A new revolution in online dating has emerged. Tastebuds.fm is a dating website that matches potential couples based on their music tastes.
In June this year, Tastebuds.fm was launched by two unlucky-in-love musicians. Almost six months on and the site has over 6,000 members and founders Julian Keenaghan and Alex Parish have left their jobs to work on the project full-time.
“Julian and I met when we formed a band, and we were both chatting about how in previous relationships we put a lot of emphasis on sharing music and enjoying music with partners, so we thought it would be interesting to explore the idea of matching people on the basis of the music they listen to,” Alex explains.
Both web developers, Julian and Alex were able to create their site, and Alex admits that its success was unexpected: “We were quite surprised that people took to it and really enjoyed the idea. It was thrown together for a bit of fun and when people started signing up we started taking it more seriously.
“The uptake of people coming on to it has kind of spurred us on to develop its features and make it as interesting as possible.”
Kate Heeley is one of those who loves the idea. She joined Tastebuds back in the summer:
“I heard about it [Tastebuds.fm] when it was all fresh and new. I thought it was a great idea, and had already tried typical dating sites, but not really found anyone I clicked with or seemed to have much in common with, so I was really keen to give tastebuds a try,” says Kate.
Although she has been on a date with a guy she met through the site, and another has become a good friend, Kate says that after moving from Grimsby to London, Tastebuds has been a great way to find a local ‘gig-buddy’:
“There’s always loads of gigs on, and sometimes friends aren’t always available or into the band you want to see. Tastebuds helps out there, ‘cos you can easily find someone who either likes that band, or is quite likely to like the band, based on it’s unique matching system.
“You can find people you have stuff in common with, that isn’t your average mundane dating site interests,” she adds.
And what does the future hold for Tastebuds.fm?
“We’re hoping to link up with ticket selling companies so that we can offer tickets on the site to gigs. Also we’re working on the idea of sharing playlists or mix tapes.
“Like when you were a kid and you had a crush you’d make a cassette tape. There might be a small charge for sharing a custom-made mix tape with someone, but the essential core service will always be free,” says Alex.