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Digital
Turntable.fm close to getting label deals
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 9 March 2012
Turntable.fm has a licensing deal in place with EMI, according to C-Net, and agreements with Universal and Sony should follow shortly. That would enable the streaming-platform-come-music-sharing service to become pretty legit, though talks with Warner and the indies would be ongoing.
Turntable.fm caused a little excitement when it first appeared last year. It allows users to invite friends into a virtual room, and to then play music via the platform to the computers of anyone virtually present. After a flurry of excitement in Europe as well as North America, the service was subsequently limited to US users as the digital firm began licensing talks with the rights owners.
A deal was quickly struck on the publishing side with collecting society ASCAP, but negotiations with the record companies have been ongoing ever since. Some feared that the labels would make demands that would make it impossible for the service to get off the ground as a properly licensed set up, though amongst its first round of investors were two useful allies, Lady Gaga manager Troy Carter and long-time Madonna business partner Guy Oseary.
C-Net reckons some announcements on major label deals could be made during this month’s SxSW in Austin, though both Turntable and its possible label partners have so far stayed tight lipped. It also remains to be seen if expansion beyond the US is currently on the agenda.
