Music is well-suited for gamification. Two inspirations are the success of fantasy sports over 35 years with 50 million global users, and the limitations of current methods for cultural discovery and curation. Effective music gamification would be social, mobile, universal, and constantly evolving to connect people through discovery and sharing of new music across genres.

1. Gamifying Music
July 2012
Marc Ruxin, CEO/Co-Founder, TastemakerX
CONFIDENTIAL

2. Music Matters …
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3. It moves us ...
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4. Spans time and place ...
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5. In the old days we read, watched
and listened ...
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6. People turn people onto music ...
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7. But now algorithms have taken the place
of people and curation …
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8. Music is ripe for games …
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9. Two divine inspirations
1. True Gamification has only been successfully realized once:
 Fantasy sports: 35 years, 50M+ Global users from Cricket to
Football ….
 People looking at data. Limited licensing costs.
 Drive $4-5B in revenue for the sports industry
2. Cultural discovery is still a flawed, subjective art/science
 Collaborative filtering has obvious limitations (Amazon/Netflix)
 Pure algorithms are also imprecise (Pandora/Last.fm)
 Human curation at scale is still the most effective solution, but
most still happens through an editorial bias
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10. 1. It’s social ...
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11. 2. It’s mobile …
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12. 3. It’s universal …
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13. 4. It’s always evolving …
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14. 5. Never stopping …
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15. 6. Formats change,
but it’s the music that matters
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16. 7. Discovering music first is a game …

17. 8. Now we are all connected …
R&B Indie Rock
Hip Hop
Jazz
EDM
Blues
Classic Rock
Death Metal
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18. 9. It brings together niches of niches, so
you don’t feel like an Outsider.
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19. 10. Games need players who actively seek to
find the next big thing & share it …

20. 11. It’s a core social organizing principal …
Coachella or Bonnaroo?
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21. 12. Authenticity is core ...

22. 13. The best games have you yelling with joy …

23. 14. Games with inside jokes are usually the
most fun …

24. When I was younger I wanted to be …
…a tastemaker.
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