To the heathens and unconverted, Blip.fm may be the messiah of internet radio. The idea is simple: allow everyone to DJ music by “blipping” tracks. (Isn’t that such a clever verb?) Each user gets to choose what songs they play, and also which other DJs they listen to. It’s essentially build your own radio with everyman DJs – including yourself. It also integrates the idea of micro blogging by allowing a user to attach a text message to each song played in a similar fashion to Twitter (including using “@” before a username to attach a user to a song).
So what does this all mean? Why does it matter? The obvious implications: (1) If a song is good and DJs on Blip.fm like it, it’ll get played over and over again. That’s the type of free PR any band would kill for. This could put power back in the hands of bands trying to grind out a living. Think about it: You come home from a great concert. Log on to blip.fm and play your favorite tracks from that band. You attach a message like, “Saw so-and-so live. They’ll be in such-and-such city tomorrow. See them!” Your buddy, who subscribes to your blips, hears the band, digs them, and sees the show in that city – and so do several other folks. That’s grassroots. (2) Songs on Blip.fm aren’t downloadable which protects copyright holders. In fact – hold your breath – record execs may, in fact, notice that Blip.fm allows records to get heard without being pirated. While it’s hard to think that the powers that be *cough* RIAA *cough* won’t figure out a way to make Blip.fm bendover through litigation, it’s possible that they may see the light (i.e. free advertising) at the end of the tunnel. Hey, it’s better than trying to fight The Pirate Bay, right?
The big news today is that Blip.fm just partnered with imeem to effectively double the library of songs that a blip DJ can play. With iMeem backing, it seems it’s only a matter of time before Blip.fm goes completely viral. In a press release on the Blip.fm blog, it’s reported that the number of users is doubling every ten weeks.
It may not surprise you then to know that Consequence of Sound – always on the cutting edge of friggin’ awesome – has a blip.fm account. We love us some social networking and web 2.0.