4 ms·

Thanks! Good question, I think it's probably mostly a mental block on being "done". There was always "one more feature" I wanted to add before trying to market

by grose 4y ago

Thanks! Good question, I think it's probably mostly a mental block on being "done". There was always "one more feature" I wanted to add before trying to market it. The feature I can most think of right now is playlists. They are supported in Subsonic but not the web UI. Currently I have exactly 2 customers, who are pretty much friends helping me test. The good news is the site is optimized for being set-it-and-forget-it (all serverless arch) so just having one customer is enough to break even.

kristopolous 4y ago
I can't experience this easily. Have a really small demo tier or a demo account, say with public domain classical and jazz standards, just something basic. The demo tier could be phone number based, then a write once system, let's say 100mb ... something really token. You could even have a few sample tunes everyone gets by default. Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin is in public domain for instance as are say, the rags of Scott Joplin, Debussy's Deux Arabesques, etc. If that doesn't onboard people then have a no-hassles 7 day refund. If someone gives you money but then decides they don't want it, have it built in the interface they can back out for 100% money back in 7 days.
- grose 4y ago
  That is a great idea. I definitely need a demo page.
  - kristopolous 4y ago
    oh i see you do have a 14 day demo ... it wasn't clear to me. that's a design issue. You need to push the lede up. "Free 2 week demo. No credit card needed. [Try it now]" "Register" is too committal ... try things like "get started" or "try it out" - more action, result and experience oriented. Lastly on the technicals, look into https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/MediaSession/setActionHandler https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/MediaSessio... this will allow you to navigate through things when listening over bluetooth using the media buttons. I'm sorry for the rather advanced example but here's how I use it to navigate through hierarchy with double and triple tapping: https://github.com/kristopolous/music-explorer/blob/master/web/scripts.js#L165 https://github.com/kristopolous/music-explorer/blob/master/w...
    - reitanqild 4y ago
      > "Free 2 week demo. No credit card needed. [Try it now]" > "Register" is too committal ... I actually didn't notice the "No credit card needed" until I had written a long explanation :-) That is how hard the "Free demo" has been abused to snag my credit card, so maybe experiment with some variations as long as it doesn't delay launch :-D (FWIW: personally, with my background and as a non-native speaker, "register" doesn't sound as scary as "Free 2 weeks demo".)
      - kristopolous 4y ago
        You gotta pair it with "no card needed" otherwise it sounds suss. There's other ways. "Upgrade to a paid account if you like it" works. "Upgrade" implies work. "Paid" implies the work is paying. Thus the thing you're currently engaging with doesn't need payment. You can also call it "Free tier" which has "14 day expiration" as a stipulation. There's no best practice here because it's dependent on the product, value proposition, where you are in the funnel and who the customer is. They'll perform differently and counterintuitively and most frustratingly, change over time (because the context of the relationship between your prospect and product is always dynamic) The truths that do hold are, 1. Make it sound casual 2. Avoid hustle language 3. Give an easy exit strategy 4. Make it clear and direct
  - kristopolous 4y ago
    ok tried it out. I don't think I'm your customer here. I think the parting advice I can give is <all products are relationships>. The interface and experience defines this relationship. We shape our buildings and thereafter they shape us or the interface sets the terms of the engagement or the medium is the message. It's been stated a myriad of ways. I kinda hated "Selling the invisible" by Harry Beckwith but out of the 100 or so marketing and product development books I've read, I think, for you in particular, a weekend paging through that book might really help you here. You have to read it as an analogy of how to design software of course.
- kashunstva 4y ago
  > Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin is in public domain for instance as are say, the rags of Scott Joplin, Debussy's Deux Arabesques, etc. I could be wrong about this, but aren’t individual performances of these works still protected? If I record an album of works by Debussy that performance isn’t in the public domain and couldn’t be used as sample tracks.
  - kristopolous 4y ago
    Yes. But they can also be in the clear depending on who does it and how they choose to license it. If the performer doesn't mind and the work is public domain then it's an easy path For example, here's the famous Waldstein by Beethoven performed explicitly as a free and open recording https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ludwig_van_Beethoven_-_sonata_no._21_in_c_major_%27waldstein%27,_op._53_-_i._allegro_con_br.ogg https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ludwig_van_Beethov... Funny apocryphal story about that song. For a long time I had got in my head that was extremely disruptive for the time. I envisioned men with powdered wigs running distressfully throughout the aisles as he plays the work for the first time as their wives fan themselves and couch faint in the seats. I still think that every time I hear it and I think it's hilarious to imagine European high society losing their composure over this sonata. This and Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 are ridiculously close to modern music structure. That's a 110bpm breakbeat done with violins you're hearing.
    - 2b3a51 4y ago
      A source for Creative Commons (not pd) classical music... https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/music https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/music These are recordings of live performances by a variety of musicians from a long lasting podcast series. Licence https://www.gardnermuseum.org/organization/rights-reproductions https://www.gardnermuseum.org/organization/rights-reproducti... and scroll down. https://musopen.org/music/performer/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum/ https://musopen.org/music/performer/isabella-stewart-gardner... I've just discovered that the ISGM library has been uploaded to musopen.org which is good as the ISGM Web page has a pretty basic search function.
mcsniff 4y ago
I've built sites like this; clear, concise, to the point. Not many people used them. Once I started adding a bit more "flair" to it, things got traction. I'm not talking a complete redesign, but I too had to go back to capitalizing words, adding color, and caring about the "experience" for the market I was aiming to capture. I hated it, I still do, but I hate it less after seeing success with the changes I was willing to concede on. Just sayin'.
- grose 4y ago
  Yeah I feel you. It might feel kind of like "selling out" but making it professional is almost certainly the better choice for things like this, especially if you have to pay money for it.
- tombofry 4y ago
  As a concept I absolutely LOVE no-BS sites like this. The downside is that they make the service appear simple enough that I could code one myself, specific to my needs, and/or self-host it - inevitably neither happen! - so I just don't sign up in the end.

by grose 4y ago

kristopolous 4y ago

I can't experience this easily. Have a really small demo tier or a demo account, say with public domain classical and jazz standards, just something basic. The demo tier could be phone number based, then a write once system, let's say 100mb ... something really token. You could even have a few sample tunes everyone gets by default. Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin is in public domain for instance as are say, the rags of Scott Joplin, Debussy's Deux Arabesques, etc. If that doesn't onboard people then have a no-hassles 7 day refund. If someone gives you money but then decides they don't want it, have it built in the interface they can back out for 100% money back in 7 days.

grose 4y ago
That is a great idea. I definitely need a demo page.
- kristopolous 4y ago
  oh i see you do have a 14 day demo ... it wasn't clear to me. that's a design issue. You need to push the lede up. "Free 2 week demo. No credit card needed. [Try it now]" "Register" is too committal ... try things like "get started" or "try it out" - more action, result and experience oriented. Lastly on the technicals, look into https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/MediaSession/setActionHandler https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/MediaSessio... this will allow you to navigate through things when listening over bluetooth using the media buttons. I'm sorry for the rather advanced example but here's how I use it to navigate through hierarchy with double and triple tapping: https://github.com/kristopolous/music-explorer/blob/master/web/scripts.js#L165 https://github.com/kristopolous/music-explorer/blob/master/w...
  - reitanqild 4y ago
    > "Free 2 week demo. No credit card needed. [Try it now]" > "Register" is too committal ... I actually didn't notice the "No credit card needed" until I had written a long explanation :-) That is how hard the "Free demo" has been abused to snag my credit card, so maybe experiment with some variations as long as it doesn't delay launch :-D (FWIW: personally, with my background and as a non-native speaker, "register" doesn't sound as scary as "Free 2 weeks demo".)
    - kristopolous 4y ago
      You gotta pair it with "no card needed" otherwise it sounds suss. There's other ways. "Upgrade to a paid account if you like it" works. "Upgrade" implies work. "Paid" implies the work is paying. Thus the thing you're currently engaging with doesn't need payment. You can also call it "Free tier" which has "14 day expiration" as a stipulation. There's no best practice here because it's dependent on the product, value proposition, where you are in the funnel and who the customer is. They'll perform differently and counterintuitively and most frustratingly, change over time (because the context of the relationship between your prospect and product is always dynamic) The truths that do hold are, 1. Make it sound casual 2. Avoid hustle language 3. Give an easy exit strategy 4. Make it clear and direct
- kristopolous 4y ago
  ok tried it out. I don't think I'm your customer here. I think the parting advice I can give is <all products are relationships>. The interface and experience defines this relationship. We shape our buildings and thereafter they shape us or the interface sets the terms of the engagement or the medium is the message. It's been stated a myriad of ways. I kinda hated "Selling the invisible" by Harry Beckwith but out of the 100 or so marketing and product development books I've read, I think, for you in particular, a weekend paging through that book might really help you here. You have to read it as an analogy of how to design software of course.
kashunstva 4y ago
> Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin is in public domain for instance as are say, the rags of Scott Joplin, Debussy's Deux Arabesques, etc. I could be wrong about this, but aren’t individual performances of these works still protected? If I record an album of works by Debussy that performance isn’t in the public domain and couldn’t be used as sample tracks.
- kristopolous 4y ago
  Yes. But they can also be in the clear depending on who does it and how they choose to license it. If the performer doesn't mind and the work is public domain then it's an easy path For example, here's the famous Waldstein by Beethoven performed explicitly as a free and open recording https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ludwig_van_Beethoven_-_sonata_no._21_in_c_major_%27waldstein%27,_op._53_-_i._allegro_con_br.ogg https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ludwig_van_Beethov... Funny apocryphal story about that song. For a long time I had got in my head that was extremely disruptive for the time. I envisioned men with powdered wigs running distressfully throughout the aisles as he plays the work for the first time as their wives fan themselves and couch faint in the seats. I still think that every time I hear it and I think it's hilarious to imagine European high society losing their composure over this sonata. This and Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 are ridiculously close to modern music structure. That's a 110bpm breakbeat done with violins you're hearing.
  - 2b3a51 4y ago
    A source for Creative Commons (not pd) classical music... https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/music https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/music These are recordings of live performances by a variety of musicians from a long lasting podcast series. Licence https://www.gardnermuseum.org/organization/rights-reproductions https://www.gardnermuseum.org/organization/rights-reproducti... and scroll down. https://musopen.org/music/performer/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum/ https://musopen.org/music/performer/isabella-stewart-gardner... I've just discovered that the ISGM library has been uploaded to musopen.org which is good as the ISGM Web page has a pretty basic search function.

mcsniff 4y ago

I've built sites like this; clear, concise, to the point. Not many people used them. Once I started adding a bit more "flair" to it, things got traction. I'm not talking a complete redesign, but I too had to go back to capitalizing words, adding color, and caring about the "experience" for the market I was aiming to capture. I hated it, I still do, but I hate it less after seeing success with the changes I was willing to concede on. Just sayin'.

grose 4y ago
Yeah I feel you. It might feel kind of like "selling out" but making it professional is almost certainly the better choice for things like this, especially if you have to pay money for it.
tombofry 4y ago
As a concept I absolutely LOVE no-BS sites like this. The downside is that they make the service appear simple enough that I could code one myself, specific to my needs, and/or self-host it - inevitably neither happen! - so I just don't sign up in the end.