TastemakerX Lets Players Pick the Next Pop Star

Every year, millions of screaming teenagers send a new set of pop stars – like Justin Bieber, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga – soaring up the music charts.

Betting on which performers will cause audiences to swoon and spend money for CDs, downloads and concerts has always been a game played by music industry moguls.

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But maybe not any longer. A social media game as emerged that allows ordinary people to pick which bands and singers may someday rise to pop stardom.

The brainchild of Marc Ruxin and Sandro Pugliese, TastemakerX lists emerging performers like shares on an exchange. Game players can identify potential breakout artists and trade “notes” for each performer, Fortune notes.

An “IPO algorithm” in the game monitors the level of airplay for the 95,000 performers currently listed on TastemakerX at music streaming service LastFM, as well as Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) “likes,” and calculates the price of a performer’s shares.

Players who successfully predict the emergence of a popular performer get to boast about it.

TastemakerX’s founders hope to make some money from the game by providing information gleaned from users to media companies for use in marketing.