Are you armed with an argument Swordy ?

Every one seams to be well into the idea of the voting being up again, and seam to be looking forwards to the hustle and the bustle of the front row seats again?

Ok, I know I haven't been here long enough to see the full swing of the battle, but I might as well pitch my opinion.

I'm not against the battle, it's an interesting concept.
So...
1. I find myself voting for music the I enjoy or appreciate, to let the artist/band know how much I like their music. I can imagine seeing 20 odd people around the world thinking your music is worth 80% + or so, would feel quite good, and boost your morale. Also, those who don't thrive can understand there's something missing in their music and create music with more thought in the process.

2. I find myself voting for songs that are unique in their writing style, and which impress me, generally what I think makes a good song. However, a set criteria couldn't really be judged as easily as the overall competition.

3. I think I read somewhere that bandamp was a charitable organisation, and gets funding for this sort of thing... is this so? Anyways, I think an easy prize could be a small iTunes gift card (I think they can be sent over the internet) or a little funding to help set up a working account on tunecore or something similar to help get the music "out there". Just a couple of ideas... may not be best for some people though, an option from a set of prizes perhaps?

4. The monthly battles don't seem to pull many votes, maybe it would be better over 2 months or 3 months. This would save costs with prizes and would probably take a bit of competitive edge off the battle.

5. I think the community would be the same with or without the battle, but the battle does add a bit of light competition, a target to aim for, as long as it doesn't get too competitive, I don't see a problem with it.

6. Yes, I like voting for songs whether they are in a battle or not. But if they aren't the votes still mean the same thing (excluding the prize, which doesn't really mean all that much...) so, I think that songs that do get a high vote, but don't enter into a battle, still deserve a hall of fame imo.

7. I agree battle makes it sound like we're going against each other. It's more of a friendly competition. Competition/contest would be less agressive, but still... "best of" is good.

So there's my opinion, however valid it may be.
I'll be happy here either way.

Cheers

WB

I just had a thought, moments after my previous post.
"BandAMP Charts"
No battle, just an overall hall of fame thing. That way there's validation to keep voting, whereas after a battle finishes, the song shrivels up to die. So, maybe have a top 50 or top 20, and so, when a new song enters the list, it could earn the artist a prize and increase the level of consistent votes to get into the charts. Also, maybe it could be  a time thing, where it counts the votes from the a month previous to maintain in the charts. So... a time spent in the charts could put you in an overall hall of fame, or something along those lines...
What do you think?

WB

I really like the idea of  every 2 months voting tally  to charts thing,
 If the   "still in working progress songs/collaberation" forum happens (slaherx is looking into it and taking suggestions now),  that would separate songs not ready for  competitin/charts/voting,  out out the general audio review and if someone felt that their noodle, or unfinished song was good enough, they could enter it I guess.

 oh well  to tell you the truth  I don't have a problem with bandamp's set up now. I still think it's  good.

I stand by my suggestions made here

I mean, you know people are not disciplined or smart enough to upload their songs to the right forum. What one sees as a "finished track" can be seen as a "noodle" by another. Let's just keep it all to ONE Audio Review, with the addition of "Battle Stars" for songs that are in battles. Oh, I love the word battle! Contest, Battle, Competition, whatever you want to call it, is not the issue. Let's stick to the essence of what changes are to be made, before going into a philosophical discussion of whether a word like "battle" may or may not ward off unsuspecting music industry captains that otherwise would've made us all famous

Also, as for BandAMP charts ... We have a House Mix, right? I think the member's voting behaviour kindof control what songs are in there (not sure). Something I'm thinking of is a (semi automated) newsletter with for instance an advanced statistics page on there - what songs were rated highest last month, what member has posted the most comments last month, recent blogs, headers of the threads with the most views... That kind of thing. This might stimulate members to pay more attention to what's going on on the amp etc... But that's not important right now! First things first! Battle-Stars (I love that word!) and mandatory voting first!

I like your prizes idea, WritersBlock. Looks affordable to me and something to look forward to to winning. But that is not up to us to decide. But I can live without prizes too!

I've said what I wanted to say (three times now)
I will say no more, and wait and see what happens.

cheers!

YAY!!  HE'll say no more!!!  hahahahahahaha          ok... couldn't help it... Seriously though...  I like the battle idea in the essence that it does add some competition to the site... On the other hand, I think that people end up focusing on the battle more than the music...  They are so hellbent on winning they do underhanded things, and alot of people enter their songs in the battle, then don't vote on enyone else's song but expect people to vote for them...  basically what I'm saying is only a handful of people who were in hte battles before took it seriously.. the rest took it too seriously, or not seriously enough... 

Also, I have heard some people say they can't vote because they don't have enough time...  But they expect to be able to put their song in a battle, and compete for votes...  Well, I have to say to that, You can't enter a marathon, and tell them you can't run, because you have a meeting to go to,and expect them to hand you a trophy... You can only get out what you put in... If you aren't able to vote, then please don't enter the battle...

I know some other people only post the minimum comments, just enough to get a song uploaded...  then wonder why they don't get comments... hmm....

 I think the charts idea is a wonderful idea...  EZfolk.com has been doing that all along... It's a pretty nice setup.. you can even sell your music through the site...

  Anyway, that's all I have to say about that.. 

           JimK

So JimK, EZfolk.com have been doing for years what's been talked about for 'years' here?

You know what this whole thing reminds me of? The Rudolph Steiner 'Free' School, kids are only aloud to use 3 colours up to the age of 7, the idea being that when they go to the following year they are raving to go, and that the frustration of wanting to be more creative is meant to drive the children forwards!

bandAmp 'the site' is so frustratingly simple, because someone somewhere thinks that by giving us only 3 colours we are meant to be more creative???    I don't know!

bandAmp is a most wonderful place, 10% clarity/simplicity of the site, 90% members/community.
But time moves forwards and if the 'environment' does not change as it 'naturally' should then it causes a discord and unbalance.
Ipso facto, all these bloody posts!!!
I believe you dudes had a 'site update' a while before I became a member, I don't really know what it was 'updated' from, but there seams to be a need to move forwards again other wise it might get 'left behind', this is probably the negative side effect of the site being simple/free/charity based!

About the battle prizes, I don't know how it was done 'before' and I haven't entered any of my songs into a battle ( I'll just vote anyway, If I remember! ), I've come to the conclusion that I would gladly send a small amount of money to a central account somewhere to be then given as a prize to the battle winner!
Simply because bandAmp has become part of my life, and if that's what it takes to get the show on the road then so be it!

I first visited bandAmp 2 or 3 years  ago, and thinking back, as an innocent surfer the idea of a battle was quite exiting and not at all 'frightening', as I said yesterday 'somewhere' it's an AXE Battle, and Axemen know that! And love it for that!

I do like the charts idea too, and selling music on/though the site! I've come to appreciate PXs idea of every song in one thread, though I still think a Pro review and Collab review would really be excellent, ( as half measure, at least categories the songs).
But, no PX I don't agree with : "you know people are not disciplined or smart enough to upload their songs to the right forum".
You just see your self sitting there all / every night moving songs too and fro, and telling people off! lol

Hey I just had a wave! WHY cant the Axeman on the front page get some stars on his chest, Call him General Axe or something and use it as a theme, you know, "earn your stars at bandAmp!" "have you got what it takes to become a bandAmp General?" "bandAmp - It's a jungle out there!"
Sorry I play too much C&C!!!

BTW I have a page/post on another tab that has been loading for the past 2 hours, really! Somethings gone wally somewhere!

[edit] Page is still loading but when I check the page on another tab my comment has been posted!!!!!

BTW Swordfish, I'm starting to get irritated by your .GIF
Why don't you call yourself 'Swordcow' and put the dancing cow there instead, I love the cow!

Only kidding!



 

Ah yes, ofcourse

Joke or no joke, it's nice to see my input being so well appreciated around here.

All I'm trying to do is offer plausible ideas that can be implemented within a short time span, presenting them without getting waylaid and / or sidetracked in endless philophizing over improbable non-essential could be's and what if's. I'm just trying to help get things done around around here. I hope you are getting what I'm saying.