Project Playlist

About Project Playlist

Project Playlist, later known as Playlist.com, was an early entrant in the digital music space, founded in February 2006 by Jeremy Riney. The service was created to allow users of social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook to create and share music playlists by embedding a music player widget onto their profiles. The platform operated by indexing MP3 files from various third-party websites rather than hosting the music directly.

The company saw rapid user growth, expanding from under 500,000 users in mid-2006 to over 40 million by 2008. This popularity attracted high-profile executives, including former Facebook COO Owen Van Natta, who served as CEO for a brief period in 2008. However, its business model, which relied on ad support and unlicensed music, led to significant legal challenges. In April 2008, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and a coalition of major record labels filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the company. This was followed by MySpace and Facebook banning the Project Playlist widget from their platforms.

Despite reaching settlements with all four major music labels by May 2010, the company struggled financially. In August 2010, Playlist.com filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing millions of dollars in debt to the record labels. The original service was eventually shut down on July 1, 2013, due to label requirements, and the site was acquired by Playlist Media, Inc., which relaunched it as a personalized internet radio service. This version of the service went offline in June 2015. As of June 2025, the Playlist.com domain is the parent brand for Mindbody, Booker, and ClassPass, focusing on the wellness experiences economy.