i was just thinking that a requests forum would be really helpful.

for example, i can provide samples of pads,short synth hits, guitars, and my own drum loops, but i’ve got a rather strong scottish accent , and i don’t like the vocal samples i make with it, although another user may find my rhotic tones to be just what they’re looking for…

my idea was that a forum where users could post the kind of thing they’re looking for, or indeed a matching service based on the user profiles might help us find others to collaborate with…

just an idea, anyway…

well that the idea behind the ‘I’m looking for:" field in your profile.

in theory anyway…

Peace,
Victor

I see where the 100thMonkey (?) is coming from.

I think what I would personally like to see happen with this site (and others like it) is that some kind of system of guidance is put in place. Call it hand-holding if you like, not just so I’m welcomed with a kinda “we will help you acheive your goal and be heard” message, and “assist you throughout the process”. BUT a structure to the site which makes clear what exactly that process is.

I appreciate you guys have a nice community here, with friendly and constructive comments, but I’ve been looking over stuff and I’m actually confused.

Who does what exactly? Where are the musicians to help me seed an idea, the writers who spin yarns, the singers, the producers and the mixers?

Everything seems to be lumped together, mostly because you guys are such a talented bunch you can do it all! (or maybe you’re all control freaks like me? lol!)

I appreciate what you’re saying Victor, but wouldn’t it be nice to be welcomed with some kind of “there are 5 producers, 4 wordsmiths, 2 musicians looking for projects, and 57 musicians have recently posted new seed samples” when I log in?

I also get confused by the types of “Samples” which people are providing. A “sample” to me means a recording of a single track or sound, not an entire mix. Maybe I just don’t get it? I’m sorry if that’s the case, and I don’t mean to be critical, just constructive.

There’s such potential here it makes me tingle! …and I know this is what the recording industry doesn’t want, because that’s what it does so well, it’s almost a conveyor belt with those guys. I’m not suggesting you retrict it, but introduce some kind of clearer structure or guidance system for us noobs that’s all :)

I understand btw that some of this isn’t maybe the remit of this site alone, so maybe this is a bigger issue for the Creative Commons community as a whole?

I don’t know if this’ll help or make things more confusing, but maybe it would help to throw out links to some other sites out there set up for music collaboration (although mostly NOT the kinda music found on this site). Here’s a list I compiled once upon a time, though I’m sure there are some others….. .. .

[Edit]
I think the strengths of these other sites (at least artist collaboration & echo, which are the ones I’ve participated on), are the forums & other features that facilitate collaboration. But I don’t think either of those two sites do a particularly great job of managing the files and associations (there’s just an FTP site & everybody gets some space - I think ccMixter does this better). I don’t know that I would change ccMixter - I like it the way it is, and I think it has a manageable scope that allows the design staff to “keep it simple” and focused on the music. Fully expanding the scope to the whole music making process would dilute ccM’s effectiveness at presenting the music (I think). BUT it would be awesome to see a sister site sponsored by Creative Commons that incorporated collaboration facilitation forums & features like these other sites AND excellent file/attribution/association management like ccM. Heck, I’d bet if somebody approached some of the people that set up these sites & explained CC & what we’re trying to do, they’d contibute some of their experience. The guy who set up Echo is really smart & cool (& not a bad bassist) - I bet he’d be willing to at least share his thoughts on what has worked / not worked. My 2 cents….. .. .