Online music is where it’s at. From the birth of Napster to the powerhouse iTunes, the music industry has completely shifted over the past ten years, and it’s only getting better.
In this week’s tech review, I’ll be talking about the site that’s doing a helluva job at blending Web 2.0 with online music: thesixtyone.com.
thesixtyone describes its mission as “a music discovery game that rewards those who help others listen to good new music”. The site lets musicians and users upload songs to the site for anyone to listen to, and if listeners enjoy a song, they vote on it by clicking a “Bump” button. The songs that receive the highest “bump” counts make it to the front page of the site.
These “bumps” cost users points (approximately 5 per song), but if a song becomes popular enough, these users can earn additional points. Collecting points increases a user’s level and is an indication of their prowess in selecting popular music. This “bumping” tool is a clever take on the Digg model, and is one that the social voting site may be able to learn something from.
Music plays constantly on the site, so it’s kind of like having your own Indy radio station, without the commercial interruptions. Users can also select their own color scheme for their experience, and read music trivia that pops up during every song.
thesixtyone is completely free and is a really cool way for people to discover new music and interact with other music fans. There are somewhere around 50 million music sites (rough estimation) on the Internet right now, so it’s great to see one of them doing something different.
Go register and let us know what you think!
