Turntable.fm: The Future of Music Is Social
Turntable.fm came from out of nowhere to become the most addictive new music service. The success of the service shows how we are entering a stage where owning music as an individual is less important than playing it together as a community. Artists are embracing the service as a way to connect directly with their best fans in a live synchronous environment; Talib Kweli, Diplo, ?uestlove, Manchester Orchestra and Ra Ra Riot have all been seen spinning tracks.
In this fireside chat, we will discuss the evolution of and vision for turntable- how can users, artists, agents, managers, labels and advertisers all participate in and benefit from this social music experience.
Presenters
Jesse Kirshbaum is the founder, CEO and senior talent agent at the New Universal Entertainment Agency (NUE Agency). Over the past 10 years Jesse has been in the trenches of the music business, specializing in securing talent for concerts, tours and endorsement deals for his various clients and brand partners all over the world.
Founded by Jesse in 2006, NUE Agency prides itself on being an international, boutique firm with connections to all the major talent houses while retaining the spirit of an indie. Jesse shares a dynamic enthusiasm and passion for shaping the new music business one deal at a time.
Jesse has worked with a broad spectrum of artists and brands crafting deals with Clipse & Pharrell Williams, Jay-Z, Fergie & The Black Eyed Peas, Busta Rhymes, Carmen Electra, Nelly, LL Cool J, Sting, The Pussycat Dolls, Jamiroquai, The All-American Rejects, Sean Paul amongst many others. His agency currently represents over 30 acts exclusively including Wale, Pusha T, Clipse, Asher Roth, The White Panda, 2AM Club, Jingle Punks Hipster Orchestra and many more.
As a huge proponent of technology and digital media culture, Jesse is also the co-founder and visionary behind SoundCtrl, a music and technology convergence platform and community that is focused on finding alternative revenue models in the music business. He sits on the global advisory board of Social Media Week.
Seth is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. Currently he serves as the Chairman of turntable.fm, the social music service that was named top music startup of 2011 by Billboard Magazine.
In 1995, Seth founded Sitespecific, a pioneering online advertising company which was acquired by CKS Group in 1997. In 1999, Seth joined Fred Wilson as Entrepreneur in Residence at Flatiron Partners where he built a practice in “pervasive computing.” In 2002, Seth created Majestic Research, the first Wall Street research firm to mine primary data for hedge funds, which was acquired in 2010 by Investment Technology Group (NYSE: ITG). In 2005, Seth started Root Markets with renowned Salomon Brothers trader Lew Ranieri and the Chicago Board of Trade to create the first financial exchange for Internet mortgage leads. In 2007, Seth started SocialMedia.com, the first company to make advertising social, which was acquired in 2011 by LivingSocial. In 2010, Seth co-founded Stickybits which connected digital media to real-world objects via barcodes. Stickybits was the progenitor to turntable.fm.
In 2007, Seth helped create Pier 38 in SF, a vibrant startup community which gave birth to a number of successful startups including Instagram, Social Gold (Amazon), and CoTweet (Exact Target). He has served on the board of the Internet Advertising Bureau, where he co-chaired its Social Media committee and Valassis (NYSE: VCI) the marketing promotions company. He was a seed investor in Web 2.0 pioneer del.icio.us (acquired by Yahoo! in 2005) and in Etherpad (AppJet) which was purchased by Google in 2009. In 2011, Seth was invited by the US State Department to be part of the GEP Program to help foster Entrepreneurship in Egypt. Seth holds a BA in Dramatic Literature from Columbia University and lives in Marin, California.