Hi guys!
We have long wanted to write about services and sites that help us personally to make rockcult.ru, and no doubt will be useful for you, rock music lovers. We decided to open the Rock on web section, where we will write from time to time about interesting and useful services and sites that, one way or another, relate to the theme of rock.
Since we are not TechCrunch, CPU, or even Cossa, we will try to develop our own style of reviewing such sites. So, for example, we will express our opinion not only ourselves, on behalf of the editors, but also ours, who, as a rule, do not understand anything at all in site building, but look at things with their own critical eye ordinary user. That is, the assessment of the service will be as objective as possible, both from a technical and from a human point of view.
In our first review, the service for accounting for new releases "Music Informer".
Music informer
new release accounting service - album-info.ruThe project "Music Informer" is a catalog of fresh releases with news mailing of interesting performers. In our opinion, the most convenient aspect turned out to be the import of the database of artists from the Last.fm profile - thanks to this, you do not have to frantically remember what kind of music you are interested in. Also worth noting is the personal catalog section, which contains all the latest releases of your favorite artists. From a technical point of view, the site is quite simple to organize and therefore loads quickly on any connection.
Particular attention should be paid to the "Top-100" section. It contains the most popular artists in terms of the number of users who have added them to their directory. The top of the chart is Linkin Park, followed by Muse, System of A Down, 30 Seconds To Mars and Rammstein in the top five. Also in the top are such artists as Placebo, Radiohead, AC / DC, Moby, U2, Oasis and many other famous bands. In a word, you will never miss the most important releases from the world of rock.
Don't miss the beautiful interactive music genre map you can find here.
Among the shortcomings, one can note a rough design, not adapted for mobile devices and annoying with primitive fonts. I was surprised by the database of performers, in which there were no such famous performers, like the Beatles or Nirvana, although they regularly release various kinds of collections and reissues. But we believe in the bright future of the project and think that it will be able to realize its potential and turn into a full-fledged social network that unites people by genres and groups.
The site itself has a fairly detailed and understandable description of its advantages:
Music informer is a service for monitoring changes in music discographies. Register, choose the performers you are interested in. And when one of them comes out new album or a single, you will receive a notification to your E-mail. Using the service, you will find out in time when your favorite band releases something new. And you will not need to regularly check the forums, twitters and official pages performers.
Discography monitoring has been carried out since 2009, there are already more than 30 thousand releases in the system different types(Album, EP, Single, Promo, Live, Compilation, etc.) that represent all musical styles and directions.
The site encourages commenting on releases, so in addition to informing about new products, “ music informer» can help you decide whether to purchase/download a particular release.
From the authors of rockcult.ru
We let our authors test the service for a month and asked them to leave short comments on the service, and this is what they told us: Many people love music and try to follow the activities of the most interesting musicians and collectives. But in a wildly spinning modern world there is not always time for this. And then it's so insulting to find out that the album of such and such a super-group was released a month ago, and it pleases the ears only now. For this, the near-musical resource www.album-info.ru is intended. Based on a list of your musical preferences, there is a selection of releases that may be important for you among hundreds of new releases that appear every day. Information comes to the mail and you decide how often to use it. The design of the site is ascetic, but this should not be repulsive, because its essence is not in a beautiful facade, but in convenience and real time savings. These are my impressions of a two-week subscription to new releases on this site.
: The most convenient thing on this resource is attaching artists from your charts from the LastFm website and then receiving mailing lists. The mailing is regular: with the announcement of the release of a new release, they are not late. In general, 3 out of 5. I use the service quite a bit since thematic publics on VK have grown.
Ivan Balashov: The database of Album-info groups and performers already looks pretty good. Bribes the ability to integrate with last.fm, thanks to which the owners of an account on "Last" can create their own catalog of their favorite musicians with a single click. If it becomes crowded within the default limit of two hundred artists, just connect yourself to a premium account, and the number of items in your catalog will immediately increase to five hundred. The cost of such a bun is two dollars a year. Distribution of messages about new releases is done in a very timely manner. Sometimes even more than timely: for example, the addition of La Gárgola, Chevelle's latest album, to the catalog took place on March 27, four days before the official release date of the record.
What qualitative changes would you like in the future?
First, the design of the site. It is, to put it mildly, crooked: this applies to both the appearance and the criminally small number of hyperlinks. Even such a seemingly elementary thing as the ability to go to the artist's page by clicking on his name / group name is simply not there. And only by looking at the line with the buttons of VK, Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, you find that one of the active elements of this line, it turns out, is responsible for this function. In general, his team still has to work and work on the convenience and visual appeal of the site.
And secondly, Album-info lacks informativeness and encyclopedia. Correction of white spots in the discography of musicians; list of similar performers; a more detailed gradation of genres and the opportunity to draw useful information about the features, important representatives and history of the development of these same genres; group compositions (again with hyperlinks to related projects); photo gallery; video recordings; colorful and interestingly written biographies of artists and bands; tags ... Nobody has canceled the Wikipedia effect yet - the more useful and interesting information, and the more intuitive the interface that links this information together, the more relevant and in demand this resource becomes. Perhaps, with proper development and sufficient funding of the site, the Album-info team will be able to get to a qualitatively new level.
: I learned about the Album-Info service less than a month ago, and managed to use it for about the same amount. During this time, I note that the service really justified the hopes placed on it a couple of times, informing me about the release dates of at least three records that were interesting to me, and in enough time to decide whether to schedule a new release for listening and whether to take it for review , or shelved.
Especially important for me was the integration of the Album-Info profile with the Last.fm account. And although the integration did not go too smoothly (for some reason, many performers were not found, and most of them are by no means little-known), but the need to manually enter the names of my favorite performers would certainly not delight me. Next, I set up notifications to be sent to a regularly checked mail account - and now I'm in the ranks of those who recommend using it to everyone, including you.
Yes, and you too.
: First of all, I see the service as useful for people who buy the most complete discographies of their favorite artists in iTunes; know how the American single "Paranoid Android" differs from the Japanese one and will immediately tell you what its alternative cover looks like; but such a person always has little information and every new track and every unknown detail delights him, and he will willingly share his find with the same music lovers. Plus, regular review of new products and a fairly clear division of them into areas allows you to discover new groups, and by clicking one button directly from the site you can desired command google or find in the bandcamp. However, with a great idea, the site is heavy - now everyone is used to a lightweight user-friendly design, and even the usual forum format often scares people away, but here the harsh "2005" reigns, there are at least no acid GIF banners.
And I also really liked a good idea with the best covers - the covers of the month (as well as the tracks of the month) are in no way related to the date of publication, i.e. track/cover of the month in 2014 could be something from Pink Floyd, 80s. And it won't be a mistake.
Grigory Knyazev: In fact, I didn’t get any special revolutionism from this service, no matter how much I expected. Perhaps the fact that he sends me news about fresh releases by e-mail is very good and right. But its interface still needs to be finalized with a file in a number of places (like the prohibition to write the), and some performers simply do not exist, although it is very strange.
Interview with the founder of the service
How did the idea to make such a service come about, how did it all start?
When I was a student, I lacked such a service myself. I wanted to have a tool that would allow me not to waste my time searching among musical novelties for something that is interesting to me personally. I just got tired of regular manual filtering. And I didn't want to miss anything. It seems to me that in the 21st century, in the era of gadgets and total lack of time, there is no place for such “bad” work. This idea formed the basis of the Musical Informer. The user selects his favorite musicians, and when one of them will appear new material, the user will receive a corresponding notification to his E-mail. And no manual search for information. In my opinion it's brilliant!
:-)
How long has your project existed?
The project was launched in 2010.
Who is your user? What do you think is the size of the audience, and why do they need your service?
On this moment more than 17 thousand users have registered in the system. The system stores only a bunch of users: Email, nickname and password hash. Therefore, according to the structure of the audience accurate information no, even interesting. I will assume that the basis of the audience is young people, music lovers and, probably, extremely pragmatic people. Since "Music Informer" is, first of all, an automation tool, and secondly - a musical resource.
Tell us about your team: how many people, who is responsible for what?
The project is developed and launched and maintained by one person, i.e. me. There is also something like a coordinating council, these are several people who, in different time wished to join the project, to help its development.
What advantages do you have over the same Vkontakte publics with similar topics? What is the uniqueness of the service?
Public VKontakte, not competitors of "Music Informer", different specifics. Our service is a technical solution for people who do not have time to read the news, watch "pictures", participate in voting and contests (or do not want to spend this time on them). Our service has a very clear, specific task: an album is released - get a notification to your E-mail. Nothing extra. Yes, the site has some "goodies" in the form of TOP100 performers, best track months, maps of musical genres, but these are just Sub-projects for the soul, which do not intersect with the main task of the service.
What promotion methods do you use?
Tried different approaches, but cooperation with thematic musical resources proved to be the most effective.
What are the plans for the development of the project for the next year?
In the first place is ALWAYS the optimization of the algorithm for detecting new albums. This is a very difficult task. Over the past few years, similar resources have appeared in the West, I think that while technically Music Informer has an advantage, I would not want to lose it in any case. I would really like to change the design, but so far there is no good concept. Appearance The service looks outdated, but it is simple, convenient and responsive. I would not want to make it fashionable, but at the same time lose in ease of use. It is also planned to add the ability to edit comments and rate them.
It is possible that a function will appear to filter the subscription not only by artist, but also by release type. For example: "I want to receive information about all Depeche Mode releases and only about U2 albums."
I am very picky about adding new functionality, functional overload can kill a project.
And for five years? ;)
A difficult question, it will depend on many factors, primarily on the growth of the audience. The first two years, I had a very clear understanding of what result I want to get. Now - the service is as I saw it from the very beginning. Therefore, now is the period of collecting feedback and understanding the results. There is a possibility of an international version of the resource appearing in the next 1-3 years.
Your site has reviews - who writes them? How do people come to you to write?
What media giants would you like to collaborate with?
There are those. I would like to see an article about "Music Informer" on Adme.ru, Lifehackers.ru, 3DNews.ru. But they do not want to publish material there for free. Contacted.
:-)
We wish you good luck in the development of the service!
Thank you too. It was a pleasure to answer your questions.
And they offered to post a review of their service. Having tested it, I considered the resource worthy and interesting, and therefore I pass the floor to the authors.
How not to miss the album of your favorite band?
Each of us has a favorite music bands. And everyone decides in their own way how to find out when their favorite band releases a new album or single. The most common solutions are as follows:
- Subscribe to fan communities in the social. networks, or to fan sites, tweets, and more.
- Every day, a couple of minutes a day, check sites like GetAlbums.
- Do not track in any way until a friend talks about the album or until it is mentioned on the mailbox.
All three ways, how shall I put it… not True. In the first case, you need to spend time sorting news, gossip, voting, separating them from information about new releases. The second method is not better, since there are countless music albums on the music "stocks" and probably what you are interested in is 1%, or even less. In the last option, it’s all right with the wasted time, only, most likely, you miss a lot interesting music. Or just be the last to know.
Note (Sunder): It seems to me that in the end we got a very curious domestic service that decides completely specific task. If you really keep track of new releases on a regular basis, then this site can help you do it efficiently and save some personal time.
Melomaniacs, take note. A rather useful Russian-language service has appeared on the network. It's called "Music Informer".
The project is 100% justified by the name. The site monitors discographies and promptly notifies of changes. Notifications come via RSS and email.
Thus, fans are always up to date with all the new products. It's hard to miss an important release.
Total for album-info.ru about 42 thousand albums, singles and live recordings. Everything released since 2009 (including compilations) is available.
Genres, directions and styles for every taste.
What is the meaning of "Music Informer"? Tracks of your favorite artist are easy to find. But what to do when there are several dozen idols? It's hard to keep track of everyone.
Automatic monitoring eliminates problems. No need to roam official pages, forums and social networks. Novelties will find the user themselves.
In addition, there is a commenting system. Reviews let you know what other people think. How successful are certain releases? Are acquaintances worth it?
The above is not the only way to broaden one's horizons. In addition to the above, there are reviews, TOP 100 performers and a news feed. Real portal.
Minuses? The database does not claim to be complete. There are not many rarities and bands (even some popular ones). Yes, visitors have the option to suggest missing "names". However, filling the catalog is slow.
The team needs to work on the design. Now it resembles the resources of a decade ago, devoid of lightness and gloss. Professional tool - professional design (for greater competitiveness).
Otherwise, the service is functional and worthy. Do you think that a day without new melodies will be spent in vain? Be sure to pay attention to album-info.ru.
We study, work, relax, play sports, dance, fall in love, have sex and enjoy life to the music. How to follow a thousand music releases, not miss anything and be the first to know?
Music accompanies us everywhere: at home we listen to it at full volume and enjoy its motives, at work we listen with headphones to maintain positive mood, on the road we while away the hours and smile to ourselves with our thoughts, in nightclubs she sets the rhythm, and in cafes she creates a romantic mood. It is simply impossible to imagine your life without music.
It was music that was with us when we were happier than ever, and in Hard times she gave us the feeling of a friendly shoulder and comforted our sorrows. She gave more than we can imagine. She taught us how to live and has always been with us like an angel who always takes care of us.
The average person listens to music a day for about two and a half hours. This is more than we spend on food. Therefore, perhaps, the choice of music should be approached as carefully as possible.
How to follow a thousand music releases, not miss anything interesting and be the first? We tried a thousand and one methods, but found only one successful option. This is a music informer album-info.ru
Work in the music informer
Registration on the album-info.ru website is instantaneous and the absence of tedious confirmation of registration by letter or other method cannot but rejoice already on initial stage. After registration, you can add your favorite artists to your personal catalog.
In the Releases section, you can filter releases based on your preferences.
All updates come to your e-mail instantly, as soon as the information appears on the portal.
There is a navigation bar on the release page for convenient work. Probably one of strengths musical informer is brevity and convenience. And the interface itself is intuitive. The words of the legendary Steve Jobs fit well here: "Design is not how an object looks, but how it works"
One of the largest universities in the UK, Heriot-Watt University, found out that a person's intelligence depends on the choice of music. Therefore, choose and follow your musical tastes using new developments. What attracts people like this interesting ideas, as a music informer? It's like the iPhone - just convenient, the service greatly simplifies the life of music lovers.
By the way, do you know that male singers are twice as likely to sing about sex as the fair sex? Yes, we think about it more often. Have you ever bought a new album from your girlfriend's favorite band before she heard about it? No? And we are. This is probably one of those moments when she will really be grateful to you for your attention to detail.
Album-info.ru music informer is a good solution for music lovers and people who are in love with music.
We study, work, relax, play sports, dance, fall in love, have sex and just enjoy life to the music. Therefore, follow the music correctly and be the first!
Everyone remembers bad internet?
It was a time when the vast majority went to upload abstracts to special Internet centers, where the limit of all dreams was expressed in 128 Kbps, divided into 10 computers. People waited for the page to load for a couple of minutes, and the damned necessary abstracts were loaded for about ten minutes. Nevertheless, everyone was happy. Except for one thing - Music ...
A long time ago, when there were no audio cassettes, but there were CDs ...
Availability bad internet did not reduce the appetite to get another new, smelling of printing ink and laser-scorched album of your favorite artist. Personally, I made periodic raids in Kyiv on Petrovka, where I bought CDs with ready-made discographies. Before the trip, all my music lovers brought me tribute in the form of lists of performers and a certain amount of money, which I turned into music discs for the trip. Then we knew everything about our idols, but did not have the opportunity.
Now we have the opportunity, but we do not always know about the release of a new album. Epoch digital technologies brought a huge amount of information and at the same time a catastrophic lack of time to view it all. Personally, I can find out about a new release after a month, or even several months ...
Why am I doing all this?
Today I want to tell you about one interesting project, which was created and launched back in 2010 by just one person without a single penny of money - "Music informer"
Its purpose is not to let you miss any release of your favorite musician or band. After spending 5 minutes to register and create your own catalog of artists, you can continue your workdays, and hundreds of little monkeys will keep track of all the new music for you. On the right day and the right hour, when your idol "gives birth" to the next album, you will receive a magical letter in the mail. The rest is a matter of technique...
1. The service quickly and timely provides information about new releases in the world of music. You are not even required to enter the site, because. you will be informed about the information you are interested in by e-mail. Registration is extremely simple:
2. Only the handless can set up their own directory. Intelligent text search based on the first letters of the name you enter suggests options. Also very useful is a feature that props up similar artists according to your personal tastes:
3. Recording of discographies has been conducted since 2009. Artist pages are very compact and visually arranged. On the release page, in addition to the cover and tracklist, there are quick links to search for new items, add to your personal catalog and contact with social networks:
4. Among other things, the "Music Informer" contains reviews on music albums, regular selections of the best covers, reference Information by genres and releases, as well as a lot of other information.
5. At the moment, the site has almost 29,000 releases and 133 unique reviews. In the near future, innovations and redesign of the site are planned.
Conclusions: I tried to find shortcomings in this site with my usual techie look and could not. The site works very fast, no insidious banners and ads, minimalist design, noble goal...
