What's happening with the battles of recent? There doesn't seem to be many partakers. And not that many people voting either. Has something changed? Or does a lot of people think it's just a waste of time? 

well the battle participation has always been really low (especially since i joined the site anyways) and i havent had access to my recording gear in a while so thats why i havent entered anything but I always try and vote for all the songs.
its just a lonely quiet process i think

The battle system has been defunct for years. At some point the "current battle" list disappeared and no results were published anymore..

I remember a time when it still worked and people were actively participating every month. This was when a list of songs one hadn't voted to yet appeared on one's profile page (or was it even every page one would visit?) so there was a constant reminder that there was a battle going on, and getting rid of the list could only be done by voting to each and every song on it. After the battle the results would be posted. Although there ever was only 1 person who received a physical prize, but that's not the issue even.

When that list of songs was removed from the site, voting behaviour in general started to plummit. The battles were still there just not as obvious, and some months no single song received enough votes to be eligible for a ranking at all.

So even if the battle system would be repaired code-wise, our member's voting behaviour would still keep it sadly defunct...

It's a shame really. I really think this is a great medium for songwriters and musicians to parade their work and get feedback that's going to help them develop. I guess also it's a great feeling to win something and know that there are people out there who are on the same wavelength. You can obviously just search for stuff and review them as you like, but a battle gives it a bit more excitement and something to aim for when you're producing your music. It could almost be a stepping stone (even if a small one) to something bigger. But it sounds like it's a matter of telling this to BandAmp so that they can put back in place what they had before. It would really increase participation in the site, I think.

TK has it on his list to do - don't know when?

Hey, we're all busy - even my "fluid-width" project has been put on hold lol.

Just post in audio forum - you'll get a great response there, and once battles are integrated more then those will become more popular, that's for sure.

We mainly need more members.  I'm going to a music camp this summer and I'll ask them to put out an announcement recommending bandamp as a place for all of the students attending the camp to go to after they're done attending, or to learn more about music!