For the last 5 years I have been running metalcon an online social network for metal fans and metal bands.
As written recently I have the the chance to rewrite the entire platform with a team of 6 programmers.
This time we want to do it the correct why. Instead of Thinking of features right away we are now thinking about the various stake holders for whom we are creating metalcon.
Of course being a fan of metal music I know pretty well what requirements a social network for metal music should fulfill to add value for me.
Running such a platform and being member of the In Legend team I also can think of various requirements from Musicians but I want to open the discussion and ask the musicians:
What do you expect from a social networking site and for what reasons would you use it?
We have already created a small list at:
https://github.com/renepickhardt/metalcon/wiki/requirementsBand
which I am sharing here and asking musicians to contribute to. Eather here in the comment section or via the github wiki. Thanks a lot
Self promotion
Bands want to advertise their music and get a lot of attation.
Music hosting
Bands often lack technical knowledge to host their music. Metalcon can provide them with the functionality to host promotional songs and also share the player on other websites and with other services.
Control
The worst that could happen to a band is that they spend a lot of effort building up their fan base on a social networking site like they did in the early 2000s and then the site becomes irrelevant. Similar problems hold with facebook where page owners nowadays have to pay money to get their message spread to everybody who liked the fan page.
Therefore a requirement for musicians is to keep control of their fan base that they have grown so far.
Contact with fans and Streetteam
Bands want contact to their most important fans and to people who can organize stuff for them. Heaving a streetteam is essential to the sucess of many bands. Using a social networking service can help the band to fulfill their goal
Privacy
Famous musicians want to use the band profil of a social networking site without revealing their private account.
Staying in contact with other industry players
Musicians might want to stay in contact with partners from
- labels
- booking agencies
- promoters
- photographers
- video producers
- music producers
- venue owners
- …
Sell products
Bands want the possibility to sell
- Tickets
- Merchandise
- Music (MP3 and CD)
Booking
Bands want to get the opportunity to book gigs. Giving them the opportunity to get in contact with bookers will help them.
release Management
Bands often have a complete produced record. This should be shared with some players from the industry. In this process the music should be
- hosted in the web
- watermarked (to prevent leaking)
- shared privately with selected partners
- only be streamed from the web