But why launch a new audio platform in times when there are already plenty of other big companies offering streaming platforms? The answer is simple: As technology geeks and music enthusiasts we are deeply convinced that we are still at the beginning of how technology can influence the way we discover music and other audio content — as well as the way we can present music and how it lets us interact with each other. And we are not alone in thinking that other platforms neither have found the best form of presenting content, nor have they reached the maximum potential of audience. And they also haven’t been able to address all the needs of everyone interested in music and audio. We at Play.fm see that there’s still a lot of room for innovation and improvement.
The new Play.fm won’t be perfect initially and will be far from being the final result of our vision — but it´s a solid foundation to let new ideas grow. We see Play.fm as a long term project, and we’ll take the time we need to turn our vision into a great platform. We´ll be traveling in a loop between trial and error and hopefully learn fast to build great features that help you discover new music and dive into new worlds, online as well as offline.
So, what does all this really mean for the first release of the new platform?
City page Vienna, on the new Play.fm website
- We keep the focus on DJ mixes and podcasts.
- The interface is much slicker, and pages load a lot faster.
- An integrated audio player always stays at the bottom of your browser and keeps playing while you browse through the site. It´s HTML5 (no flash anymore), so it also works on mobile devices (iOS, Android). The same is true for the new widget.
- Once you are logged in, the newsfeed is your new homepage. It keeps you informed about new uploads, playlists, likes and listens of the people you follow.
- It only takes 45 seconds to publish a mix (60 minutes, mp3, 128kbit). Uploading is free as it always was, and you´ll get unlimited storage.
- City pages let you discover local DJs, labels, clubs and promoters and show you the latest and the most popular mixes recorded in the area. We think that there are sufficient platforms presenting DJs like Tiesto or David Guetta. Instead, we focus on those truly creative local players around the world that we strive to bring to the surface. That´s what the new Play.fm is all about.
- The old website will be closed down, soon.
- All data is transferred to the new platform
- There´s only one layout for all user profiles on the new site
- Certain sections are not transferred to the new site:
- Old widgets cannot be continued and need to be replaced with the new widget
- Current mobile apps will not be replaced by new versions immediately
What we have planned for the near future:
- more widgets, more customisation
- search for cities, for mixes, and for tracks within tracklists
- play all mixes of a playlist and continuous play
- responsive website layout
- mobile apps
- time-stamp tracklists, import pre-written tracklists
- statistics about who listened from where and for how long
- and a lot more things we will announce a bit later, so stay tuned for more news on this blog!
For any questions or comments on the new site you can contact us at [email protected]. We´d love to hear your feedback and hope you´ll like the new site!
Thanks to everyone supporting this project! Without you this new release would not be possible. Special thanks go to Vienna Business Agency for funding the development costs in part.
Let´s Play.fm!
BTW, in case you are an upcoming coding genius or a digital music geek and would like do your internship at Play.fm in Vienna, we´ll be happy to receive your application at [email protected] with a nice motivation letter and CV. An existing work permission for the EU is a requirement.
View the full article