I have this idea for a new website and would really appreciate any kind of feedback.

I don't know about you, but I find it difficult to follow what's happening to my favourite bands. In particular, there's a list of bands (about 50) I like so much that I definitely want to know when they release a new album. When it's released I'd definitely like at least to sample a few songs from the album or to read a review or two.

For 50 bands it's a bit of a problem: I don't have time to check all their official websites on a regular basis or to read the general metal news sites in hope of seeing the names of my bands in the headlines.

What I would like to do is to go to a dedicated website, select the bands I'm interested in and just receive an update when there's a new release out. The update could be an e-mail notification, an RSS feed, or just a list of releases on that website sorted by date. I don't want any gibberish, just the release date and the name of the new album.

I tried to find such a website but couldn't. There are a few that are similar but update you on the concerts, but none that do on the new releases.

So let me know! Would you use such a service? Do you know an existing website with similar functionality? Something else you think such a website could do?

EDIT: pre-alpha version is available at http://muspy.com

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I would definitely add that site to my frequent browsed list. There have been a few occasions when favorite bands of mine released albums that I didn't know about.

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Sounds like something I'd use. I've got loads of bands all on different labels that make it a real time consuming process trying to find who's doing what, when, and where. If you coud make it so that a user could add ANY signed band to be updated on I think you would get a lot attention.

Things that I would like to be updated about: New releases, tours, and news updates. Maybe you could have levels of information that a person could specify to be informed about. Say if someone only wants news about a band touring they could have that option whereas another person might want to know all possible updates then they can do that, too.

How to do this? Fuck if I know but I'm sure there is a way. I know there is a service that will tell you whenver one of your bookmarked sites is updated or edited.. maybe something like that could be incorporated (or it may be very easy to do, my knowledge doesn't extend too far past HTML).

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i'd say you shouldn't limit it to just what you like. if you're going to go around finding all that info in the first place..why make a sight about it? if you cover a lot of bands, then it would definitely be a good site that people would use.

i can't say that i've ever had the problem of learning of new albums..sometimes it takes longer than others but i generally hear about new ones fairly easily.

Yeah i definitely like that idea. I would use it. I found myself today searching the internet for new or upcoming releases and it was a pain in the ass.

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Yeah that's a fairly good idea.

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i think the idea is a little redundant.

most my bands i can find out new info on wikipedia, myspace, official sites

especially myspace considering the bands frequently post bulletins [ a message to everyone on their friends list] with updates, along with blogs etc.

not to mention im sure none of my favourite bands are going to be on this website anyway as im assuming its just going to be metal bands?

Also, just sounds like metal archives but with less info about the bands.

obviously the idea isnt going to hurt anyone. the more resources the better.

Yeah but the whole point is so that you don't have to look up every individual band..you receive notifications when there are updates on the bands. It's good for people who dont have time to search sites to try to keep up to date on releases and whatnot from various bands

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that was i was thinking about, i love all kind of music, it would be nice to have a selection of genre.

i would use this site, thats a good idea.

One day i had this idea, make a Deviantart style website, but for musicians, a site where you can hear bands, or individual musicians, and leave comments. But i heard its hard to create, i hope none of you will steal my idea. (i didnt want to post a thread for this)

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Weird man i actually thought about doing the same type of site. Its all and all a good idea, but trust me there's ALOT to it, and well this type of service is sorta offered through 3 websites, usually when a band is comming out with a new album blabbermouth has it under control or the bands main website offers some sort of mass mailing on the band now days to send out concert and new album/song updates. Also there's a store site either amazon or something cant remember at this time that lets you sample every single song on an album.

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Looks like Tom already stole your idea. Myspace.

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Thanks for the comments, very helpful!

To clarify a few things:

• It would NOT be a metal-only website. Many of us are interested in different styles of music (well, at least me).
• Considering the huge number of bands out there I'm not going to update it by hand. There are ways to automate it.
• In the beginning I want to concentrate only on new releases. Concerts, interviews and other related news can be added later (and filtered by the users as Darko suggested).
• The point of the website is that you don't have to search the web for the news, it's all in one place. When you go to your account you will see for instance:
  2007-12-10: Opeth released Album A
  2007-12-04: Agalloch released Album B
  2007-11-29: KromleK released Album C
  ...
  all with links to the official websites and/or other resources.
• I want the website to be plain and simple, without unnecessary features a la MySpace.

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I'm in full support for this. It'll free up a lot of time for me and will keep me more "in the know" of whats going on.

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in that case as long as there is NO genre restriction i think it would be great. i would love to see band biographies as well considering there isn't a place for that kind of thing outside of metal archives [which again obviously only hosts metal]

also would it be independant bands aswell? local bands and independant bands have very real fan bases.

No biographies, no reviews, only release dates. You can use Google afterwards

Give me a couple of examples?

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im just wondering how you're going to fill up a bands page...



im talking about bands that release records through independent distribution [signed or unsigned distribution]

That's my know-how
Yes, as long as it's not some obscure garage band...

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Yeah this actually does seem like a fantastic idea the more I think about it. I know plenty of people who would use this. I'd be using it nonstop too.

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Maybe users could add them by themselves? Sure, there would probably be a lot of false information too, but without the official source, no one would believe it. Though, there should be some kind of system that wouldn't allow people to post wrong information.

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Will this be an affiliate of Metaltabs.com (a new forum) or a web site all in its own?
You could link it to metaltabs' bands section...

I like the idea regardless.

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It could be a useful website in that I could customize a detailed list of bands, like Darko said, that have albums to be released at a single glance. Kinda practical and simple really. I get updates already on both myspace and email from bands, but I have to filter through all the other information coming in, plus its not very concise or efficient and some things get missed. I could see problems from every shit band that can afford to register there own record label wanting to be represented, but then again, a way for bands to see how they rate among watching fans compared to other bands may bring some wanted attention.

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hahahaha, No i mean, only music would be allowed, no 16 years old girl, or emo cunts who likes to talk about their life that we dont give a fuck about it. Like i said, it would be deviantart style, but for music. I know it looks like myspace.

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Sounds like a GREAT idea. I like it all too well. I'm always wondering when bands are releasing new material or just what's new to listen to out there.

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Pre-alpha version is available at http://muspy.com. It lacks any design but the basic functionality is there.

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cool

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some bands dont have releases - why?

also can we PLEASE have an 'add band' button on the bands discography page?

Example?

Sure, I'll add it.

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this is awesome. think i might be saying what infinity just said but is there a way to like fave a band so it comes up in a list in our profile or something, so we can see what bands we have 'subscribed' to as such.

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There's already a site like that. Though, it's in finnish, so not much fun for you. But it indeed is a site ONLY for your own music.

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Sweet, need any help Nomad?

If you can seriously keep track of a lot of bands and keep adding them then this sounds like it'd be amazingly helpful. Hey, I'll be happy to help develop it as well.

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It's in "My Artists"

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ah i see, the little '+' next to the name. awesome.
This is great nomad.

edit: this is more than great, this is fucking amazing. i have everything i listen to on this list, from beth orton to decapitated.

are you going to make a forum section on the website?

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I don't know yet, the site is still in the early testing stage.

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it's very, very useful already. you should definately have some forums on it.
i love the way i can pretty much find any music on it, even the small bands/musicians have cropped up with the right info. so does it send you an email or something when a band on your list releases a new album?

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I was thinking about the site and I can't figure out how you programmed this to work.. care to share?

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Not yet, but it will. For now you just need to keep an eye on the My Releases page.

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I will, a bit later

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The website is down for maintenance, I have some issues with my hosting provider. I'll post here when it's back online (hopefully today).

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MuSpy.com is back online.

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wow the my releases page is great.
this may possibly be the best website ever created.

is there any way to get it to show upcoming releases?

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It should show the upcoming releases too as long as the release date is officially announced.

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nice! but there is only metal as i saw, can we add other kind of music? or can we, personally add bands?

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It's all kinds of music, not only metal. Try changing your search query.

As for adding the bands, 99.999% the band you want is already there But I will let you know how to do it a bit later...

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I'm having trouble loging in. I've made my account and everything but when I try to log in it says "Bad Login". I tried re-making my account but it says that the name and e-mail is already in use.

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ERROR!!!!

A small one though

On the AntaeuS-releases list, there is an album called "Byzantine Meditation". This is NOT by the AntaeuS of the other releases! This Antaeus is some Electronica-band or something, but nót the C. Black Metal band located in Paris.

Just so you know.

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Did you receive the activation e-mail? You need to click the link in that e-mail...

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static x for example has no releases to its name

there were multiple search results for ''the locust'' and some of them had no releases.

It has: http://muspy.com/artists/10194

That's because there are multiple artists with this name, some of them don't have any releases yet.

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well fuck. i swear they didnt appear yesterday and i refreshed many times. oh well.

ok new problem

wont let me sign in

i was never sent a confirmation email when i created a login yesterday

so i tried making my login again but it said my name and password was taken

so i tried logging in the original name and password and it wont work

as i said, i was never sent a confirmation email

edit - seems im having the same problem as darko

i'm in and it all works fine for me

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Same.

The only problem I see is the My Releases years aren't appearing which has most likely been pointed out.

where abouts? in my releases it says the year on the top left and you choose which year to view the releases from in a drop down menu.

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I noticed the login is case-sensitive.

Autumn: I'll show you.

Attached Images

releases.jpg (18.2 KB, 58 views)

ah, yeah that's not right. mine looks like this http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...ve/Picture1.png

have you actually added bands to your artists page? you have to click the plus next to their names (i made that mistake anyway )

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No wonder, I didn't add any bands. xDDDD

Problem fixed, Alex. I had the confirmation e-mail.. it just went to my junk mail. You may want to have a message telling them to expect one and that to check their junk mail if they don't see it.

Infinity, check your junk. Then check your junk.

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nomad whered you populate those lists from? surely this isnt all the work of one guy?

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THATS WHAT I WANT TO KNOW!!

PRAISE ALEX

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Wow, this is really easy.

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I've fixed the activation problem, you should be able to login without activation. I also made the login case-insensitive.

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Patience my friend, I'll tell this eventually

A few things I'm ready to tell:

• It will be possible for you to add artists that are not in the database.
• It will be possible for you to correct errors such as wrong album spelling or the release date.

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You're a god Nomad; sheer genius.

i never look at my junk mail so ive probably deleted it.

looks like im never ever going to the site again!

set up another account, one with a new gmail account or something. it takes maybe a minute at max to set one up.

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.

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I've been having an issue with the website, but before I start I just want to say that this is the single most awesomest website idea ever Ingenious, which also means genius, apparently.

Anywho, here's the problem I've been having:

For the past couple of weeks, I've been unable to see the "My Releases" page in my account. When I click the link it hangs for a minute or two, then directs me to an error page. The error is as follows:


Clicking on "My Artists" doesn't give any errors, although it does tend to hang for about 10 - 15 seconds.

I've tried clearing my cookies and internet cache, and I've tried accessing the site with both Firefox and Internet Explorer 7, to no avail. I've added the website to my trusted sites list, as well. I've given full permissions wherever possible, including JavaScript (I'm not even sure if the site uses that).

The problem only started a couple of weeks ago, and up until then it worked fine. I'm not sure what happened between then and now.

My username on the site is Paddy, if that's any help to you.

Any ideas?

Cheers!

mine does the same

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nice work, Alex! Perhaps incorporate a "similar and/or related bands" function? Or is that not what you are looking for?

Does it work now? It does for me

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Yes I will add this when we have enough users to do this kind of statistics.

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Does anyone still use muspy? I'm going to do a major revamp of the website, eventually making it run much faster and adding more features (rss, e-mail notifications and alike)

Anyone's interested in beta-testing this? I expect the beta to be available in September-October.

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I've always like the concept, but I stopped using it because I was too lazy/forgetful to keep checking the site. I think the e-mail notifications will be the major point scoring feature for this.

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Just got to know the site and I really like the idea. I think e-mail notifications might be very important indeed. Anyway, it's cool already!

i check it regularly - would be up for beta testing, never really beta tested before though. what's it involve, just trying it out and reporting bugs?

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You did, muspy was always on beta test Yes, just complain if something is wrong and tell if there's something that you desperately want.

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Closing this thread, post in the new one.

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