It’s safe to say it’s rare for a music startup to shut down, then return years later in double-vision. Such is the tale of Turntable·fm, which launched in 2011 and made waves with its service for people to DJ in avatar-toting chatrooms.
Licensing challenges contributed to its shutdown in 2013, but in 2021 two startups claiming to be its successors emerged. The one led by the original Turntable·fm’s founder Billy Chasen raised $7.5m of funding that year, but then early employee Joseph Perla raised £2m for a different incarnation.
Anyway, Perla’s startup, now called Turntable Live, has raised a further $7m this week ahead of its planned launch later in the year. It’s fair to say there are some historical scores being settled.
“If the name sounds familiar, you may be remembering an old, legacy Turntable, which crumbled under co-founder disagreements and did not launch with global music licenses or a mobile app,” explained the funding announcement. “TurntableLIVE.com is an all-new company that is doing things right.” Miaow!
This Turntable is the same idea as the 2011 original, but with plans for voice chat, mobile apps and – crucially – the promise that it is “engaged with partners in the music industry in order to be fully legal and licensed for the upcoming launch”.
Let’s see how far that $7m goes in those negotiations, though.
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