So, here we go on our new adventures in SongRamp - new look, new feel - but the same cool folks and laid-back atmosphere. That said, I know that some of you are asking: "WTF?? Why did we do this?"
The Admins and I have been posting about this on the legacy site for a couple of years now. The original developers of SongRamp - Bondware - made a business decision to focus on their more profitable lines, which are heavily directed at the newspaper and magazine businesses. That decision left us with two choices - wither and die, or, find a new, flexible, modern solution.
That's why we're here.
I know that change is never easy. Folks get used to "a way of doing things," and that becomes "the ONLY way of doing things." We all know that's not true, though, right?
RIGHT??
To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often. - Winston Churchill
We don't expect to be perfect - hard to get to that - but we do exct to continuously improve. And we shall.
That's where you, the SongRamp Members, come in.
First off, we haven’t, in the words of one of our members, moved to a foreign country – we just changed platforms. Things look different and work a bit different, sure, but in the end, we still have the community – with many new features. We can still post and comment on songs, again, with many new capabilities. We still have the Forums, but, yes, with many new features and functions.
We are in the Modern World!
So – what New Stuff have we now to offer? Here’s a brief list:
The new site is based on PhpFox, winner of the Critic’s Choice Award for Best Social Network Software. Here’s what the critics say about it:
phpFox is a social network software that gives you the ability to create a unique community that includes many of the features found on sites like Facebook and MySpace. It is well supported, has a large community and is quite popular. There are numerous addons, themes and various other integrations for the system that make it an excellent choice for those in the market. phpFox has also won our Critic’s Choice Award for Best Social Network Software.
Based on all that, we are confident that we’ve made a solid choice in this platform. It’s flexible and it’s well-supported. We’ve been able to do a great deal of customization, with more to come!
Our Open Mic Module is based on Mitunes – simply the best engine we could find for this key feature of SongRamp. At this point, you haven’t even scratched the surface of what it can offer! Here’s some of the capabilities:
Html5 mobile audio player
Listen to playlists on mobile
Ogg support for Html5 playback
Upload or Download mp3, wav, ogg files
Option to select a preview video to be embedded on the Artist page for optimal placement and playback
Featured Artists/Albums/Songs search filter
Events added to Search page
Videos added to Search page
Option to load PDFs in browser instead of download
Option for each Artist to customize their own url
Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Google+ as social link options
Rss news feed for each Artist
Option to hide header, footer, and main menu on each Artist page
Display Album 'Release' dates
Option to enforce 30 second preview mode on per-song basis
International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) fields when uploading songs
Artists can choose their own Landing Page
Artists can choose their own Theme
Mitunes also comes packaged with it's own mutli-uploader, so that Artists can upload more than one song at a time, and monitor the upload progress of each. After uploading their music, the Artist can elect to mark their music For Preview Only, Free Download, For Sale, or Name Your Own Price. The 'Name Your Own Price' option, if you're not familiar with it, is a growing trend in the independent music world. This option will allow Artists to set a Minimum Price, but allow the Buyer to pay more if they want to.
When a User is downloading either an entire Album or a Song in mp3 format, the script will automatically apply ID3 tags to each Mp3 to include the Artist Name, Album Name, Song Name, and even embed the Album Cover image into the Mp3. ID3 tags are commonly used by applications or devices to display track information. The script will even include a copy of the Album Cover image file in the zip package during download. These things are done to provide the music buyer with the most convenient experience when adding the music from your site in their own music libraries.
Mitunes will automatically detect if the User is using a Mobile device, and if so, the Play buttons in Mitunes will use HTML5 for playback instead of the flash player described above for maximum device compatibility. (Note: that HTML5 Audio has not been standardized so different browsers will behave a little differently in regard to HTML5 Audio.)
Mitunes allows all of your Users to create an unlimited amount of Music Playlists. While browsing through the music on your site, or while listening to a song loaded in the player, the User will be able to seamlessly add songs to any of their playlists. The User also has the option to create a Playlist as a Private Playlist not published publicly. Moreover, Groups or Bands can create a Playlist for their Group page, and even Events can create a Playlist for their Event page. Mitunes includes an entire area where public Playlists can be browsed, listened to, and searched.
Mitunes will also automatically share in the User's Feed what music they are listening to. For privacy reasons, this option can be turned off/on in the User's Settings area.
In addition to sharing and selling music, Artists will be able to accumulate Followers, post News, read Reviews, upload Documents for download (press kits for example), maintain Photo Galleries, create Events, and post Videos to their Artist page. In any case, the Artist's Followers will be notified any time something new is added to the Artist's page. An Artist can even mass-email their Followers!
So, as you can see, things are different – and IMPROVED – from the legacy site!
Still, we have much to do.
Folks having some challenges in understanding the new interface. PLEASE make sure to watch the Intro to SR2.0 video – it’s on the site and it’s on YouTube (search for that title over there) – I think it’s pretty straight forward.
Don’t be surprised to see a facelift in the near future. A bit less Facebook-like in the color scheme, but functionally the same as what we now have.
Above all – WE ARE LISTENING TO YOU! Give us feedback in the Community Improvement Forum.
Thanks for your time –
Eddie Minyard (FastEddie)
CEO