YLC Listening Club

Inspired by the thread about no one doing reviews:

Basically the idea is that any WATMM member with an organized release (ie, an album/EP as opposed to random SC tracks) can submit it for review. Once enough members have submitted, they'd be broken into groups of an easily manageable size (I'm thinking more than 5 but less than 20). Each week, one member of the group would be selected at random, & their release would be listened to by everyone else in the group, who would then each write a review to the best of their abilities (something more substantial than "awesome" or "it sucks". I'm picturing at least a few paragraphs). Once every member has taken a turn being selected, the groups would be dissolved (and, if there was still interest/new applicants, new ones could be formed).

Would there be any interest in something like this?

Yes, great idea.

This is a great idea.

How do we want to organize it?

My suggestion would be to pick a number of people to have in each group and then say, "All posters after this post are in Group 1/A/Tango/Golfball!" Then each subsequent post will be assigned to that group until the quota has been met. Then a new group may recruit.

Well we'll need a list of names of whos actually 1st Id say.

  Quote

My suggestion would be to pick a number of people to have in each group and then say, "All posters after this post are in Group 1/A/Tango/Golfball!" Then each subsequent post will be assigned to that group until the quota has been met. Then a new group may recruit.

Perhaps that could work. If we have multiple groups it would be good to have them both going at once (or else people would end up getting bored due to long waits) somehow, but I'm not sure how confusing that would get if we were keeping it to one thread. An art forum I was on a few years back did something similar once, using a graph to keep track of things.

Sounds like a brilliant idea.

So, I take it you three would be down for participating, right? I should probably start a list to keep track.

  On 10/18/2010 at 7:50 PM, Cryptowen said:

  Quote

My suggestion would be to pick a number of people to have in each group and then say, "All posters after this post are in Group 1/A/Tango/Golfball!" Then each subsequent post will be assigned to that group until the quota has been met. Then a new group may recruit.

 

Perhaps that could work. If we have multiple groups it would be good to have them both going at once (or else people would end up getting bored due to long waits) somehow, but I'm not sure how confusing that would get if we were keeping it to one thread. An art forum I was on a few years back did something similar once, using a graph to keep track of things.

I'm just trying to think of a way to not have multiple threads going really.

A chart would be cool. If someone knows a way to track it on some outside website where we could join groups or be assigned groups randomly that would be awesome.

  On 10/18/2010 at 7:56 PM, Cryptowen said:

So, I take it you three would be down for participating, right? I should probably start a list to keep track.

Very, yes.

Guys lets keep this really simple. In order to create a thread within YLC you need 1 token and in order to get one token you have to comment within 5 other threads.

Now that in itself will get people commenting on other people's tunes. Plus I'm sure its possible that Joyrex could put the code into place.

EDIT: Oh yeah perhaps you could also say have a minimum amount of characters per post per thread in order that people don't just write stuff like 'love it' or 'wow Promo all your tunes are awesome' or 'Promo I love your music so much I'm going to send my girlfriend around to suck your dick'.

Okay I'm getting carried away but you catch my drift lol.

  Cryptowen said:

So, I take it you three would be down for participating, right? I should probably start a list to keep track.

 

Definitely, man.

  Promo said:

Guys lets keep this really simple. In order to create a thread within YLC you need 1 token and in order to get one token you have to comment within 5 other threads.

 

Now that in itself will get people commenting on other people's tunes. Plus I'm sure its possible that Joyrex could put the code into place.

 

EDIT: Oh yeah perhaps you could also say have a minimum amount of characters per post per thread in order that people don't just write stuff like 'love it' or 'wow Promo all your tunes are awesome' or 'Promo I love your music so much I'm going to send my girlfriend around to suck your dick'.

 

Okay I'm getting carried away but you catch my drift lol.

This post has been edited by Promo: Today, 12:34 PM

 

Interesting idea, actually... but would enough people actually do it?

  On 10/18/2010 at 8:30 PM, Promo said:

Guys lets keep this really simple. In order to create a thread within YLC you need 1 token and in order to get one token you have to comment within 5 other threads.

 

Now that in itself will get people commenting on other people's tunes. Plus I'm sure its possible that Joyrex could put the code into place.

 

EDIT: Oh yeah perhaps you could also say have a minimum amount of characters per post per thread in order that people don't just write stuff like 'love it' or 'wow Promo all your tunes are awesome' or 'Promo I love your music so much I'm going to send my girlfriend around to suck your dick'.

 

Okay I'm getting carried away but you catch my drift lol.

I like that idea, but I'd like to do something like what I proposed too, because I find I usually don't think to go listen to random tracks on forums. If I had some sort of schedule of "listen to album x during week y" I figure I'd be much more likely to actually listen to it. And probably there are others who are the same way.

  On 10/18/2010 at 8:30 PM, Promo said:

Guys lets keep this really simple. In order to create a thread within YLC you need 1 token and in order to get one token you have to comment within 5 other threads.

 

Now that in itself will get people commenting on other people's tunes. Plus I'm sure its possible that Joyrex could put the code into place.

 

EDIT: Oh yeah perhaps you could also say have a minimum amount of characters per post per thread in order that people don't just write stuff like 'love it' or 'wow Promo all your tunes are awesome' or 'Promo I love your music so much I'm going to send my girlfriend around to suck your dick'.

 

Okay I'm getting carried away but you catch my drift lol.

That would just lead people not to bother to post. And you always get some arsehole with 1 post, posting their new album.

I prefer the listening club.

YLC podcast

  On 10/18/2010 at 8:57 PM, Cryptowen said:

  On 10/18/2010 at 8:30 PM, Promo said:

Guys lets keep this really simple. In order to create a thread within YLC you need 1 token and in order to get one token you have to comment within 5 other threads.

 

Now that in itself will get people commenting on other people's tunes. Plus I'm sure its possible that Joyrex could put the code into place.

 

EDIT: Oh yeah perhaps you could also say have a minimum amount of characters per post per thread in order that people don't just write stuff like 'love it' or 'wow Promo all your tunes are awesome' or 'Promo I love your music so much I'm going to send my girlfriend around to suck your dick'.

 

Okay I'm getting carried away but you catch my drift lol.

 

I like that idea, but I'd like to do something like what I proposed too, because I find I usually don't think to go listen to random tracks on forums. If I had some sort of schedule of "listen to album x during week y" I figure I'd be much more likely to actually listen to it. And probably there are others who are the same way.

Yeah, I would just forget, and finding the tracks in YLC could potentially be a pain. I like the idea of 'listen to album during allotted time period'. It would likely give the poster of said album more feedback at once.

Yeah, the whole point system idea just sounds like a lot of people wouldn't bother. People would feel too obligated to spout a bunch of crap about something they don't care about in order to get points so they can post.

I think the club idea is better as you get more tightly knit groups that you know will speak sincerely of your material because they know you will be doing the same for them. It's the exchange that makes it more fruitful.

  On 10/18/2010 at 9:29 PM, Spore said:

YLC podcast

I'd listen.

The only thing about the YLC club thing is that I just post random tracks usually though. I'd don't think I've ever put a 'net' release out or anything. I suppose it'd force me to do that though.

A big problem I have with free internet music like the stuff on YLC is the presentation. I find listen to random tracks en masse really cheapens the experience for me, to the point where (as much as I try not to), I find myself opening up a SC page, listen to the first 30 seconds, & going "doesn't sound that great. NEXT". Listening to entire albums & the "Most IDM" comps made me realize that there is some really nice music being made around here, and one just has to give it a bit of time. That's why I think this set-up would help people actually listen to things as opposed to just hearing them.

I also like the podcast idea. There's a whole bunch of things in this vein we could do to make YLC feel more like a legitimate music source & not just a dumping ground for quick sound sketches (not that there's anything wrong with those, but I'd like to see more of the former).

I'd be more interested in the podcast idea. Have mixes or whatever. Posting an album is kind of missing the point of YLC I think, we have music discussion and new releases for that. Ylc is a place for input/feedback.

I like this listening club idea and wanna sign up, thank you.

usually ill listen to the random tracks at work or while playing ea skate

  On 10/18/2010 at 11:35 PM, bigfatLOL said:

usually ill listen to the random tracks at work or while playing ea skate

In relation to this.

The tracks that I post do get a fair amount of listens, but no one ever comments.

Id be happy with a simple "this is good" or "this is bad"

i listen a lot as it is and comment as the spirit moves me but i don't feel like i have a lot good to say about the majority of the music in ylc nowadays

If you think it's shit, then you should say it's shit-- but give reasons why and be respectful, because good or bad, someone may have put a lot of effort into it (or not, as YLC sometimes shows).

Now my question is, do these releases have to be on netlabels/ etc? Or could they just be mediafire-type things...?

/What if we made a WATMM/ Listening Club bandcamp (or something else... I've only used soundcloud, so I don't know anything about it)? Does it allow enough bandwidth for such an endeavour?

^It wouldn't have to be a netlabel release. Now that I think about it, it doesn't even really have to be an album - it could be a playlist of random tracks you've done. The idea is that it would be something that you put some work into.

Honest reviews would definitely be best, I think. You can absolutely hate something & say it, just go into good detail about why, & don't engage in personal attacks (which of course goes for the reviewee as well).

I've never used Bandcamp myself, but I'm sure someone else might know if that would work or not. I imagine a lot of people with a release out already have it hosted somewhere, but for those who don't it would be good to provide an alternative.