Narrowing the field (Re: Currently available looper music webpage)

[Andre LaFosse <altruist@earthlink.net>]

Hey again Greg,

Greg Kucharo wrote:
 
>    Well, if I get a few more positives I will proceed with a very simple
> flat file type of site. As my time, or if someone else wants to chip
> in, i'll step up to a more sophisticated operation. 

I certainly sympathize with the "time spent vs. return" issue, so no
argument there!

> Frankly just a
> central site seems a heck of allot better than what we have now.

The profiles page is probably the closest right now, and from my point
of view the main "problem" is that it's so difficult to narrow it down
without going through each and every entry manually.

> Maybe we could go with keywords for the descriptions so
> someone could search it with the browser, but I would hate to make
> folks pigeonhole themselves.

It really depends on how deeply you would want to go with something like
this, and obviously every extra layer of search-ability will mean more
coding (and more time you have to spend).  So I guess the main thing to
do is to define exactly what sort of function you'd want this page to 
have...?

If it's just a central spot where everybody with a CD for sale is
listed, that'll be useful to an extent.  But if you get 200 people
listed there, how does a person who doesn't want to look at all 200
individual pages go about finding something they'd be after quickly and
efficiently?  They might recognize names, but beyond that I think you'd
run into the same problem as what we already have, with the profiles
section and such.

So things like style descriptions and such could be optional, sure.  But
to me, that sort of "pigeonholing" is actually a very valuable and
important way of getting one's music to the appropriate audience.  It's
a tool for cutting through the immense amount of information out there,
and "branding" onesself in such a way that interested people (listeners
and/or customers) will be more curious and inclined to hear what a
person is doing.  

And that, to me, is the fundamental challenge in getting your music
heard/purchased by people: how do you make people, who would like what
you do, want to hear what you do in the first place?  If you're going to
go about setting up such a page, then I think this is the main issue to
be addressed.

Anyway...

--Andre LaFosse
http://www.altruistmusic.com