Play.fm is a comprehensive audio database for DJs and the club culture. The site contains over 12,000 DJ sets, radio shows and live recordings that can be listened to on demand. DJs, labels, booking agencies, event promoters and clubs can upload DJ sets or recordings to the site to promote their product. The Play.fm player presents a waveform view of sets to the listener, and users can mark tracks for identification using a Wiki-based format. Each identified track is linked to the meta-shop, where it can be compared for quality or purchased. The site currently indexes 1.4 million tracks.

Users can search for sets and tracks by Artist, Style, Venue/Club, or Event. The site also hosts a number of live radio shows, as well as sponsors online events. The site features a unique player that shows a waveform of the entire set, the Track ID of the current track and a tracklist of the tracks contained in the set. Users can request for a track to be identified or identify it themselves, directly from the player. Track identification is handled in Wiki format. Users can maintain their own playlists, watchlists and calendar of events using their Dashboard. They can also use the Dashboard to manage any sets or tracks that they have uploaded to the site.

Visit www.play.fm

Vienna, Austria-based Play.fm was founded in March 2008 by George Hitzenberger. The site has continued to add new sets and tracks steadily since launch, and the userbase continues to increase. The site currently serves over 80,000 registered users. The site has an Alexa page rank below the 50,000 mark.

Competition to Play.fm comes from sites such as Alldj.org and Newmixes.com. Alldj.org has a list of over 10,000 sets indexed alphabetically, by genre and by DJ. All of their sets are listed in downloadable MP3 format. Newmixes.com has a database of sets that can be streamed using the site’s player and is searchable by genre or keyword. Play.fm is the only one of these sites to attempt to identify every track in every set.

The Play.fm site has a clean and uncluttered look. The site is responsive, but somewhat slow to the US region. Navigation is intuitive, with a top menu bar including a search bar and links to Listen, Radioshows, Events and Shop. The user has a Dashboard which contains links to Playlists, Watchlists, Calendar, Events, Radioshows, Manage (any sets or tracks that the user manages), and the user’s profile. Advertising is displayed on the site, but it is relatively unobtrusive.

Registration is not required to listen to music on the site. It is required in order to manage uploads or maintain playlists and watchlists. The registration process asks for email address, username and password. Verification of the email address is required.

Registration to the Play.fm site is free and there is no premium membership offered. Sets and tracks are offered for sale in the meta-shop, which links the user to sites such as Finetunes.net, DJTunes.com or Beatport to complete their purchase.

Play.fm is recommended to DJs and others involved with clubs for finding sets and tracks for play in their clubs. The site’s unique player allows users to compare and identify tracks within sets easily. It is also recommended to users who simply want to listen to music. In addition, the site is recommended to DJs, artists, event promoters and others wishing to promote their music products to listeners. Because of the number of DJs who use the site, content posted to the site can get a lot of exposure.

• Users can listen to sets and tracks by Artist, Style, Venue/Club or Event
• DJs and promoters can use the site to promote their content
• Users can identify tracks or ask that they be identified using a Wiki format
• The site contains over 10,000 sets
• The site has indexed over 1.4 million tracks

Visit www.play.fm