David Fishman is the CEO of uPlayMe. David graduated with a BA in Philosophy from The George Washington University, and was previously the vice president of business development with iLead Media.

Who are your main competitors?

Good question. The market place looks to Last.FM and iLike as our competitors. However, that is because right now our service is dependent on media players where music is the primary entertainment being played. We are very close to releasing a version of uPlayMe which significantly expands the types of digital entertainment that we can use to connect uPlayMe members to one another. Once this release happens we will re-asses the competitive landscape.

What advantages do you have over your competitors?

We do not have any content licensing challenges and our platform is extremely flexible. As media consumption grows so does the use of uPlayMe. We will read all forms of digital entertainment and show them in a user's playlist, offering people a greater understanding and connection with their friends. The inclusion of other digital entertainment, like TV shows and videos helps expand discovery and recommendation opportunities beyond the traditional music category. We are also focused on creating a living breathing community from within our desktop application, and not depending on a browser-centric experience. With our software there is a sense of immediacy: as soon as matches are found (where two people are listening to the same song) users can chat and learn about each other in real time right from the client. This focus outside the browser allows us to partner with existing social networks that most likely consider Last.fm and iLike to be their competitors.

How large is the company and where is it based?

We are based in NY and we are small team of 7.

Have you raised funding already?

We have raised funding.

What is your business model?

The company is focused on providing the most positive consumer experience possible. This allows us to present relevant advertising to users through our software. The company also generates commissions from sales off of Amazon and iTunes, as consumers click through our links that redirect to these sites to purchase songs etc... Finally we are building aggregate behavioral, demographic, and geographic information to help media companies, marketing agencies, etc....gain a deeper understanding of what entertainment is being consumed by a specific group of people. We never share personally identifiable information or even allow contact to a group. You can imagine how a music company would love to know the other artists a person is listening too after they play one of their songs.