ACL
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A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 10:26
Okay - this will be rushed, as I'm writing this while downing my, uh, dinner at work - please forgive me if it seems that way; but it will also be a long post - so please raid the fridge, grab a snack and something to drink. We just think this is an important topic to discuss - and hey, if after reading this you feel we're full of bull hockey, feel free to say so. We won't be insulted.
This missive is all about Genre - and in no way should this be read as a slap at the fine folks at RPM; they are as much victims of this problem as us musicians.
This is a problem much bigger than RPM - so please don't blame them - but we feel it's a problem we need to address now... and this is the best place we can think of to do it.
Allow me to start this discussion by referencing the 2008 Genre thread:
Joshua Wentz wrote:
Well, so much for leaving the genre blank. I just got an email from RPM HQ telling me it's mandatory.
I had to put "alternative". Alternative to what?
I'm very unhappy about that, to be honest. I know it shouldn't bother me, but I'm really sort of offended that we had this awesome creative month and then are forced to place a generic label on it. Buzzkill.
The idea of forcing a gifted musician like Joshua to call himself "alternative" - placing him within a genre with which he shares no affinity - is ridiculous; and calling ACL or Michelangelo "instrumental" & lumping us into the same category as Kenny G (there's no way you'll ever convince me to call Kenny G "jazz") & 101 Strings is beyond ludicrous.
It just doesn't work - in fact, no genre works - and there's one basic overriding reason for that:
We're being forced to reference ourselves to the music of the past.
It's actually quite funny: there have been numerous discussions here about "is music changing?" or "what is the future of music?"
The fact is:
Music Has Already Changed.
And whether anyone consciously realizes it or not, we are all part of a new musical movement.
The same technology that has made RPM possible - the ability to record & produce an album in 28 or 29 days - has also given birth to a new, completely different form of music: one in which an incredibly vast array of instruments, samples & sounds can be and have been repurposed outside the original uses for these resources to create an entirely new music. Those individuals who wish to define music through well-defined, structured sets of rules are now seriously screwed - because those rules no longer apply.
By democratizing the process of recording - anybody with the will to record can now record, without artificial restrictions - people who never thought they could make music are now free to re-imagine music as whatever springs from their hearts and minds.
Sure, it's chaos... and Sturgeon's Rule (90% of everything is sh*t) still applies...
But that's what's good - and revitalizing - about this change. There are no more artificial barriers, unless you want them. (And we're saying this as conservatory-trained musicians - so any intellectuals who wish to state that this is an "obviously uninformed" opinion can go Bite Me.)
The only problem with this new freedom is that these rules changed a long time ago, but much of the mindset behind music - mostly within the commodified music industry - has not.
So, okay - now we're free to create whatever comes out of us... but if you want to post music on RPM, Virb, MySpace or iTunes, you need to place it within a Genre; or if you want to list your album's contents with Gracenote, you need a Genre...
And sadly, this will not change any time soon.
So if we're stuck with a mandated need by outside entities (and/or the needs of the listening public) to be categorized, then it's up to us to create a name for that category - and then spread that name around until it becomes used in everyday conversation.
We are already our own new Genre.
All we need is a Name.
Now this next step is important:
This Name should be a new "umbrella" term - one that is much more loosely defined, due to the many ways we can now use these resources. Our music may sound completely different from one another, but the one thing we all have in common: our ability to re-imagine our combinations of instruments, sounds & rhythms to surprise & entertain the good souls who listen to our music, and to whom it brings joy.
(We can subdivide it later.)
So - to start the ball rolling - here's a term I came up with today:
Re-Gen (for Regenerate)
(This came about through the starting point of No-Gen - short for No Genre - but that reminded me of No Wave; then, New Gen - then there's those dreaded New Wave & New Age labels. Ack.)
Now please note: I'm not wedded to this term - and that's why I'm bringing it up here... to see if we can find a term we can all live with.
We're not naive - this will not be an immediate fix. It's not going to happen for this year's RPM, nor is it going to change tomorrow on iTunes, or any other service. We're facing a fossilized mindset (again, we're NOT talking about RPM - we're talking about a generalized mindset, created to make more efficient marketing), so it's going to take a while to change that mindset.
All we know is that the prevailing "labels" no longer work; and in the face of that fact, we have two options:
• We can sit by passively and continue to be disheartened & marginalized; or,
• We can pro-actively work to do something about it - to reach out to more ears, hearts & minds.
Wendy & I choose the latter. We feel it's time to break down another artificial barrier.
Okay - we've said our peace. Now it's your turn.
Discuss.
Vigorously.
kirk (& wendy), aka acl, aka those troublesome another cultural landslide bozos
P.S. It's odd that JW used the term "buzzkill" in his post... long ago, our first idea for a band name was Captain Bringdown & The Buzzkillers - but then the Simpsons ended up using it in an episode. We really hated losing that one.
Post edited by: ACL, at: 2008/03/07 10:51
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sister_savage
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 10:40
You could end up with 'Re-Gen' being bigger than any other category and less descriptive (or is that the point?).
Okay, my problem is this - my cd isn't terribly innovative. In fact, most of the songs DO fit into existing genres, the trouble is I probably have at least 3 different genres on there (folk, pop, rock) and I don't know which one to go with. I chose 'folk' because I've been told my voice is folky  (I guess this means that I sound like I'm singing with my finger in my ear...actually there be some truth in this, because I've been totally deaf on my left side this month). So, thumbs up for 'Re-Gen', but it doesn't solve my genre horror, or the fact that I sound like I'm wearing clogs even when I attempt to RAWK. Not that there's anything wrong with clogs.
FWIW, I've always called my stuff "Raw". 
Tess
Post edited by: sister_savage, at: 2008/03/07 10:42
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Kaichi
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 10:59
sister_savage wrote:
FWIW, I've always called my stuff "Raw".
 "Raw" is my album title, this year. I stuck mine in blues, because I always do, even though it's not all blues. It's bluesy-country-rockin'-folksy...stuff. How can you boil down what you do, when you've been seriously influenced by a whole world of different music? One friend calls mine "roots rock." It's annoying to try to force it all into one category, when the songs are all different.
How about we have a genre called Pot Luck or Buffet? That's where I go. Preferably in the dessert section. I consider my music to be the audio equivalent of warm chocolate chip cookies, the homemade variety. Gooey, chocolatey, comfortable, and familiar. Easy to make friends with, and leaves the whole house smelling yummy, too. 
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sister_savage
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 11:16
Kaichi wrote:
I consider my music to be the audio equivalent of warm chocolate chip cookies, the homemade variety. Gooey, chocolatey, comfortable, and familiar. Easy to make friends with, and leaves the whole house smelling yummy, too.
*runs to your demo page*
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Kaichi
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 12:33
sister_savage wrote:
*runs to your demo page*
 I hope the cookies are still warm. hehe
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winterstar
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 13:04
It's not that we require a new genre name necessarily. It's that we require RPM to make use some of the subgenres available already. The bottom line is that instrumental does apply a lot of us, as well as rock or folk. It's just a new incarnation of those same genres. Sure, it's not your father's folk music, but it's still folk. Maybe you don't have a drummer, but by arrangement, you're rock. No singer? Instrumental.
Okay, so your album is all over the place. Many albums have been all over the place in style and still categorized as rock or what have you. Keep in mind that when people go to the record store or iTunes, they don't generally have a refined sense of genre themselves, so they could very well just be searching with the broadest term or for a specific album. Even on the RPM jukebox, genre is kind of an afterthought. I never search by genre; I always cross-reference with the RPM profile until I find something I'm interested in. If we just searched by genre in the average record store, think about how much crap we'd have to sift though to get to something we actually like.
The RPM organizers use genre as a way to set up the listening party playlists. Beyond that, there is no real reason for the genre. People won't think "I want to listen to Joshua Wentz...what genre is he in? Oh, alternative? Well, nevermind." Sure, Joe Average might liken alternative to grunge, but the fact is, we're 15 years removed from grunge and alternative has meant a lot more than that since. I mean, they put rock and pop together! Your average rock band plays real instruments and your average pop artist doesn't know what an instrument is!
So, anyway. I know the folks at The Wire know their music. I think it would be helpful if there were a few subgenres crammed in there for next year.
-R.T.
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Monopoli
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 13:57
I don't think we really need new genrenames. The problem is the segragation in ever more esoteric genrenames and subgenrenames itself. It's a practical problem. The divisions have blurred and there's loads of music out there; how are you going to find what you like? Genres in general don't help much there I think. (I usually choose "Other" or when that is not available "Pop". I dislike the term "Alternative" too)
I like that Amazon-thing; people who bought this also bought...
Maybe you could set up some sort of system where you can choose three words from a list to descibe your music. And this list could contain words like; instrumental-vocal-beats-melody-acoustic-electronic-soothing-energetic-abstract-traditional-
cinematic-stories-loud-mellow etc.
Post edited by: Monopoli, at: 2008/03/07 13:57
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Mosfet
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 14:31
For what it's worth - I can't answer the sub-genre question 100% - but I think it's doable.. at least in the Jukebox some time..
One thing we will want to do is clean up Genres first.. as it's a blend of both iTunes defaults, random RPM volunteer typing of genre (could have done techno if they wanted when they entered it into iTunes which served as our base for the Jukebox) and then the RPM website has yet again a different list.
I know it's all screwy.. and well 3 years into doing this - if the largest discussion going on post Submission is 'what genre do I choose' than we're doing OK!
I am getting to my answer.... I HAVE TESTED the new Jukebox Account Login services already.. and we are intending to open up all band, album and track editing services to YOU the account holders.. .so using yoru RPM website login, you'll be able to access your data - and well hey we could all you to make your songs have individual genres.. and what would even be best.. is if we released that after we fixed the genre list to include more options - I'll work with our programmer and see abget Genres bumped up the list of editable fields..
-d-
Ahh.. more work.
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strummindude
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 14:34
I don't buy into the idea that progress equals inventing new names for old things. I know a lot of people, especially in the corporate environment, disagree with me.
And, let's not lose sight of the fact that the concept of genres, when you get right down to it, is merely a consumer tool -- it is NOT what defines our music. (In fact, more often the opposite is true; an artist defining a genre, but that's a little bit beside the point.)
We can never hope to accomplish a genre system that walks in pace with the development of music in general. At least, that has never been the case thus far. Genres is basically a classification system for old music. It is to music what grammatical rules are for language: an afterthought, an overly simplified system for keeping things in some sort of order, to point out obvious, general regularities rather than individual exceptions.
And to many, if not most, individual artists it will always be a hopeless stinker of a miscarriage.
For this site, I think the simplest way to compentate for the shortcomings of the RPMC genre system would be to enable the users to perform keyword searches of the artist profiles. We could, and I guess mostly do, describe our stuff in our profiles. Users should be able to use that information to their advantage in an easy manner.
While I'm at it, I'd like to also suggest that all author names in this discussion board be links to the artist profile of the poster.
S. Dude
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jimtyrrell
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 15:44
Genre is as problematic as it is useful. It's equally likely that someone will choose to listen to, or avoid, my stuff based on that simple label. To me, it serves no benefit. I suppose an argument can be made for the label helping me connect with people who are predisposed to my kind of music, but the ambiguity makes it unreliable for both myself and the listener.
My album this year is under the Holiday genre. I'm interested to see which listening party I get put in with. What can I say; it was the most relevant choice.
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Joshua Wentz
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 16:57
First, thanks to ACL for codifying the general complaint into a discussion that supercedes "My genre isn't there".
To me, genre is like racism. Whoa! That was a little much. What I mean is that classifying and forming a biased for someone based on genetic parameters is wrong. It's wrong to do it to anyone or anything, music included.
Naturalists classify the animal world into Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species in order to understand the physical world, right? The traits of various organisms are put into this nomenclature so that when someone says "This is a cetacean," you know it means you've got a hairless marine mammal with a horizontal tail fin.
Genre is meant to be more like the scientific purpose of classification... which is why sub-genres are spawned from the main umbrella of a given genre. However:
Music is art, not science!
People are subjective and biased regarding art. "Oh, I hate Post Modernism." "I'm a fan of Glam Rock." These overreaching statements show a focus, showing that someone perhaps doesn't like certain post-modernist traits, or that they enjoy music that is suffused with visual energy. But certainly within every genre, there is an incredibly wide spectrum. Suddenly the term "Glam Rock" is no longer able to classify every band that has been previously labeled as such. Seriously, have you looked at the Wikipedia list of "Glam Rock" acts in the 70s? Just a few:
Queen
Sparks
Lou Reed
New York Dolls
Roxy Music
Brian Eno
Even in that time period, you couldn't lump those groups together, musically.
So why are we classifying music this way?
Someone mentioned it was a consumer tool. The idea being that if I like Rock music, it will be easier for me to find and enjoy the band U2 if I know I can find them in the Rock section.
Some would consider the album Zooropa to NOT be rock. Hell, is U2's album Pop a Rock album? Is it Pop? Is it Rock-Pop? Who cares!?!
Music, to me, has two classifications: I like it / I don't like it. Do you (or a friend) ever say, "I really like all music, except for country and hardcore rap"? Or something to that effect? Is it 100% true?
When I go to a record store, I don't skip over the Gospel section, or the Dub, or the Electro, or the Blues, Techno, Rock, Pop, Bluegrass, or Shoegazer sections. Beyond those normal sections, there's typically a "bargain bin" right? Is your record shop's bargain bin genre-segregated? Mine's not. Are you taking a chance on something by buying it based on the album cover? Yes. Is music worth taking chances? Yes!
I hate the idea that someone wouldn't hear great music just because it was in the New Age section and all they could think of was Yanni.
And now, considering how many people buy online, you can actually listen to samples of songs before you buy them! Why put anything in a genre when the consumer can evaluate and label the music on their own?
So, how about we stop evaluating everything in life based on the superficial? We could start by not labeling each other.
Post edited by: Joshua Wentz, at: 2008/03/07 17:10
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Kemmler
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 18:35
Ok, I have a solution that doesn't require wide-eyed postmodernist "revolution".
Just don't take genre so seriously. It has nothing to do with the music itself. It should not affect your music if you don't want it to.
It's just a label that should help people locate your music.
If your music is truly good then genre categorizations won't really affect your outcomess.
If your music isn't very good then genre labels should attract people to it that wouldn't have bothered otherwise.
I'm going to be honest here, based on how basically everyone in the world (except a lot of us) conceives of "genre", putting the same label on all RPM stuff would be pretty crazy.
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Joshua Wentz
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 18:57
I'm going to be honest here, based on how basically everyone in the world (except a lot of us) conceives of "genre", putting the same label on all RPM stuff would be pretty crazy.
Agreed. This is just as ineffectual as being forced to categorize your music under the normal and incredibly truncated genre system. Which RPM is doing.
I would prefer absolutely no labels. I will accept that many albums fit into standard genre label nicely. There is nothing wrong with that at all; people are free to reference or ignore the genre list. However, it would only be fair to allow an option for no genre to exist if one, in fact, does not.
This is not about egotism or entitlement. It is about legitimacy.
Putting my album under any of the RPM genres listed is just as pointless to the audience as having an "other" category, which essentially means nothing. I know my album is not the only one this applies to. Why then, assign any categories at all? The way it is set up now is closed-minded— something I frankly wouldn't expect from a project like RPM.
Post edited by: Joshua Wentz, at: 2008/03/07 18:57
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Kemmler
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 19:07
I think the standard for genres needs to be "how useful is this label to potential listeners?"
Almost every venue available to music will ask the artist or someone else to categorize that music. Each will either offer a limited set of options, or allow one to assign an arbitrary label.
I think that in either case the best approach is to choose the label which gives the most useful approximation of what your music is like.
I disagree with the idea that even a mostly inaccurate label is worse than none at all. If it describes 30% or even 10% of your music well, that's better than describing 0%. In my opinion anyway.
It's not some affront to artistic integrity to sail under a flag of convenience. Music has a harder time with this than painting, but for a recent example look at the Ed Banger label (an electronic dance music label.) Electronic is known for having minutely segmented genres.
At first their music was called "house" or "electro house" or "electro", but since their sound is relatively distinctive, some have taken to calling it "electrobang" which seems to fit their sound quite well.
If your work necessitates a new label, it will happen, but for now I say just try to help people that haven't heard your music yet.
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Joshua Wentz
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 19:18
I disagree with the idea that even a mostly inaccurate label is worse than none at all. If it describes 30% or even 10% of your music well, that's better than describing 0%. In my opinion anyway
Perhaps. However, in this case, 10% of 10 songs is 1 song... so one of my songs is kinda "country", but labeling the entire album as country would be a lie. It doesn't help people that haven't heard my music to do so.
Let's be clear: I'm not asking for an exception to the rule for myself. I do not consider my work special or in need of a new label because I'm so awesome and unique. Neither am I saying that RPM is a special thing that supersedes all other music. I'm talking about the way we have decided to understand music, through genre, being flawed. It would be nice to have the option to not take part in that approach.
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Kemmler
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 19:33
well, you can always decline to participate. I agree that genre as it is exists for music is probably an artifact of what's been convenient for record labels in the past.
I think that culturally we are moving beyond it, but slowly. Look at how pandora works. That's probably the most useful way to categorize music.
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Joshua Wentz
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 19:42
Ultimately, you're right. I should have told them to dis-include me from the jukebox. I wish I'd thought of that last night.
Solves my problem, but doesn't speak much to the nature of music. If we are to move beyond this situation, wouldn't it be nice to start in a project like RPM, something that's overtly asking musicians to do something different, stretch their creative muscles, and so on?
Pandora's system of "cohorts" does work fairly well, in the "if you like this you may like this" method of focus. More often than not, I like what comes up on that. It still relies on the majority rule without locking into a single genre.
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malocchio
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 20:13
I don't think there is any way of getting around the question of genre; categorization seems to be essential to the way our minds operate. I'm as hard pressed as anyone to pick a single label. "Ambient/Electronic" is close for the most part, but I don't even know how to describe a song like "My Voice in Her Heart" which hopefully will still appeal to someone who has no interest in ambient or electronica.
So far, I think the myspace approach of allowing multiple genres may be best. I don't think "trip-hop" is a great description of my music, but "trip-hop/ambient/experimental" comes a lot closer.
I also like the "sounds like" options that you see in places like Cdbaby. Add "sounds like: Dead Can Dance, Coil, Massive Attack" to "trip-hop/ambient/experimental" and I think it's a pretty decent description of this last entry. One I could live with, anyway.
So yeah. that's what I would love to see here. 1) expansion of genres to include more of those funky sub-genres; 2) multiple selections allowed, and 3) "sounds like" fields, even though I know that's even trickier for people than selecting genres (and probably a nightmare for the database).
Eh, my .02 anyway. Some problems just don't have good answers, and this seems like one of them to me.
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Echo Root
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 20:18
One word: tagging
The problem is trying to define music by a single word. And honestly, an artist is not always the greatest judge of where his/her own music fits anyway. But music does have specific attributes, even if those attributes place it squarely in a "genre", in multiple genres, or no clear genre.
A paradigm shift to tagging music over classifying it would allow listeners to find music more easily by searching and filtering by tags or sets of tags. And there is great value in allowing listeners to add tags as well. The tags could be very simple (i.e. electric guitar, emo, rockin' super fast) or categorized themselves (i.e. instrument:electric guitar, instrument:flute, tempo:medium, soundslike: Boy George). Virtual record shelves, personalized "artists you might like" pages, charts, etc could all be dynamically created by a fans favorite tags.
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Joshua Wentz
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 20:29
tagging has worked to good effect on www.indistr.com in the sense that both the artist and the listeners can add tags, creating more of a description-scape than a genre.
Post edited by: Joshua Wentz, at: 2008/03/07 20:29
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bosonhavoc
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 20:31
other
that's my favorite genre. i further describe other by adding electronic acoustic.
that describes Lux in three words or less.
boson havoc is analogus digitilla but that style doesnt exists so other wins again hehe.
I like other... in fact i kinda dig the way myspace gives you a main and 2 sub.
i feel i can get the point across... but you know when people ask what kind of music i play i usually tell them to come listen and tell me because i just play.
o and we have a music store here in Austin, Tx called waterloo records.
i fell in love with waterloo when i moved her 13 years ago for one reason.
they organize artists alphabetically. that was golden. i've always listened to a broad range of musical styles and it makes it real easy when you dont have to worry about what section is a band in. is it acid jazz? electronic? alternative?
nope its under R and right near Red Hot Chili Peppers... yay Red Snapper!!!
and check out pandora.com because they seem to have a good way of creating radio stations off of what band you type in
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Echo Root
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 20:52
Thanks for the linkage, Joshua. I have heard of that site but never really checked it out. Seems like they do have the tagging model pretty much pegged.
Since my main ubernetwork hub is over at Fuzz.com, I've started a related conversation over there. I've been discussing this same topic with folks there for a while and hopefully Fuzz management will take it under consideration.
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hungryforpants
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 21:34
Echo Root wrote:
One word: tagging
the best idea here.
present the artist with an opportunity to tag their own music.
and then present the listener with that same opportunity.
one song (or piece of music) can accumulate several tags, helping to pin down what makes that particular piece of music unique.
searching for something you like becomes more precise.
at the same time, "browsing genres" to find music you like turns into perusing a tag cloud (or a series of tag clouds).
it's the semantic web, web 2.0, etc. etc.
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Gumbo
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 21:42
Mosfet wrote:
For what it's worth - I can't answer the sub-genre question 100% - but I think it's doable.. at least in the Jukebox some time..
One thing we will want to do is clean up Genres first.. as it's a blend of both iTunes defaults, random RPM volunteer typing of genre (could have done techno if they wanted when they entered it into iTunes which served as our base for the Jukebox) and then the RPM website has yet again a different list.
I know it's all screwy.. and well 3 years into doing this - if the largest discussion going on post Submission is 'what genre do I choose' than we're doing OK!
I am getting to my answer.... I HAVE TESTED the new Jukebox Account Login services already.. and we are intending to open up all band, album and track editing services to YOU the account holders.. .so using yoru RPM website login, you'll be able to access your data - and well hey we could all you to make your songs have individual genres.. and what would even be best.. is if we released that after we fixed the genre list to include more options - I'll work with our programmer and see abget Genres bumped up the list of editable fields..
-d-
Ahh.. more work.
WooHoo!!
On a related topic I went into HMV in (England) and was looking for some Rockabilly. I looked in Country. I looked in Rock. I looked in Blues. I looked in World (grasping at straws a bit by this time). I eventually went and asked.
Where did they lead me to?
Ready?
Easy Listening.
No. Really.
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Echo Root
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 22:00
Thanks.
There are obvious concerns about "gaming" as voiced here, which is why artist monitoring/editing of tags and thresholds for tag clouds would be critical.
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Gumbo
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 23:10
I am excited to hear about the possible implementation of subgenres.
In the meantime a useful question when choosing a genre might be:
"where do i think my biggest audience is"
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Echo Root
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 23:18
Gumbo wrote:
I am excited to hear about the possible implementation of subgenres.
In the meantime a useful question when choosing a genre might be:
"where do i think my biggest audience is"
Is "my house" a genre?
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Joshua Wentz
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 23:42
All the subgenres in the world mean nothing if your album does not adhere to a genre as a whole.
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Gumbo
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/07 23:53
Echo Root wrote:
Is "my house" a genre?
haha yes. "Somewhere else" would be mine
Joshua - true. tags would et my vote but i don't see it on the horizon .. 
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Mosfet
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Re:A possible solution to Genre. Or not. - 2008/03/08 01:24
Joshua Wentz wrote:
tagging has worked to good effect on www.indistr.com in the sense that both the artist and the listeners can add tags, creating more of a description-scape than a genre.<br><br>Post edited by: Joshua Wentz, at: 2008/03/07 20:29
TAgging - great concept.. We are doing a 5 star ranking system.. let me see if Tagging is feasible some time soon after.. We have to be careful with what we attempt to tackle..
Remember... we're JUST NOW working on the whole account login and mgt system, as well as a much robust playlist creation, editing and sharing system, as well as the ranking.. so there's a lot going on in addition to all the database dev stuff..
AND I have to baseline everything we can do in what Flex supports in its fairly wide Component library..
So any eager folks want to do some research on Flex-based Social networking components and FINDS a tagging component.. more power to ya!
I'll do what I can this weekend in research when I'm not making wedding invitations..
-d-
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