Voting site lets groups create joint playlists for events

Regular Springwise readers may recall Tony Player’s collaboration with Twones to share selections from club attendees’ personal online playlists with everyone on the dance floor. Aiming to bring a similar kind of joint musical decision-making to events of any kind, SongVote uses online contests to enable what it calls “collaborative playlisting.” Users of Texas-based SongVote begin by creating a contest on the site, including giving it a name and an end date and specifying who can participate and comment. Sharable invitations can be uploaded to encourage participation, while VIP codes can be used for targeted access. Contests can also be shared via Facebook. To add their two cents, participants can then visit the contest online and either vote for a song already listed or add a new one. For every song included, there’s an option to buy the MP3 from Amazon.com. Once a contests ends, an email with the jointly chosen playlist is sent to the contest’s creator along with the option to purchase the songs from iTunes or Amazon. While SongVote is aimed primarily at users planning weddings, dinner parties and other kinds of events, it could also be used by bands and performing artists to solicit feedback from fans, the site notes, such as on the setlist for an upcoming show or to compile a fan-decided “Greatest Hits” album. Lots of potential here for referral fees and more—one to localize…? (Related: Collaborative photo books help groups tell stories.)