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All ideas!

jkate	Date: March 9, 2003 @ 9:20 AM Well as I mentioned in the face life thread, I'm armed with Irish creme coffee and a lot of hyperactivity. I thought about it a lot and I think that we've beaten the admins enough. DMusic wants to make money, and they've taken steps towards that end (whether I agree with it or not is totally irrelevent and so is my opinion of the new Prez, this isn't my site), but I am hearing that people feel the community is at risk for sucking big time in the very near future. I don't want to leave DM permanently all pissed off and disillusioned. So I'm gonna stop being part of the problem and see if I can help. Cause it's my community too, and I don't want it to die. Or suck. Here are some ideas I have on community structure: 1. Listen to the community on things like font and button sizes. Really, it's a small change on your part and people are strangely protective (as you have seen). In the long run it saves you heartache and division in the community. The people who use it are the people who make it. 2. Involve the community more actively in DM picks. As suggested, perhaps the admin team can come up with 30-40 potential (screened) picks that the admin like, and then the top 20 voted on by the registered members become te DM picks for the month. This benefits in two ways: a) Encourages surfers who have friends in potential pick bands to REGISTER. More bodies on the site. b) They are more likely to listen to other songs and stick around rather than leave after looking at the site. (and maybe buy something...hiss) 3) Randomize the picks on every load to give each of the 20 picks the same shot at being heard first. Internet researchers (and this was Web Design 101) can tell you that the top 3 things that annoy and turn off surfers are: Scrolling, banner ads and chinese menu style pages (like Yahoo). If I know that every time I click on DM picks that I will see different songs at the top, I am that much more likely to keep hitting the page and listen, and comment. 4. Changes to the voting/commenting on songs. One of the biggest irritations for musicians on this site is that people will download their music and not comment or vote. Suggestion: When someone clicks on hifi, lofi, download, it will spawn the song in the player but then automatically redirect the user to the comments page for that song. Voila, you've eliminated that pesky "clicking" thing. Also in conjunction with this, duplicate the voting thumbs on the actual song comment page so people can comment and vote at the same time. Again, we've eliminated another click. Now, just with listening to the music, we've cut some bandwidth. With thousands of users, shaving 2 click/loads off your process will save you heaps.
jkate	Date: March 9, 2003 @ 9:25 AM 5) Rotate an all-genre pick list EVERY MONTH and limit it to 20 a month. Songs who get picked can get like a check mark icon put next to them to identify them as having been a DM pick at some point. It will also allow people just checking out bands to say "Hey, they were featured on DM, lemme listen" instead of looking and leaving.
rapidhopeloss	Date: March 9, 2003 @ 9:56 AM 6) Clean out the Bins more reguarly.
leflaw	Date: March 9, 2003 @ 9:58 AM Mp3.com. Right now here is where we are at: 1. we are in need of a new collocation facility and more bandwidth. 2. Better servers 3. redesign of network 4. redo the basic data base structure to accomadate a) indy labels and production companies b) multiple genre artists ( duh - all artists) c) all of the above. And we don't take in much money. This site loses several hundred thousand dollars a year. I also want to get into VIDEO! I have a video, and I can't even post it!!!" id="36060">I like it!!! Realize, however, that it may take MONTHS to implement some of this stuff simply because there some fundamental design assumptions that still have to be addressed. For example, I CANT FIGURE OUT HOW TO DEFEAT THOSE WHO WANT TO "GAME" the system. Michelle tells me that that was a major issue at Mp3.com. Right now here is where we are at: 1. we are in need of a new collocation facility and more bandwidth. 2. Better servers 3. redesign of network 4. redo the basic data base structure to accomadate a) indy labels and production companies b) multiple genre artists ( duh - all artists) c) all of the above. And we don't take in much money. This site loses several hundred thousand dollars a year. I also want to get into VIDEO! I have a video, and I can't even post it!!!
Jennae	Date: March 9, 2003 @ 10:28 AM ahhh this is beautiful! I love this! There is a thread floating around here somewhere as to idea's on how to create revnues too somwhere. _this_ is a great idea! Way to move in the right direction Kate! Now let's get some responses! I shall return with mine. Too early to think just yet, and I haven't finished my coffee. for kate and leflaw, information is good
jkate	Date: March 9, 2003 @ 1:52 PM Leflaw - I really hope I'm not being a smartass - but how many coders are working on your site? Housekeeping and small design changes could be handled by one or two people, while the bigger stuff is handled up the COC in tiers. What might help is actually putting one person in charge of the Pick Bin, and let them handle the coding to: 1. get the 30-40 potential picks 2. Setup the poll for the community 3. Have the ability to code in the 20 picks each month. that's a full time job. Then you could have someone dedicated to artist pages and making little upgrades there. Then someone dedicated to the forums and organize the leap to phpBB or whatever it will take. If you've got one person handling one thing, then changes are affected quicker and people don't lose hope in anything ever getting done
jkate	Date: March 9, 2003 @ 1:52 PM PS - and it doesnt look so overwhelming!
mcarp555	Date: March 9, 2003 @ 2:30 PM Taking MONTHS to accomplish major positive changes should not bother anyone who's really interested. Taking the community off the Mushroom diet goes a long way towards fostering patience and open minds. As for gaming the system, MP3 created that problem for themselves by dangling financial incentives in front of artists, then not giving them acceptable ways of achieving results. One effective way to cut gaming in half would be to not allow playlists to count towards any chart position or possible financial rewards to the artists. Combined with things like only allowing plays by registered members to count, and/or only allowing X number of plays within a 12 hour period (unless you put the song on your playlist), will go a long way towards smoothing out the efforts to push a song artificially. Gaming will always happen on some level, but if it's kept to a minimum, the impact will be slight. And if there's no financial incentive involved, it's even easier.
jkate	Date: March 9, 2003 @ 4:39 PM And too, we should implement electroshock therapy to one's genitals if they dare to game the D!
Vertices	Date: March 9, 2003 @ 5:29 PM The more I read about this site the more interested I am. Leflaw/Michelle & or whoever is in the stages of developing this as a business, this can be remarkable. You guys have done a great job of designing and implimenting this site... maybe just a new perspective is all you guys need. this is a great site... the few days I've been on it have really attracted my attention and I really think that it can only get better...
lordDeaconGreen	Date: March 10, 2003 @ 3:44 PM If U have no solution usally U can't mix tha chemicals together, Whether it is chemical X to Y but B sure that they don't seperate cause if they do that means that one is denser than tha other,and usually will float to tha top like vinagrette salad dressing, and then to make it work U got to work like by shaking it. Right now anyway, if U mix Baron w/ gold U get nothing Yet I don't know much about tha elements. Like how is gold an element if it comes from limestone... we put to much infasive on what is solution and what is mix... but forgive me I am just rambling w/o out knowledge so sue me right. Wrong... Anyway keep up tha good work on tha sight It's tha g-
Jennae	Date: March 11, 2003 @ 8:20 PM this thread needs to be revived!! great ideas are being brought fourth so far... still looking!!
leflaw	Date: March 11, 2003 @ 9:04 PM BTW, I never took a course in this stuff or ran a web company. I am doing this like the way I learn an instrument. I will get it right no matter how long it takes. Know what I mean?
leflaw	Date: March 11, 2003 @ 9:05 PM Also, each "band" or "artist" must pick one genre for all their music, which is absurd. I have fifty songs in thirty genre's to upload. To I have to open 30 accounts? Now imagine that this was the core design principle of dmusic, and we want to change it into multiple music originator/multiple genre data base records. We would have to pretty much start over again. That's where we are at. Patch? Rebuild, recode, start over with two design teams concurrently patching and building a new version? No easy answer. What we are doing is moving forward slowly, but surely. You won't see the earth move, but it will surely get built right over time. We are also gearing towards " scalability" , which simply means not having to redesign the site every time we have to add a server or a harddrive." id="36364">The main issue with this site, IMHO, is that it was not designed to handle production companies, record companies, or producers of music, as opposed to "bands". Bands are only one source of music. What about songwriters, singers, session players, multi-instrumentalists, weekend warriors, DJ's, rappers, lyricists, live tape collectors, etc.... Also, each "band" or "artist" must pick one genre for all their music, which is absurd. I have fifty songs in thirty genre's to upload. To I have to open 30 accounts? Now imagine that this was the core design principle of dmusic, and we want to change it into multiple music originator/multiple genre data base records. We would have to pretty much start over again. That's where we are at. Patch? Rebuild, recode, start over with two design teams concurrently patching and building a new version? No easy answer. What we are doing is moving forward slowly, but surely. You won't see the earth move, but it will surely get built right over time. We are also gearing towards " scalability" , which simply means not having to redesign the site every time we have to add a server or a harddrive.
Jennae	Date: March 11, 2003 @ 10:36 PM ahh yes but there lies the problem, what are the changes going to be made?? If you ask me Leflaw you have frikken kicked ass here. Dm is a great success... minus a few But Rebuild, recode, start over with two design teams, are possibilities. There is so much to be considered. Is it totally crazy to rebuild all the possibilities on a seperate site for a grand reopening later?? Incoorperating everything is almost harder than just recreating sometimes. And moving cautiously is key, back stepping sucks and is costly, that is if plan A ends up not being a sufficient attribute to plans B and C. I think you derserve on hellified THANK YOU for going the length you have though to allow all of us what we at least do have here at dm. Talk about a dedicated man.
Vertices	Date: March 12, 2003 @ 11:11 AM this is a thought on the right track... but you have to have the tie ins (sorry I'm just not into giving it all away)... but there's some fundumental questions that need to be answered to do all that. Just as a fram of reference, artists/musicians/bands, people in the industry are going to drive up your fixed costs of doing business (specifically in your computer/bandwidth requirenments), scalability will help the site grow but if you do those things, they'll grow so quick it'll put you out of business. (there are ways around this). but the direction you want to take is awsome... it's the right road. but - regarding redesign, depends what you want from the site. It's my guess based on the fact that there doesn't seem to be a business behind this, where people come to work, that rebuilding will be really tricky, and not successful, so I'd suggest getting everyone together to work and pre-produce the site. but I'm running off an a tangent... back stepping can be costly, as Jennae put it, but it could potentially be the most profitable thing you've ever done :- )~ If you're asking whether it makes sense to do that, then you don't have the right model/ideas yet. Funny thing is, this is a great site, but it's plagued by the same problems as most sites like this are. but, not to repeat myself, but this can make amazing money and do amazing things for artists.... I invision something that would break an artist, build careers, put artists on tour, connect artists with people, help develop markets, sell product, assist through education... that's got to sound good... and those are the side effects of the right model. ok, so I don't even know what I'm writing now or how I started on the topic... redesign, makes sense... but it has to really well planned, I'm not necessarily so much about the model, but how it's going to built. There has to be someone involved that has a good interconnect between technology and usefulness (I spelled that wrong)... I think I'm making it sound confusing but it's really quite easy. it has to be well organized... consideration made to marketing, creative and cost effective marketing... also how to keep it maintained once it's built. any ways... this is a great site, you guys have done a great job... " id="36436">"handle production companies, record companies, or producers of music, as opposed to "bands". Bands are only one source of music. What about songwriters, singers, session players, multi-instrumentalists, weekend warriors, DJ's, rappers, lyricists, live tape collectors, etc...." this is a thought on the right track... but you have to have the tie ins (sorry I'm just not into giving it all away)... but there's some fundumental questions that need to be answered to do all that. Just as a fram of reference, artists/musicians/bands, people in the industry are going to drive up your fixed costs of doing business (specifically in your computer/bandwidth requirenments), scalability will help the site grow but if you do those things, they'll grow so quick it'll put you out of business. (there are ways around this). but the direction you want to take is awsome... it's the right road. but - regarding redesign, depends what you want from the site. It's my guess based on the fact that there doesn't seem to be a business behind this, where people come to work, that rebuilding will be really tricky, and not successful, so I'd suggest getting everyone together to work and pre-produce the site. but I'm running off an a tangent... back stepping can be costly, as Jennae put it, but it could potentially be the most profitable thing you've ever done :- )~ If you're asking whether it makes sense to do that, then you don't have the right model/ideas yet. Funny thing is, this is a great site, but it's plagued by the same problems as most sites like this are. but, not to repeat myself, but this can make amazing money and do amazing things for artists.... I invision something that would break an artist, build careers, put artists on tour, connect artists with people, help develop markets, sell product, assist through education... that's got to sound good... and those are the side effects of the right model. ok, so I don't even know what I'm writing now or how I started on the topic... redesign, makes sense... but it has to really well planned, I'm not necessarily so much about the model, but how it's going to built. There has to be someone involved that has a good interconnect between technology and usefulness (I spelled that wrong)... I think I'm making it sound confusing but it's really quite easy. it has to be well organized... consideration made to marketing, creative and cost effective marketing... also how to keep it maintained once it's built. any ways... this is a great site, you guys have done a great job...
Jennae	Date: March 12, 2003 @ 4:22 PM Did I not mention we needed to corner this guy??? Um if not um... CORNER THIS GUY!!!!!
tragikmusic	Date: March 12, 2003 @ 4:24 PM And he even spelled usefulness right!!!
JFF	Date: March 13, 2003 @ 8:56 AM My idea concerns the My Playlists area. Is there anyway that a button could be added to randomise the numbers in the play order boxes?
Vertices	Date: March 13, 2003 @ 11:40 AM I just add that when I think I spell something wrong, it's always in the wrong place lol. Thank you Jennae... seth s.
JFF	Date: March 13, 2003 @ 12:06 PM I'm gonna go :spank: myself now for "gaming" the system. " id="36579">On the "Gaming" thing. I didn't realise that if you played one of your own tracks off the File Manager page, it counted as plays. I just noticed it. I always play 'em from there just to make sure they work & sound okay. Plays from there definately should not count. I'm gonna go myself now for "gaming" the system.
jkate	Date: March 13, 2003 @ 1:22 PM I noticed that too JFF - even from your artist page if you keep clicking on hifi or something it counts every time.
Jennae	Date: March 13, 2003 @ 2:08 PM *jen runs to self stream her way into the charts!!!
Jennae	Date: March 13, 2003 @ 2:11 PM deleting outbox would be a nice option, but we've already discussed that I better go delete some of my inbox messages, seeing that this is the only way that the outbox will clear. You must delete you in box, to get someone elses outbox message to delete. I recommend we all check for admin notes and delete those at least. Imagine just how many notes they have in their outbox! we need a DYIBM~ delete you in box movement
leflaw	Date: March 13, 2003 @ 6:00 PM Appreciate the vote of confidence. Its been a long haul, and its not over. Actually, just starting, IMHO.
thumbtack	Date: May 9, 2003 @ 4:38 PM I have 20 pages and thats just since March 13
VampireMoon1369	Date: May 10, 2003 @ 5:45 PM Give members points for donations? A thank you page listing who donated what? Or do it the RIAA way: sue people who buy yer stickers an stuff for copyright infringement...("we never said you could stick it to anything, thats not fair use") lol" id="45283">I'd like to see Dmusic stay as free as possible, but I understand that just being online costs money. I have nothing agaisnt seeing a big "Donate here and keep us free" button on every page, plus be prepared for EVERY form of donation ( I use the debit card over the phone btw ) PBS shamelessly asks for money all the time and I have more respect for Big Bird then Barney. (didnt Barney get sued for copyright infringement?) Give members points for donations? A thank you page listing who donated what? Or do it the RIAA way: sue people who buy yer stickers an stuff for copyright infringement...("we never said you could stick it to anything, thats not fair use") lol

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