The Music Industry Rallies for Hangout

Hangout — part social media app, part music streamer — has pulled back its velvet rope, stacked with music from the biggest labels in the industry.

Why It’s A Hit: Social audio and metaverse platforms surged in popularity during the pandemic… and then quickly faded away. But Hangout’s sign-off by the music industry could give it enough legitimacy to be a serious player.

Between The Tracks: Hangout founder and CEO Joseph Perla is reviving the dream of Turntable.fm (which he was the CTO of over a decade ago) with his new platform.

• Hangout, developed by Turntable Labs, is an Animal Crossing-like platform where users can create avatars and start or join virtual listening rooms.
• The host of the room is the DJ, who can build and modify a playlist in real time, tweak elements of the song, and invite other participants to co-DJ.
• Listeners can move about the room and thumbs up or down the DJ’s setlist, which affects the room’s “Vibe Meter.”
• The platform, which is available online and as an iOS and Android app, will make its money via subscriptions and the sale of virtual goods.

Encore: What makes Hangout stand out is that Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group have all struck deals with the startup, giving the platform a library of roughly 100 million songs. That’s a major seal of approval, and it demonstrates Hangout was able to figure out a licensing deal right from the start that makes sense for all parties involved (and hopefully won’t lead to a UMG-TikTok situation). If users find the platform fun, expect a major artist to host an album first listening-session on the platform as a ticketed event.