Music (Websites) 2.0

Zascar

Another kinda random topic here - please allow me to waffle and let me know your thoughts... I'm a big nerd when it comes to web stuff and I love the host of new sites that have come along recently like www.soundcloud.com and www.mixcloud.com. They make everything so nice and simple - bringing in the social aspect into music which we all know is so important. Lets face it the music industry has changed fundamentally since the proliferation of the interwebz - but not all in a negative light that some would have you believe.

Anyhoo I stumbled across this site today called http://bandcamp.com (love the American Pie reference). As the title suggests it's more focused at Bands but I don't see any reason it cannot be used by electronic producers too. Have a look at the video on the site and you'll see what its all about. I think its pretty dam impressive and I love to see initiatives like this that make it easier for the little guy to get a world audience with a professional front end without having to do it themselves.

Youtube still amazes me to this day on just how much random stuff is on there - tunes you'd never expect to find online are there and it makes it so easy to share and spread. (e.g. if it was not for youtube we would not have been blessed with Crystal Swing )

One thing that still baffles me though is why Beatport etc do not have embedded players like soundcloud etc - would be so handy for sharing tips on music - youtube does the job ok but I think its a niche they are missing.

Much of these sites like soundcloud and bandcamp are as a resulty of new web development type technologies - allowing fantastic new possibilities channeling media with a social aspect. This is only the beginning so we can expect loads more on the way

jtsuited

Zascar wrote: »

One thing that still baffles me though is why Beatport etc do not have embedded players like soundcloud etc - would be so handy for sharing tips on music - youtube does the job ok but I think its a niche they are missing.

they do actually have what you're talking about (they use it on beatportal), but for some reason don't release it to the public.
and there is their player that you can embed on myspace etc.

but yeah they need to get on it.

oddly enough beatport pulled their affiliate program about a year ago too. i think it's a half deliberate attempt to make them the one-stop-shop.

acman

WOW! That is a really well thought out website...the technologies used aren't in anyway new, however this is a perfect example of how existing technologies can and should be used.

Apart from maybe What People Play, online electronic music stores look and feel extremely archaic. They all look cluttered, are difficult to navigate and do not use the technologies available to a fraction of their potential.

I really hope to see something like this bandcamp website for electronic music in the near future!

electrogrimey

That site would be perfect if there was a space for events on the band page, to advertise gigs etc. It's very nice though, a bit like myspace 2.0!