re-send the confirmation email.

• Make sure that you’re logging in with your email address, not your DJ name!

• If you forgot your password, you can reset it through the web site.

• Make sure your CAPS LOCK key isn’t down — passwords are case-sensitive.

• If all else fails, try clearing your browser’s cookies.

Hey, will you be at CMJ Music Marathon next week? If you’ll be in NYC drop me an email at kb -at- spotdj -dot- com and we can meet up. I’m there all week.

We’re pleased as heck to announce that SpotDJ is now in open beta! We were featured in
TechCrunch this morning, which generally makes such things official. You no longer need a secret code to sign up so tell your friends!

For our dedicated alpha users, and curious others, here’s a quick rundown of some of the new features in beta:

• New design! The new SpotDJ is much easier on the eyes.
• It’s easier to find new DJ’s to listen to. You can see people’s fans and faves, allowing you to find more content that you’d like.
• You have more controls for customizing your profile. Now you can tell people where to find you on MySpace, what kind of music you like, etc.
• We now show you your stats on the left-hand side of the screen so you can see how popular you are!
• We’ve got a cool Flash demo of how SpotDJ works over on the home page. So if you’re having trouble explaining it to your friends, just sit them down in front of that and glue their eyes open.
• There’s a lot more that you’ll discover as you start to use the beta. Lotsa cool little tweaks, random humor, and general improvements.

Welcome to the beta!

Well, you’ve come to the right place! SpotDJ is the only place where you say something about a song and have your comments inserted right into an iTunes listener’s playlist!

Here’s how to record a spot:

1. Sign up for SpotDJ, if you haven’t done so already.
2. Download the SpotDJ app and install it. The download should happen automatically when you sign up.
3. Run SpotDJ, by double-clicking the SpotDJ icon:
4. In iTunes, start playing the song you’d like to spot.
5. When SpotDJ shows the correct song info, click the “Spot this Song!” button:
   
6. Click the “Record” button:
   
7. Start talking!
8. Click the “Stop” button to finish:
   
9. Click the “Play” button to listen to your spot. If you don’t like it, you can record it again:
   
10. Click “Upload” to send your spot to SpotDJ:
    

    It’ll take a few seconds, then the music will start again.

The spots you hear are determined based on a number of factors. We build a list of potential spots based on the title and artist of the song you’re listening to. Then we refine the list based on what you’ve already heard, your list of faves, the ratings of the spots, and your other preferences. Then we send the new list to a panel of experts in Rochester, NY who make the final selection. This all happens while you’re happily listening to the song in iTunes.

We’ll be refining this process over time to make sure that you get the best possible content for the songs you’re listening to.

You bet! We encourage that. People tend to listen to the same songs over and over (according to iTunes, I’ve played Lindsay Buckingham’s “Holiday Road” 213 times!) so they’ll want to hear different spots each time.

So, even if a spot already exists for your song, go ahead and add something new. Or if you hear a spot that you disagree with, or you want to expand on, add a new spot!

Don’t have a microphone? We’ll send you one! Just sign up for SpotDJ, or log in if you’re already signed up and request a microphone. Make sure to include your name and address and we’ll send out an official SpotDJ microphone ASAP*.

Or, if you prefer, you can call in your spots. Visit this page for details.

*Microphone offer is available only to registered users of SpotDJ with US addresses while supplies last, or until Kevin gets tired of addressing envelopes. We reserve the right to end the offer or not send microphones as we see fit. We won’t use your address for any other purpose, not even a Christmas card. The microphone uses a standard microphone input and will not work on computers that lack such an input, such as certain Macs.

SpotDJ is separate from iTunes, so changing the volume of iTunes doesn’t affect the volume of spots. If spots sound too quiet, increase your System Volume (from the Sound control panel) and lower the volume in iTunes. Vice versa if spots are too loud.

Sometimes spots sound too loud or soft because of the way they were recorded. We attempt to normalize all spots to the same volume level, but if you encounter a spot that is horribly loud or unforgivingly soft, please send us feedback with the name of the spot (or a link to it) and we’ll check it out.

To prevent your own spots from being too loud or soft, keep your volume levels in the mid range and play back your spots before uploading them to make sure they sound okay.

When you’re listening to a spot, or looking at another DJ’s page, you can add that DJ as one of your faves. Faves are a great way to connect with other people while using SpotDJ. Your list of faves will show up on your DJ page (when other users look at your profile) and we’ll factor your list of faves into account when deciding which spots to play (so you’ll tend to get more spots from your faves).

When someone adds you as a fave, they become one of your fans. The more fans you have, the more people tend to hear your spots, and the more popular you look when people view your profile. When you invite a friend to join SpotDJ, they automatically become one of your fans.

In the future, we’ll be adding more features that build on fans and faves. So keep adding to your lists and when someone tells you they like your spots, tell them “Be sure to fave me!”