Guest post by Desiree Gamotin

Over the past few years, digital music services have been growing and spreading like wildfire, freaking out big record labels with their massive success rates and user following. But now, there’s a new generation of music streaming services that are using social media not only as the main tool in marketing music, but as the very foundation of its service to create more interactive listening communities. A step above our known favourites GrooveShark and 8Tracks, these sites offer a whole new user experience that is truly changing the way we share the music we love.

Image by photosteve101

Enter Turntable.fm, a free music site that sets you up with a DJ avatar that can pop in and out of virtual “listening rooms” generated by the users. Each DJ plays music for the audience in each genre-based room. The DJ’s popularity is determined by the users in the animated audience who vote on the songs by clicking on the “lame” or “awesome” buttons. (side note: Dear Facebook, yes please. Sincerely, Us.) The more fans and/or points you accumulate allow you to keep your designated DJ spot on the stage.

By combining music streaming, gaming, and chat rooms, founder Billy Chasen has created a fun, real-time way of discovering new music within a community. It’s as though you are right there in a multi-room club, bouncing from genre to genre and sharing a live music experience with a group of friends.

Though still a baby in comparison to popular music streaming sites and currently only available in the U.S, Turntable.fm is quickly gaining recognition, especially with guest celebrity DJs sneaking onto the virtual stage.

So how are music streaming leaders like Spotify, Rdio, and MOG upping the ante to stand out within the overcrowding market? By taking advantage of the social media platforms we know best, of course: Facebook and Twitter.

Though Spotify has been around for a few years now, making a Facebook account mandatory to access the site – as announced this past September – has allowed this music streaming service to integrate itself even deeper into the social media world and spread music faster. Same thing goes for Rdio, with what Rdio’s Chief Operating Officer, Carter Adamson calls a “Twitter for music” and MOG’s music buffet-style mobile-friendly service.

Whatever these services are doing, they’re doing it right. With Facebook compatibilities, vast music catalogues, and more and more features like gaming to maximize online listening, music streaming services are continuing to dominate the music industry, morphing it into a user-generated, interactive forum for all types of music lovers.