5 ms·

Ask HN: Review my startup, HipHopGoblin.com (Pandora + HypeM + Hip Hop)

33 points by zackattack 17y ago

It's been impossible for me to find a job, as per this thread: [http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=754426]. ctb9 and I started emailing, and he encouraged me to work on a project, so I pursued one of my ideas and made a Hype Machine/Pandora tool for the newest songs in Hip Hop. It took me a week to build this prototype. It is built in Flash/ActionScript, PHP, and MySQL. I use PHP to parse blogs and then download files, which took some engineering. It uses item-based collaborative-filtering techniques for music recommendation. Music storage is on Amazon S3. I hope you like it.

zackattack 17y ago
Click Me http://www.hiphopgoblin.com http://www.hiphopgoblin.com
aditya 17y ago
This is awesome. Currently background for a (hopefully regular) cooking session. 1) Don't make it autoplay - "Press play to get started" is much, much, much better 2) Ask me for artists I like and make recommendations 3) Ask me for friends that are also on hiphopgoblin and let me see (and play!) their likes/dislikes 4) Make the player pop out and keep the music playing when I open top 50 somehow (new window?) 5) Can I get some visual feedback when I thumbs up something? Absolutely love the low barrier to entry!
- ujjwalg 17y ago
  Seriously, this is awesome. I love it. 1) Autoplay in my dictionary is fine, it saves me time to figure out what to do next. 2) and 3) +1 4) -1 Question: are you planning to monetize it? if so, how? what about copyright?
  - ujjwalg 17y ago
    Another thing I really liked is I dont need to register and it will remember my preferences, I am not sure how, though.
    - sid 17y ago
      im sure if you clear out your cookies you will loose your preferences. If you dont loose them then yes id be curious as to .. "how !"
    - zackattack 17y ago
      Cookies! Nam nam nam.
  - zackattack 17y ago
    I'm going to do my best to avoid copyrighted tracks on the site.
- shawndrost 17y ago
  Re: autoplay: would you have advised Myspace similarly? Do you think they would have done better if they had? To me, "autoplay is the devil" is one of those complaints like "support openid" or "doesn't work on linux" that comes up a lot on hn and that you're probably better off ignoring.
  - aditya 17y ago
    How do you feel now? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=771935 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=771935 :P
- aptimpropriety 17y ago
  To add to this list - 1) Add an in-browser audio control I had to mess around with my equalizers to get it to sound right (bass static problem), and I'm sure we all have memories of scrambling to lower volume when controls aren't nearby.
  - zackattack 17y ago
    This seems like a high-demand feature request. I'll put it high in the priority queue. Expect it some time this week. (Ugh. I hate that I'm committing myself..but I also love it ;)
- oman121 17y ago
  Can you make it so that the top fifty list is a series of links that allows one to play the songs in the list directly?
  - zackattack 17y ago
    That's an excellent idea. I'm going to add in this feature soon. It's just sort of tricky with respect to UI.. I'll figure something out. Let me know if you have any ideas?
  - zackattack 17y ago
    Done & done. http://www.hiphopgoblin.com/top.php http://www.hiphopgoblin.com/top.php
- zackattack 17y ago
  Thanks for the appreciation. #3 - Wow, that's advanced! Way down the road, but I'll keep it in mind for the pipeline. #4 - As per your suggestion, target="_blank". Good idea. Thanks. #5 - Right now the thumbs up becomes bolded, but if other people are also having the issue, I'll see if I can change it to something a little more obvious. Thank you so much for your support!
brk 17y ago
This is awesome. Love it. Added a link to my precious bookmarks toolbar space. Is it best voted of all listeners, or does it remember my preferences? It implies the latter, but wasn't sure. Suggestion: find a way to detect excessive auto-tune use and auto downvote those songs :)
- zackattack 17y ago
  I am honored that HHG found its way into your precious bookmarks toolbar space :) Right now it works with your preferences, and tries to match you with songs voted up by people with similar preferences.
alaskamiller 17y ago
Took me a bit of time to realize it's just one gigantic Flash app, I kept trying to highlight the song name but couldn't. But I love love that I can squeeze the Safari browser window to just 377 pixels wide and have everything scale and still usable. Love it.
- zackattack 17y ago
  Thanks for the love, and I'm sending some back right your way.
physcab 17y ago
Are you using Pandora to grab music recs? The recs are surprisingly good!
- zackattack 17y ago
  Thank you! I'm actually using item-based collaborative-filtering: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slope_One http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slope_One
ljharb 17y ago
I like it - but ABSOLUTELY turn off autoplay. Autoplay is the devil. Don't force choices on users by playing audio for them - and if someone doesn't know how to push "play" then they don't deserve to hear music.
krisneuharth 17y ago
This is great. A couple of things that come to mind. 1) It would be nice to maybe have a replay option in case I really like the song. 2) It would be nice to be able to go back also in case I accidentally hit next. 3) It would also be cool to see where your crawler found the song, credit in the right places never hurts.
- zackattack 17y ago
  Sure, I can add in a replay feature. The thing is, I don't add in history for songs that you skip. So if you skip a song, and then you hit "replay", it won't be able to find that song. Is that okay? If it's not, I could always adjust the architecture. But let me know. As for credit, yep, I keep track of everything and want to make sure the UI shines. But I'm working on an "advanced" version of the site, with more info.
jrnkntl 17y ago
Great! Works like a charm. Obvious way to monetize; link to Amazon or any other affiliate music store for every track (and show a cover ;))
- zackattack 17y ago
  I'm glad it's workin' for ya. Do you know which affiliate programs offer the best conversion rates, and which make it easiest to sign up?
qeorge 17y ago
I'll be that guy: this seems illegal. What's the plan there? (I like the site a lot, and hope it lasts.)
- ctb9 17y ago
  Most the songs featured are from mixtapes, implying they have been released for free and the artists are encouraging fans to distribute and remix as they please. Unfortunately, this also limits the 'obvious' monetization strategy of affiliate linking to amazon. EDIT: Long-term though, it will be tough to avoid scrutiny/prosecution while building a profitable business. Follow the grooveshark model and pass the liability onto the users?
  - fatdog789 17y ago
    It's not enough that the mixtapes "imply" free release. You actually have to get permission from the artists (and songwriter), or you're fucked. Statutory damages are in the hundreds -- per song. BTW, grooveshark's model was not to pass liability onto the users. It charges premium subscriptions, and sells ads, and uses that money to pay the web-music license to the music licensing corporation. Monetization is possible, using Amazon affiliate links. Just be aware that if you don't seek permission, you're liable for every penny you earn (regardless of costs), plus the above mentioned statutory damages. EDIT: note that for songs distributed by a major label, the artist may not own the copyright, so you may have your work cut out for you. The easiest way to avoid the hassle of getting individual permission for each song is to sign a licensing agreement with the music licensing corporation. The most expensive way to go would be to do nothing at all, since the record labels will go after you if they think there's any money to be got.
- rtrunck 17y ago
  I agree, this site will likely violate various copyright laws, in the US and abroad. Check out http://www.soundexchange.com/ http://www.soundexchange.com/ to find out information on how to comply in the US, etc.
dpcan 17y ago
What if the hottest songs linked to Google searches so I can hit the artists' sites and listen there or buy? Not sure if this is OK to do or not though.
- zackattack 17y ago
  That's an excellent monetization idea. I'll try to keep a list of artists' websites in the database. Ahh... lots to do.
p01nd3xt3r 17y ago
This is dope dude... good work.
- zackattack 17y ago
  Thank you sir, thank you
pj 17y ago
very nice. volume selector would be nice.
- zackattack 17y ago
  In the works, I'll shoot off a tweet on @hiphopgoblin when it's ready.
mahmud 17y ago
Unreal! bookmarked, and sent it off in a blast to my old crew. Can you make it so that I can share playlists with people? I wanna play the same song to multiple people at the same time.
- zackattack 17y ago
  Awesome. That feature will be in the works, along with top 50 and such. Be sure to follow @hiphopgoblin on twitter for updates.
movix 17y ago
It's great - how are you going to protect it? Any IP in there anywhere? I can sense someone building www.classicrockgoblin.com as I type. Nice work.
- zackattack 17y ago
  Thank you very much. I'm not sure if there's any IP really; and while I would love to build CRG.com, it's so much energy to just work on HHG. . . though potential partners should surely contact me!
  - movix 17y ago
    I'm really curious as to how you deal with licencing, PRS etc. I like your app though, as a big Spotify user myself, I think you have a little niche going. Big question for you - how you gonna monetise this? Not digging for trade secrets of course :)

33 points by zackattack 17y ago

zackattack 17y ago

Click Me http://www.hiphopgoblin.com http://www.hiphopgoblin.com

aditya 17y ago

This is awesome. Currently background for a (hopefully regular) cooking session. 1) Don't make it autoplay - "Press play to get started" is much, much, much better 2) Ask me for artists I like and make recommendations 3) Ask me for friends that are also on hiphopgoblin and let me see (and play!) their likes/dislikes 4) Make the player pop out and keep the music playing when I open top 50 somehow (new window?) 5) Can I get some visual feedback when I thumbs up something? Absolutely love the low barrier to entry!

ujjwalg 17y ago
Seriously, this is awesome. I love it. 1) Autoplay in my dictionary is fine, it saves me time to figure out what to do next. 2) and 3) +1 4) -1 Question: are you planning to monetize it? if so, how? what about copyright?
- ujjwalg 17y ago
  Another thing I really liked is I dont need to register and it will remember my preferences, I am not sure how, though.
  - sid 17y ago
    im sure if you clear out your cookies you will loose your preferences. If you dont loose them then yes id be curious as to .. "how !"
  - zackattack 17y ago
    Cookies! Nam nam nam.
- zackattack 17y ago
  I'm going to do my best to avoid copyrighted tracks on the site.
shawndrost 17y ago
Re: autoplay: would you have advised Myspace similarly? Do you think they would have done better if they had? To me, "autoplay is the devil" is one of those complaints like "support openid" or "doesn't work on linux" that comes up a lot on hn and that you're probably better off ignoring.
- aditya 17y ago
  How do you feel now? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=771935 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=771935 :P
aptimpropriety 17y ago
To add to this list - 1) Add an in-browser audio control I had to mess around with my equalizers to get it to sound right (bass static problem), and I'm sure we all have memories of scrambling to lower volume when controls aren't nearby.
- zackattack 17y ago
  This seems like a high-demand feature request. I'll put it high in the priority queue. Expect it some time this week. (Ugh. I hate that I'm committing myself..but I also love it ;)
oman121 17y ago
Can you make it so that the top fifty list is a series of links that allows one to play the songs in the list directly?
- zackattack 17y ago
  That's an excellent idea. I'm going to add in this feature soon. It's just sort of tricky with respect to UI.. I'll figure something out. Let me know if you have any ideas?
- zackattack 17y ago
  Done & done. http://www.hiphopgoblin.com/top.php http://www.hiphopgoblin.com/top.php
zackattack 17y ago
Thanks for the appreciation. #3 - Wow, that's advanced! Way down the road, but I'll keep it in mind for the pipeline. #4 - As per your suggestion, target="_blank". Good idea. Thanks. #5 - Right now the thumbs up becomes bolded, but if other people are also having the issue, I'll see if I can change it to something a little more obvious. Thank you so much for your support!

brk 17y ago

This is awesome. Love it. Added a link to my precious bookmarks toolbar space. Is it best voted of all listeners, or does it remember my preferences? It implies the latter, but wasn't sure. Suggestion: find a way to detect excessive auto-tune use and auto downvote those songs :)

zackattack 17y ago
I am honored that HHG found its way into your precious bookmarks toolbar space :) Right now it works with your preferences, and tries to match you with songs voted up by people with similar preferences.

alaskamiller 17y ago

Took me a bit of time to realize it's just one gigantic Flash app, I kept trying to highlight the song name but couldn't. But I love love that I can squeeze the Safari browser window to just 377 pixels wide and have everything scale and still usable. Love it.

zackattack 17y ago
Thanks for the love, and I'm sending some back right your way.

physcab 17y ago

Are you using Pandora to grab music recs? The recs are surprisingly good!

zackattack 17y ago
Thank you! I'm actually using item-based collaborative-filtering: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slope_One http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slope_One

ljharb 17y ago

I like it - but ABSOLUTELY turn off autoplay. Autoplay is the devil. Don't force choices on users by playing audio for them - and if someone doesn't know how to push "play" then they don't deserve to hear music.

krisneuharth 17y ago

This is great. A couple of things that come to mind. 1) It would be nice to maybe have a replay option in case I really like the song. 2) It would be nice to be able to go back also in case I accidentally hit next. 3) It would also be cool to see where your crawler found the song, credit in the right places never hurts.

zackattack 17y ago
Sure, I can add in a replay feature. The thing is, I don't add in history for songs that you skip. So if you skip a song, and then you hit "replay", it won't be able to find that song. Is that okay? If it's not, I could always adjust the architecture. But let me know. As for credit, yep, I keep track of everything and want to make sure the UI shines. But I'm working on an "advanced" version of the site, with more info.

jrnkntl 17y ago

Great! Works like a charm. Obvious way to monetize; link to Amazon or any other affiliate music store for every track (and show a cover ;))

zackattack 17y ago
I'm glad it's workin' for ya. Do you know which affiliate programs offer the best conversion rates, and which make it easiest to sign up?

qeorge 17y ago

I'll be that guy: this seems illegal. What's the plan there? (I like the site a lot, and hope it lasts.)

ctb9 17y ago
Most the songs featured are from mixtapes, implying they have been released for free and the artists are encouraging fans to distribute and remix as they please. Unfortunately, this also limits the 'obvious' monetization strategy of affiliate linking to amazon. EDIT: Long-term though, it will be tough to avoid scrutiny/prosecution while building a profitable business. Follow the grooveshark model and pass the liability onto the users?
- fatdog789 17y ago
  It's not enough that the mixtapes "imply" free release. You actually have to get permission from the artists (and songwriter), or you're fucked. Statutory damages are in the hundreds -- per song. BTW, grooveshark's model was not to pass liability onto the users. It charges premium subscriptions, and sells ads, and uses that money to pay the web-music license to the music licensing corporation. Monetization is possible, using Amazon affiliate links. Just be aware that if you don't seek permission, you're liable for every penny you earn (regardless of costs), plus the above mentioned statutory damages. EDIT: note that for songs distributed by a major label, the artist may not own the copyright, so you may have your work cut out for you. The easiest way to avoid the hassle of getting individual permission for each song is to sign a licensing agreement with the music licensing corporation. The most expensive way to go would be to do nothing at all, since the record labels will go after you if they think there's any money to be got.
rtrunck 17y ago
I agree, this site will likely violate various copyright laws, in the US and abroad. Check out http://www.soundexchange.com/ http://www.soundexchange.com/ to find out information on how to comply in the US, etc.

dpcan 17y ago

What if the hottest songs linked to Google searches so I can hit the artists' sites and listen there or buy? Not sure if this is OK to do or not though.

zackattack 17y ago
That's an excellent monetization idea. I'll try to keep a list of artists' websites in the database. Ahh... lots to do.

p01nd3xt3r 17y ago

This is dope dude... good work.

zackattack 17y ago
Thank you sir, thank you

pj 17y ago

very nice. volume selector would be nice.

zackattack 17y ago
In the works, I'll shoot off a tweet on @hiphopgoblin when it's ready.

mahmud 17y ago

Unreal! bookmarked, and sent it off in a blast to my old crew. Can you make it so that I can share playlists with people? I wanna play the same song to multiple people at the same time.

zackattack 17y ago
Awesome. That feature will be in the works, along with top 50 and such. Be sure to follow @hiphopgoblin on twitter for updates.

movix 17y ago

It's great - how are you going to protect it? Any IP in there anywhere? I can sense someone building www.classicrockgoblin.com as I type. Nice work.

zackattack 17y ago
Thank you very much. I'm not sure if there's any IP really; and while I would love to build CRG.com, it's so much energy to just work on HHG. . . though potential partners should surely contact me!
- movix 17y ago
  I'm really curious as to how you deal with licencing, PRS etc. I like your app though, as a big Spotify user myself, I think you have a little niche going. Big question for you - how you gonna monetise this? Not digging for trade secrets of course :)