
First, they must find ways to grow and recruit new users without compromising the current structure and integrity of the platform. However, there are a few things the site must pay attention to if they want to both survive and thrive. With all this in mind, it seems like JQBX is doing everything right as an up-and-coming community.

Overall, JQBX’s community has taken everything the developers have given them to make the most of the site’s potential. JQBX has embraced these events, and have frequently used them for marketing the platform on their social media.

Also, some rooms hold DJ spotlights or battles, in which two users DJ head-to-head style to see who gets more likes. A common example is a theme or game on a certain day, such as Pizza & Beer’s “Manic Monday,” in which all songs played must be under two and a half minutes. While most rooms do have specific genres or general themes, some rooms organize scheduled special events. It seems that instead of using this, users will just not click the “dope” button if they are not into a specific song or will discuss their hesitation to do so in the chat.ĭue to this civil and supportive environment, the community has been able to make the most of the platform. I have been using the site for a couple weeks now and I have only once seen someone use the “nope” button. Additionally, all users seem to be very respectful to people’s music tastes and opinions. Room moderators have been happy to answer any questions I’ve had about their respective rooms and the site in general, and have even encouraged me to step up and DJ. Experienced users seem to be very welcoming of newcomers due to a genuine interest in growing the rooms they participate in as well as the platform as a whole. While the user interface provides many great features, the real experience on JQBX comes from interacting with the community. JQBX also has a “stats” feature, which shows when a user joined the site, how many songs they have played, and how many total likes, dislikes, and stars they have been given. Additionally, this means that the music is licensed, allowing the site to operate legally without having to rely on a DMCA loophole. JQBX integrates with Spotify Premium, allowing users to search Spotify’s entire catalog, pull music straight from personal Spotify playlists, and easily save music they like with a “star” feature. However, JQBX has an advantage unavailable to the developers of Turntable in the rise of music streaming platforms. Each room has DJ queues, the option to like and dislike (“dope” or “nope”) songs, and a space for real-time chat, increasing bonds-based commitment (Kraut, Resnick p. These rooms often contain around 5–20 users at a time. This design already compliant with Kraut and Resnick design claims, stating that people are more willing to contribute in smaller groups and that smaller groups foster more commitment to the subgroups and the community as a whole (Kraut, Resnick pp. The platform is complete with separate rooms to play music within the site. JQBX is everything I loved about Turntable and more. I decided to check it out, and I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. However, almost every recent post on the subreddit praised JQBX.fm as the best new alternative. The subreddit is relatively dormant, with posts popping up about once a month. I was suddenly nostalgic about Turntable, so I ran a quick Google search to once again see if any alternatives had popped up.

With little to no luck, I gave up my search, as I was convinced there would never be anything quite like it. Between legal issues surrounding royalties and a shift in the community’s mission, the site shut down in 2013, leaving thousands of users scrambling to find an alternative. Unfortunately, Turntable was short-lived. It was a great platform to jam with friends and forget about the futility of suburban high school life. My friends and I would often create our own room and play music together into the wee hours of the morning. Personally, I was absolutely hooked on Turntable. With an active user base of over 140,000 in its first month, Turntable was an immediate success, and any music junkie could see why. It provided an interactive music sharing experience in which users had the ability like or dislike the songs and discuss music (or anything, really) in the room.

Founded in 2011, Turntable allowed users to join “rooms” and take turns “DJing,” allowing users to select songs and play them for the others in the room. Somewhere in the mix came a unique community called Turntable.fm. From the Myspace band pages of the 2000s and music-focused message boards to the curated streaming platforms of today, the web has created an ideal environment for music sharing. JQBX.fm: Inspiring Newcomer Integration in an Up-and-Coming Online Communityįor as long as I can remember, I’ve used the web to find new ways to discover and share new music.
