TastemakerX: faux stock exchange game for music fans

TastemakerX is a new mobile social game that creator Marc Ruxin says lies somewhere between "Hollywood Stock Exchange for music and fantasy sports for music." Marc is a veteran media industry future-thinker who happens to have excellent taste himself in music (and books and films), so if anyone can pull off a music discovery system wrapped in a massively multiplayer game, it's him. At left is Marc talking about TastemakerX and the gamification of culture at the recent ad:tech conference. TastemakerX

• [Kurt Benbenek]

  At first glance, this looks like a modernized version of Monopoly – except instead of Park Place you have  Johnny Cash. Maybe the game has more interesting aspects upon closer inspection : )

  • [Adam Pearce]

    It looks much more similar to a stock trading game then monopoly.

    http://help.tastemakerx.com/customer/portal/articles/379731-what-is-a-trade-

• [Katy Garlinghouse]

  TastemakerX is currently in private beta but the first 1000 BoingBoing users can get into the Beta (could come in handy at Coachella this weekend). Go to http://www.tastemakerx.com/promo_code and use the promo code “OingoBoingo”. You can then download the TastemakerX app from Apple app store. Enjoy!

• [Smerdis]

  So, you need an iThing to participate? Huh. Maybe that’ll change when it goes out of beta… maybe I’ll stumble across it again when that happens, maybe not.

• [Guest]

  Sounds like you really didn’t even try it, David? Did someone force you to write this?

  • [David Pescovitz]

    I never said I tried it. My post is obviously not a review.  But I have heard good things about it and I like what Marc has done in the past. 

    This is my blog and nobody forces me to write anything.

    • [Ian Bridwell]

      I liked your un-edited reply better…

• [sharon_marsh]

  super stoked that guy has ‘excellent taste himself in music (and books and films)’ and while i do notice ‘games’ suspiciously absent from that list– good thing he’s got buzzwords like gamification to let me know he’s not a douche.

• [Cameron Postelwait]

  Bieber for the 100B market cap..

• [annoyingmouse]

   So… Popex?

  • [rachel]

    glad I’m not the only one who thought that! none of my friends have ever heard of PopEx, I used to spend far too long on that website :)

• [Ian Bridwell]

  Anybody else see a problem with trying to “monetize” a relationship between brands and music? It seems like music is too close to art to be branded in the same way as sports. 
  If my favourite artists “sold out”, I think I’d loose some respect for them. Shouldn’t there be space in our culture to support art without making it whore itself out?

• [tedrock]

  Sounds a lot like a site that has existed for the last four years called “thesixtyone” where users can discover music and earn points when others like tracks they have ‘liked.’ Bands can also get in on the act and sell their music and products directly to their fans… 

  from http://www.thesixtyone.com
  “On thesixtyone, new artists make music and listeners decide what’s good. We’re nurturing a growing ecosystem where talented folks can sell songs and merchandise directly to their fans. Unlike a record or distribution deal where they only make $1-2 per album (if they ever get paid, that is), artists on thesixtyone make at least $7 per album and are paid every 30 days — no wait for recoupment and no complex royalty schemes!

  thesixtyone, inc. was created in 2008 on the basis of yielding the highest annual dividend of auditory happiness for our shareholders across the universe.”

  • [Jason Weisberger]

    I’ve been a big fan of thesixtyone.com for a few years. Has introduced me to some great music long before it hit the mainstream.

• [Evan G.]

  “The game that people play around music, which is the game of ‘I was into that first.’”

  Great…let’s make being an insufferable douche needing to impress others with your taste into a game. Awesome! 

• [Todd Watson]

  Cool Idea

• [Jason Brown]

  Too many bands aren’t on here. It’s gonna be hard to make fake millions if I can’t invest in Purity Ring now…