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Does the app feature music by musicians? As a musician that's what I'd expect to see myself, because seeing a bunch of people only talking about what they do is
by winternett 2y ago
Does the app feature music by musicians? As a musician that's what I'd expect to see myself, because seeing a bunch of people only talking about what they do is useless in terms of conveying style and skill. It also enables scammers and fraud if people aren't required to at least upload a video of themselves in action.
Back in the old days, we had a local paper that allowed musicians to connect from a classified section, and boy was it scary meeting some of the strangers that posted in there to jam.
- wheels 2y agoThere's a simple website for where I live (Berlin) which is basically musical want ads. Biggest problem is that while it allows it, most musicians don't include an audio clip. People self-describing their musical ability is almost entirely useless.
- pg5 2y agoSince this is the first iteration, I went the easiest route where people link their SoundCloud/Spotify/or Youtube channel. I considered having MP3 uploads or even video uploads, but didn't seem worth it building a transcoding/streaming system, when someone could still upload things that is not them playing. Another idea is to "verify" linked Spotify accounts by having the artist place a short random code in their Spotify bio, to prove they are actually the artist.
- wheels 2y agoYou're missing the bulk of the already small market if you're assuming people signing up for your app will universally have Spotify tracks up or their own YouTube channel. Soundcloud is more likely, but still not a given, as it's geared towards mostly finished tracks. Hint: the most sought after band members are bassists and drummers, and they don't tend to do solo tracks. You want people to be able to have a low quality video of them noodling or playing along to something for 30 seconds.
- hyperadvanced 2y agoI think, fwiw, I would rather work with someone who has the drive and motivation to finish a track of their own than merely recruit a noodler. I think that from a management perspective, I would also abhor opening up any sort of video/audio sharing because then you’re a target for the majors and you get DMCA’d into the ground when kids start uploading their remixes of Taylor Swift songs or whatever.
- wheels 2y agoI work in the music industry. An important thing said once to my arrogant twenty something self by a product manager: "Our market is amateurs. The pro market is a unsustainably tiny." There's basically no product in the music industry that can be supported by just pros. There just aren't very many of them. And again, most drummers and bass players don't create complete tracks on their own, and they're the main thing people are looking for. And honestly, a lot of drummers and bass players don't want to come into a band where the guitar player has already decided what the bass and drum parts should be. You can get a lot from listening to sketches / noodling. (By noodling I mean mainly improvising something unaccompanied, not necessarily trying to win the gold medal at guitar gymnastics.) I'm a bass player. A younger version of myself lived from playing bass for a couple years. I still play quite a few gigs. I very, very rarely produce tracks (one every few years), and there's very little of my bass playing online.
- hyperadvanced 2y ago
- jimbokun 2y agoWould be cool to have a version of this app that banned photos, and only allowed music samples as an introduction.