A Messiah for Streaming Music: Playdar

Written by Dana Oshiro / November 11, 2009 3:57 PM / 5 Comments

This post is part of our ReadWriteStart channel, which is a resource and guide for first-time entrepreneurs and startups. The channel is sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark. To sign up for BizSpark, click here.

Let's face it: the music industry is broken. Labels charge stations and providers exorbitant fees; independent sites have little chance of recouping their costs; and in the end, the listening experience is fragmented and confusing.

In our current model, a company like Grooveshark pays a fee for your stream even if you have access to a song via a separate paid subscription service or download. In other words, labels are getting paid twice on songs you already own the listening rights to. In order to change that, Playdar offers us a chance to search for music by artist and song as well as access the files we already own.

While services like Twones aggregate Web-based music profiles, Playdar goes one step further by scanning local files, network files and the Web to find a match. With Playdar, users allow the tool to scan their desktops, networked machines and music subscription profiles before streaming a Web-based alternative like Last.fm or Imeem.

As streaming music competitors Rdio, MOG and Spotify race to launch in the US, Playdar may be the advantage they need to reduce costs and load times. Playdar ensures that if you're a music startup company and your users already own a track, you don't have to pay for them to enjoy it again and again.

While the project may seem ambitious, Playdar creator Richard Jones is already a veteran of the music startup scene. In his third year of college, he created Audioscrobbler - the technology that now powers Last.fm's music recommendation engine. Armed with his knowledge of Last.fm, as well as help from the creator of the XSPF music playlist format Lucas Gonze, Jones has yet another chance to build a music discovery engine.

To try out some early demos and applications, visit playdar.org.

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Comments

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whats gonna happen when they scan all my music and the RIAA starts subpoenaing them for users information, assuming some people may have some not so legal tracks. Ill pass.

Posted by: cease | November 11, 2009 4:33 PM

cease - Playdar is a service that runs on your local machine. There is no central repository to subpoena and the service is aimed at getting the most from your own music. It's basically a way for websites to provide an interface for organizing your own collection.

If legitimate music services want to support Playdar, they are free to build resolving plugins. Of course they must have their own deals with the content owners, but that is being encourage by the project. Win win for everyone :)

Posted by: Toby | November 11, 2009 7:15 PM

Playdar is definitely something–a vital piece of the revolution (to join in for a moment with Wired’s enthusiasm–regardless of Wired, it’s actually true in this case)!

Also, I liked the questions you posed on pho — curious to see if the pholks engage them. I don’t feel qualified to answer, though I’ve always thought an “auditor” would be a nice complement to content resolvers, e.g., a way for users to tell musicians how good they (the users) are at paying for music (independent of where they pay).

Posted by: Luggage Straps | November 12, 2009 4:18 AM

Hi,
I am such a big fan of music when ever i free i turn on my i pod and listen music from it whole day...
I also searching for music info like lyrics albums singers and much more....
My favorite music types are sad songs , Fast Rock and Roll type songs and some really Hip Hop...
So this article will make me more better in music knowledge and also some kind of fun.....
Thanks for sharing some valuable info...

Posted by: dsi r4 | November 13, 2009 9:58 PM

You never own a piece of recorded music unless you've paid the author for master rights (ie, the record label). Any secondary transaction (consumer) creates a limited license to consume the product. Buying a cd or mp3 will not give you the 'right' to consume the same item in another way.

Posted by: puffa | December 17, 2009 1:01 PM