I am double posting this one... here, and in the thread about the myspace page...


   I have to say again, That where I think it would be nice to grow this community, I think we need Mud to get more involved in this, this is his site, I mean, I tell people I meet who are into music, and recording, about the site.. But I am not about to start slapping stickers with Bandamp on it around town.. simply because:

        1. It's not my site, and I don't have the authority to do so.
 
       2. I don't think we want to get it so big it's hard to control and enjoy.

       3. We need to get with Mud to lay out some definite answers to what genres are allowed and not allowed.

   And we need to get with him to lay out more specific rules on language(foul, not nationality) Things like this...

  I mean, we are a friendly and wonderful community, of friends... We are like a family.. We don't always get along, or agree with each other, but we stick by each other, and even collaborate on tunes together.. it's wonderful..  And I really want to make sure we don't lose that...  I think that we could end up with this site overrun with MC Screwdriver, and G-honey with crappy generic rythms and rappin about shootin' m' ho.. We don't want that...  And if we get hooked up on Myspace, without having guidelines laid out and specifics, we are opening the site up for that...  We already get that every now and then, think of what Myspace could bring..  EEEeeek!

          So, until we get Mud's words, I think Upsizing is best left as an idea... 
    
                  JimK

interesting question...

though we all talk about how Mud needs to be involved in this... has any of the mods (the guys closest to him) even attempted to let him know about this idea?

it seems to me that we are all talking and then it gets said a few times: oh, mud would have to confirm that, so don't try to worry about it.

um.. should maybe (just maybe ) someone collaborate with mud on this?  We at least deserve an answer as to whether or not these things should be persued.

*wink wink* would a mod please step up?

Yes, I emailed mud and less than a day later this thread showed up here: http://forum.bandamp.com/Feedback/43437.html

May I also say, from a user standpoint and a moderator standpoint, I really don't think we want to turn this into a monster.... as it is right now, it's free and it's wonderful.. If we start muckin with it, there will be a need for larger servers, a programer will have to be pretty much exclusively working on Bandamp code all the time..  And this stuff requires money...  which means, ADVERTISMENTS.. it may also mean FEES...  so, now we have banners, and pop-ups we have credit card payments of $39 for a year... and we have lost our incredibly rare slice of pie in the sky..  I am not saying this is the absolute, but I am saying that at the minimal, we would have lots of ads on here, banners and or pop-ups...  which distract from it, and make it very cluttered...  I don't think we want that..

  We have to look at it from all angles before rushing into anything...  Upsize my fries, but not my community..

  ok, a bit over the top on that last line.. but you know what I mean..  I am not saying close our borders and lock off any new members, quite the contrary...  BUT, I don't think we want to turn this into myspace or launch or any other mega-musician site.... 86 percent of the artists I check out on those sites are pretty cheesy..  Most are not really talented at all... just posers tryin to sell mp3's and cd's they are tryin to produce themselves...  VERY few people get discovered on those sites, because it is too difficult to weed out the posers from the real musicians..  This site never was about discovering the next big thing..  This site was always about helping each other out.. befriending each other, and working together towards a common goal, music.. need help with recording, well, we got people who know a little about that...  Your stuck at a point in the song? Don't know where to go next with it?  upload it, and let's see if we have any ideas..  I think too many times people lose track of that...  That is Bandamp.. It's not a place that requires you to upload only songs that were recorded professionally and are complete and 100 percent radio ready, if it was, what would be the point? You owuldn't be uploading those kind of tunes here, those would go to the recording company who signed you...  This site is a wonderful tool to help you grow as a musician, and to enjoy each other's company along the way...  I personally have grown and changed alot due to this site...  I went from crappy recordings to pretty decent quality and my singing has improved, all due to my friends on here... 

   Yes, everyone should be able to enjoy it, and they are able to.... believe me, thanks to search engines, and such, it's pretty hard not to find Bandamp...  searching for just about anything brings up a bandamp page where it was discussed in a forum...  we are growing all the time... More people mean more time and more money..  noone gets paid to do this... this isn't a for profit site, it's free... 

                      JimK (mod)

i understand what you're saying, but not all parts of bandamp are as active as we would all like to believe.  i've been scratching my head over the lyrics forum, trying to figure out how to make it catch better. i understand that i can't expect perfection from every little niche in the site, but i don't know what to do with it.  we get people who just post their songs and expect others to worship them, and so they never start posting on the other members' songs.

and no... i don't think that making bandamp a paysite is a good idea.  that would be gay.

though, mud can handle the expenses-- he started this site with the intention to keep it pure.  he won't just bow out for the sake of a popularity contest.  BandAMP will stay pure, i'm sure.


Exactly!  i guess ulitmately, what i'm trying to figure out, is how to get members more mindful of the true purpose of this site.  we'll always have lazy members or people that join and post just 3 times before disappearing, but... there's got to be something that we can do to help encourage the whole interactive aspect of bandamp.  it seems to me that those who are really determined to find collaboration will find it indeed; but those who aren't quite sure how to start collaborating, and they are a little too afraid of someone biting their head off for posting a question adressing the matter... how do we help them?

is my concern clear?  i'm having a hard time explaining things today   is there any way to have the "BandAMP Management" take ahold of the site and do a little advertising within itself?  like, the Meet and Greet thing that happened.  i thought that that was the best idea since sliced bread.

What can BandAMP itself do more for it's members?

ps- something came to me the other day... along the same lines as the quote i made from JimkDaAdtman.  we forget the purpose of bandamp.  we're a community where people can get help with their songs.  personally, i would feel funny sticking a half-completed song that i need ideas for into the Audio Review forum.  how feasible is it to make a 2nd audio review forum section, like... a... "Work In Progress" section where the ones who need ideas can distinctly separate their work from the "finished" pieces that get put up in the normal Audio Review forum.  there would be no need for rating or voting on this forum.  the idea needs some work to discover a flawless way to integrate it, but what do we think?

This has actually been brought up more than once, and especially by us moderators and Mud in our conversations..  I think it would be great to have a whole Collaborations forum, to upload songs needing collaboration.. and a section for songs needing help to finish, perhaps called the Project forum...   These are excellent ideas... and would definitely get some more activity...  

[quote=TonightsLastSong]i've been scratching my head over the lyrics forum, trying to figure out how to make it catch better.[/post]

I'll be honest...  THe Lyrics review is a toughie, mainly because so much of it is subjective without hearing the way the author is hearing it... I mean take for instance Frogmorton Duff By JiminUK.. As you can see by the comments, it brings forth different images to different people...  I even took these lyrics, and put them to music, with his blessing Here And it was not even close to what he had in mind.. It also changes the mood of the lyrics, and makes the song entirely different..    So, I think to make it work, it would need to tie in with the audio review more, as well as a collaboration forum, if we ever get one...  For instance.. most people have at least a cheap web mic..  If you come up with lyrics, and you really can't sing, perhaps record yourself humming the melody, that way, at least we get an idea of what your thinking of...  But, we need to have the ability to upload to different forums for that...    Akkk, I'm writing another book. sheeesh... sorry...  Anyway, Great Ideas man..

                         JimK

Dear DOWNCHUCK

Ok u include a lot of questions and statements in the last paragraph of your post

Q.    Do you want more exposure? A larger audience?
R.    Yep.. of course… I think so…. exposure is good……….. but guaranteed exposure to the music industry would be a truly great feature. It’s the one thing that has constantly ticked me off……..a celebrity reviewer every now and then would be great

Q.    Do you want to see more musicians on the site?
R.    Yes and no…ok NO.. not really  it would be great 2 get back some of those who have gone quiet or are (as I reckon) watching from the sides
It would be fantastic if issues such as the battle and voting could be resolved before the site wanders off into bigger projects.
In other words bandamp needs to  sort out its own backyard.
It will be pretty difficult holding on to the ‘family’ ethos if loads more contributors arrive into an unfocused arena
The existing bandamp community is a true goldmine.

Q.       Would you like the community to stay just as it is?
 R.          No of course not……………….evolution is good…….

You said ---‘BandAMP may be obscure, but its link is seen by several million people each month, on the top of several high-traffic websites (noted simply as indie music).’

Please supply some data…………..say last months traffic data (as we never it)………and im not sure what  ‘on the top of several high-traffic websites (noted simply as indie music).’ Means, please explain.

To quote you
‘We can interface with myspace, posting data from the forum / blogs to an account. We can find a larger audience by expanding our linking. But do you want us to?’

My response is yes I would love u 2………..but not yet………there are issues within the existing community and programme that need to be sorted before we get inundated by visitors (welcome though they will be)

If we go wider at the moment the site will probably become very blurred………..especially to our newer inexperienced members

Bandamp needs to build on what it is and not cave in to what is expected

A true home for indie artists that care enough to listen 2 each other not just what is created by an algorithm that declares wot is cool

Well that’s my biggest post  ever


If you support this view………..some part or all please let me and  DOWNCHUCK  know

I wrote a post about starting a section dedicated to the collaboration
I think it's not far from your idea TLS
One of the thing that make bandamp great is the way member interact together musically
As for how to make bandamp more popular I think most of this debate is getting a bit too much
I'm sure lots of members have already a page on myspace me included and even if I agree that it's far from a great site I don't think it is such a threat
At the same time if we're talking about getting members some attention I personally think it's down to them isn't it?
It's obvious that some members have lots of talent and it's our goal to give them support and confidence but if they want to make the big step into the music business all we can do is cheer!
We have to be realistic and realize that lots and lots of people want to make it in that industry and talent is far from the only thing you need
I don't know if I want bandamp to be bigger it suit me the way it is but why not
my ego is not that big and I doubt very much that I could get a record deal someday
All I know is that I didn't join that site for that reason

All I'm thinking about is a links section with links to interesting sites such as (again) sellaband.com, tunecore.com, xampy.com but also to sites such as musicxp.net and kvraudio.com - you know, not just sites aimed at increasing one's chance of earning money with one's creative efforts, but also links to sites that may have useful services for the musicians on here. It would be very nice if we had some kind of "marketing team" consisting of some enthusiastic members who are specifically interested in doing that, just to help those who are interested get on their way, but that has not much to do with BandAMP itself. Ofcourse if this team forwards music to labels and whatnot, mentioning that the artist they're representing is based on BandAMP, then maybe the name BandAMP will start meaning something more.

Anyway I know it's all a wild idea but that's how I personally see things. BandAMP on myspace whatever, I couldn't care less... Or what swordfish says "guaranteed exposure to the music music industry", sounds very interesting, "a celebrity reviewer every now and then" however, I couldn't care less.

That's all, folks... (from my part)

i like the idea of a "marketing team".  it could very well produce some good results for those that have a hard time coming up with the results themselves   the members that are being helped would certainly have to be able to take critism though    That would certainly be a new intriguing aspect to bandamp, if there was a team that you could enlist the help of for the bettering of your music

wild ideas will never go anywhere unless we get wild

(what a terrible thing to be quoted on out of context!)

TLS

We get to talking about the same kind of thing but more if and why then how....

http://forum.bandamp.com/Feedback/43437.html