Tag Archive for 'Team Polyvibe'

The 1% Rule vs. The 1:1 Ratio

Published on July 28, 2006 in Article and Blog. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

An emerging trend in the online world is that the gap between content creator and the content consumer is closing. Personal Computers come pre-installed with many content creation tools, and many more aimed at the Amateur to the Pro-Am content cretor abound. One only has to look at iLife, Apple’s Am/Pro-Am content creation suite (now complete with a webpage editor that sports RSS feeds).
Some have put forth a suggestion, that only 1% of the online world is creating content. This seems awfully low to me. I have always thought of it as The 1:1 Ratio, for every content creator in a community there is a consumer, that in turn is also a creator. Their numbers, stating that out of 100 people, 1 would create the content, 10 would interact with it (commenting on it, offering suggestions to improve it, etc.) while the other 89 users would simple view it.
Maybe I just travel in more creative circles, because anecdotally The 1:1 Ratio holds true for me. Their numbers come from YouTube’s upload vs download ratio, and obviously skew the results because of the size of the sample. I’m not doubting their findings, but it’s interesting to hear the same theory in different contexts.
Read the article, and decide for yourself. It’d be cool if you left a comment too, and let me know which rule holds more true for you, The 1% Rule, or The 1:1 Ratio.
digg story
originally published on dr.xnlb.com

Solid Tips to get your music heard on College Radio

Published on July 6, 2006 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

Here’s some quick tips for success in your college radio campaign

  • “These days, most DJs can be contacted by e-mail. I’ve occasionally received e-mails from bands offering their music. I always listen to stuff that people send directly to me, and I’ve definitely ended up playing some of it.”
  • “Simply calling up and asking DJs to play the CD will work pretty good, if you can put in the hours necessary to call lots of stations.”
  • “A station member sorts the stuff into genres, and it’s put into a new music section. DJs look through the new music selection and play whatever strikes them as cool.” (Lesson: Make sure your style of music is crystal clear to whomever opens your package.)
  • “Putting a big sticker on the front cover that says “SOUNDS LIKE:” helps. Compare yourself to heavily played college radio music.”
  • “List the tracks you think are the best and describe them in basic terms (poppy folk, folky slowcore, whatever).”
  • “Don’t use the words ‘lush’ or ‘soundscape’ anywhere on your promo material.”
  • “(Point out) your best track. No music director has the time to skip through six tracks — they’re probably doing it between classes, or while they’re eating lunch.”

Read the whole thing at the Ask MetaFilter discussion raging right now.

MetaFilter launches Music Service

Published on July 3, 2006 in Announcement. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Community Web Log, MetaFilter, expanded their operations recently by launching MeFi Music. Now users of the site can post mp3s for the MetaFilter community to discuss. Sports a sweet little flash player, so you can listen to the music without having to download it. Other features include playlists, and podcast and rss feeds. Put this on your short list of sites to preview new tracks on.
spotted on digg
originally published on dr.xnlb.com

Why Google DID NOT buy MySpace…

Published on July 1, 2006 in Blog. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

It has recently come to light that there were other companies with their eye on MySpace, before it was scooped up by Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. It seems Google was also considering it, but didn’t go after it because it will essentially kill it’s AdSense business. Think about it, if they purchased a content site, with more hits per day then god him/her-self (s/he’s got his/her own homepage it seems), they would be a direct competitor to every single one of their content partners that use AdSense to pay for their site.
Read the 2nd hand report here, as told by an anonymous Google employee.
spotted on digg.com

originally published on dr.xnlb.com

Alternative to UPC?

Published on June 20, 2006 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

A new alternative to UPCs has begun to emerge. Where UPC is a closed and regulated system you must by access to, ThingLink, is an open network to identify products. Register with the site, and you can start entering details of your “things” to generate a unique ThingLink code. Intended primarily for “makers” of “things”, this is a low impact tracking system for anything you register with the site.

While it will probably never supplant UPC entirely (or even at all), due to it’s ubiquitous nature, and entire industries and retail outlets already employing Barcode scanners for inventory and checkout procedures, ThingLink is a great idea, and a free alternative to the UPC system. The service will appeal more to artists and artisans that are making limited run items and still want a way for people to find out more about them later.

As an experiment, I’ve registered Polyvibe Records’ first two releases with the site (which seems to be a bit buggy at the moment):

  • Future Funk Collective – Future Funk Collective
  • ? Thing:105ENN
  • A_Scissors – Flux Decapitator
  • ? Thing:742GEM

While the actual releases won’t be labeled with their ThingLinks, future releases might. We’ll still have to register UPCs, as they are required by our distributors, and I don’t expect them to adopt the ThingLink system anytime soon. But there might be some value in registering each release with both Systems. However, if you don’t put a UPC symbol on your stuff, due to cost or other reasons, ThingLink is definitely the way to go.

Spotted on Boing Boing

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