BeatScribe
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Chicago, IL

I’ve been thinking a lot about some stuff posted in a thread about starting a net label a little while ago and wanted to hear some thoughts on an idea I have. It’s something that could possibly be part of this site, but I’m so interested in it, I’m thinking about doing it myself if I could find a few collaborators. I'd hope maybe the owners of cm.org will add their two cents too big_smile

Like most of you, I enjoy making chiptune music but I’m also a huge fan of listening to it. I find it’s a lot of work to find the specific retro inspired stuff I like. I have checked out many web shows, blogs, and about a million bandcamp pages. I often download huge chunks of stuff, and then sort through it and end up deleting most of it since it’s not the style I’m into. Its kind of a lot of work and it seems like there should be a better way. I follow lots of blogs, but you usually only get a smattering of releases that writer knows about, it’s not super comprehensive. Since I don’t buy most of these albums before paying, looking at previews on bandcamp is particularly time consuming.


I know I don’t have the resources to create a chiptune version of last.fm or Pandora. That’s outside my level of resources and knowledge, but we could make something a bit like reddit with a twist…

A page where any user can submit a new chiptune song or album. If its soundcloud or bandcamp, the embedded player can be displayed. There will be a huge set of genre, style, description tags you can choose from. The site wouldn’t actually hold any music, since that would get expensive and it’s something i would hope could be free to use.

When you come to the site to look for new music, you’ll select the tags that fit music you like. Maybe like Rock/Chiptune or "NSF only" or Chiptune+Shoegaze, whatever it is you’re into (seriously, make some chiptune+shoegaze!!). It’d be fairly flexible so you could tag several genres but also target very specific things.

The site will display albums that match that criteria. As you listen you can rate them thumbs up if you like them. The site will keep track of ones you already looked at so it’ll only show you new releases or ones you haven’t seen (if you’re backlogged). There’d also be a second list that shows the top rated ones regardless of time. Over time, with user support, the site would become a huge repository or chiptunes that users have voted on.  The final thing that’d be awesome is if it sent an RSS or email of new things that come out that fit the genre you like.

It’d be a pretty simple site to build. In fact, I’d offer my own skills and time to build a MySQL database that does most of the work, I just need someone who could build a front end and a login/user system and tie everything into my procs. I'd also take the time to fill it with as much existing stuff as possible. I threw around the idea of doing a kickstarter for this too, but wanted to see what people thought first.

token
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chiptune memes chiptune overly attached chiptune meme grumpy bit shifter meme. "Hey I just found this gem of a console in my Dads attic. I thought it was pretty awesome myself."

i'll pass ty

ForaBrokenEarth
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Nottingham, UK

If you had enough content, I think a chip oriented last.fm esq. website would be pretty cool. Turn on the radio and choose some tags to listen to, then refine it through peoples use so it can automatically help you find new music you'd like based on your activity.

It'd need to be more Last.fm and less reddit (/r/chiptunes is awful and badly moderated), but preferably with a more user friendly interface.

chunter
Offline
Brunswick, GA USA

Have a look at what arecibo do, even repeating what they do in a different genre could be refreshing to the right listeners.

Alpine
Offline
UK, Leicester
token wrote:

chiptune memes chiptune overly attached chiptune meme grumpy bit shifter meme. "Hey I just found this gem of a console in my Dads attic. I thought it was pretty awesome myself."

i'll pass ty

I'm pretty sure he just means reddit styled site, upvoting, downvoting, links and sections, not necessarily the same userbase as reddit.

I think this is pretty cool idea, I don't use reddit much myself, I think I've only been there 3 or 4 times, but the layout doesn't seem to bad, and your idea sounds promising.

HPizzle
Offline
Neo Jersey

This site is actually already halfway there. all songs have tags. problem is i think people come here for forums first, music second. It sounds like you are basically looking to streamline the process of sifting through all the chipmusic out there to find what you like, which i can get behind. personally i'm not really a fan of reddit (from a format standpoint), but i do like last.fm. If you want my two cents, i'd actually like to see another site more along the lines of  8bc, just better organized, and with the features you mentioned. Like, being notified of new music from artists and/or genre(s) of your liking, a filter to only show music of a certain type/genre, a find/play more music like this button,etc. I like where your head is at. I'm def interested to see where this goes.

poisoncut
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liverpool - uk

I think a Last FM style site specifically for chiptunes would be great and quite interesting to develop. It would need a lot of hard drive space though, i've just had a quick look on 123reg and it costs £75 a month for a vps with 300gb so would the site would need a way to fund itself.

BeatScribe
Offline
Chicago, IL
Alpine wrote:

I'm pretty sure he just means reddit styled site, upvoting, downvoting, links and sections, not necessarily the same userbase as reddit.

I think this is pretty cool idea, I don't use reddit much myself, I think I've only been there 3 or 4 times, but the layout doesn't seem to bad, and your idea sounds promising.

Yes, thats the ONLY way I want it to be like reddit. I think reddit's interface is HORRID and slow. As was also mentioned, it would cost a lot to run a last.fm type site where you can actually PLAY the music. I think a realistic goal (without charging a monthly fee) would be a site that has embedded soundcloud/bandcamp players for things you select or like and it puts them all on a list together.

If anyone knows a web programmer, I might try to put together a little kickstarter for it. It'd all depend on finding a programmer and how much it costs...

Last edited by BeatScribe (Feb 4, 2013 12:06 am)

Russellian
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Harrisonburg, Virginia

I'm actually in the process of planning a similar site idea. (Keep in mind, I know no HTML/CSS, so I'd have to learn from scratch). My idea:

-first phase is to catalogue every chip release from 2012 (or as many as I can find), since we had one for 2011 but not last year
-second phase/step/pie-in-the-sky-idea is to make a site listing every chip release (or, again, as many as I can find) in an orderly fashion

What I mean by orderly fashion is having "genres" (like ones I guess we'd have to make up? Or maybe consoles the music was made on?), date/year published, artist, netlabel, region/country, etc. I'd group artists' releases. So...yeah basically a wiki without a lot of background info. Just the previously listed info.

I can see how having a sort of last.fm type page would be helpful, but having an aggregate site as a library for all releases (not counting soundcloud "singles" or random songs posted on every chip site, just LPs/EPs) would be really beneficial, I think.

All the above is just planning/ideas, but I'm in the process of completing at least the first step. I'd definitely be looking for collaborators, your idea, mine, or both.

Last edited by Russellian (Feb 4, 2013 5:53 am)

Downstate
Offline
shanghai
BeatScribe wrote:

I often download huge chunks of stuff, and then sort through it and end up deleting most of it since it’s not the style I’m into. Its kind of a lot of work and it seems like there should be a better way. I follow lots of blogs, but you usually only get a smattering of releases that writer knows about, it’s not super comprehensive. Since I don’t buy most of these albums before paying, looking at previews on bandcamp is particularly time consuming.


But this is what i like about discovering music though. Stumbling on links, finding shit sometimes, but finding total gems others. Also its how i find some stuff that i wouldn't have gone looking for originally. Im not trying to piss on your cornflakes - but i dont see the need for such a site. Soundcloud nowadays is pretty good at playing through tunes similar to the one you originally loaded. Just last night i was listening to a friends page and after his track it started playing something related (i think it was a song my friend had liked), but as we share similar tastes - it was one of the best tunes id heard in ages. Also i sometimes see who has my records in their bandcamp fan page and check their collection. Often because i find it interesting to see what the people who have bought my music are also into....and this way i find a bunch of cool shit. While i dont think you're idea is pointless, I dont think its particularly needed. But thats just my opinion, personally i like searching more music and going on weird tangents to find good stuff.

breakphase
Offline
Earth
BeatScribe wrote:

I think a realistic goal (without charging a monthly fee) would be a site that has embedded soundcloud/bandcamp players for things you select or like and it puts them all on a list together.

That's a pretty good idea. To focus on chip music, hosted around the web, and create a social context for discovering and talking about music. Soundcloud is a good option.

BeatScribe
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Chicago, IL
Downstate wrote:

But this is what i like about discovering music though. Stumbling on links, finding shit sometimes, but finding total gems others. Also its how i find some stuff that i wouldn't have gone looking for originally. Im not trying to piss on your cornflakes - but i dont see the need for such a site. S While i dont think you're idea is pointless, I dont think its particularly needed. But thats just my opinion, personally i like searching more music and going on weird tangents to find good stuff.

Fair enough points. I just often wonder how much music I'm missing out on just because I'm not following the person or didnt happen to see the only blog that mentioned their album. I do agree with you though that theres kind of a sense of accomplishment when you find something awesome on your own..

e.s.c.
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IL, US
poisoncut wrote:

I think a Last FM style site specifically for chiptunes would be great and quite interesting to develop. It would need a lot of hard drive space though, i've just had a quick look on 123reg and it costs £75 a month for a vps with 300gb so would the site would need a way to fund itself.

there are way cheaper hosting deals than that

Downstate
Offline
shanghai

i always said there just needs to be a group made on soundcloud. like the chipmusic.org group. everyone has a soundcloud. we add our songs to the group. simples. once its going can always have sub-groups. like chip unce / chip electronica etc.

running.from
Offline
slo

You could use something like libre.fm , and then customize it. The source can be downloaded.
Libre.fm is actually an opensource version of last.fm in development.

Last edited by running.from (Feb 4, 2013 4:19 pm)

Subway Sonicbeat
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Brazil

Just put the screamo in a separate file ad aeternum.