Show HN: Spotify for Independent Music

#1

Post by sakbhatn » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 1:07 PM UTC

Show HN: Spotify for Independent Music
musicfellas.com

Re: Show HN: Spotify for Independent Music

#2

Post by onion2k » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 1:33 PM UTC

Two points of feedback;

1. No one I know wants to browse "independent music" as an amorphous blob of everything lumped together. On the initial "Hot Songs" page, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to get by clicking on the Play button for each song. I went from a weird electronica song to an "alternative" song to an acoustic guitar song.

2. Also, there seems to be quite a lot of stuff on there. As a new user, I don't want to listen to lots of rubbish to find good songs. Give me a clue about what other people have listened to a lot, favourited, and so on. If I find some things I like I'll probably explore the site a bit further. If I don't find anything within the first few plays, I'll leave and I won't come back. (The data could be fake - just things you like - but regardless, give me some sort of opinion to work from.)

Re: Show HN: Spotify for Independent Music

#3

Post by sakbhatn » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 1:39 PM UTC

onion2k wrote: post #2

Two points of feedback; 1. No one I know wants to browse "independent music" as an amorphous blob of everything lumped together. On the initial "Hot Songs" page, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to get by clicking on the Play button for each song. I went from a weird electronica song to an "alternative" song to an acoustic guitar song. 2. Also, there seems to be quite a lot of stuff on there. As a new user,…

Thanks for your feedback. Hot songs is nothing but a bunch of songs other users have favorited and played the most in the last 3 days. So what you are getting is indeed a curated collection, not necessarily from a genre but across alternative, electronica etc. If you are interested in a particular genre you can use the radio or explore section. You can also signup and follow people to see what they've favorited, commented on etc. I hope this helps.

Thanks again for trying out.

Re: Show HN: Spotify for Independent Music

#4

Post by louhike » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 1:45 PM UTC

AFAIK, there is independent music on Spotify. I've seen a lot of small artists on it and the platform has a lot of visibility so most of these artists will try to go there. So I was wondering how you can manage to get your "contracts". It seems also there are only english songs. The problem is that we often look for the artists of our country when we are looking for indies. Is it something which will change or do you aim mostly for US and UK market for now? Otherwise, nice website !

Re: Show HN: Spotify for Independent Music

#5

Post by sakbhatn » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 1:51 PM UTC

louhike wrote: post #4

AFAIK, there is independent music on Spotify. I've seen a lot of small artists on it and the platform has a lot of visibility so most of these artists will try to go there. So I was wondering how you can manage to get your "contracts". It seems also there are only english songs. The problem is that we often look for the artists of our country when we are looking for indies. Is it something which will change or do you…

Certainly, they do have independent music, but mostly procured through "independent" labels. We are truly indie and all our music is directly uploaded by the artists here http://musicfellas.com/artist

In addition to this, we make discovery super simple and you can also support the artists by buying their music.

We do have non-english music, unfortunately there is no easy way to search by language right now. We should have that up soon.

Re: Show HN: Spotify for Independent Music

#6

Post by sakbhatn » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 2:01 PM UTC

Hello HN, we are Musicfellas, an independent music discovery platform. In one line, we are spotify + iTunes for independent music. You can not only discover new music everyday but also support the artists you like by buying their music. Very soon, we have an iPhone app and some premium features coming out. Looking forward to your feedback.

PS: Music startups are hard. We are looking for mentors/advisors/investors/music-enthusiasts who can guide us through. Please feel free to email us [hello AT musicfellas.com]. Cheers!

Re: Show HN: Spotify for Independent Music

#7

Post by ollerac » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 2:03 PM UTC

I really like the design. Your logo is especially nice. There are a lot of buttons, but the interface seems to be well organized.

I got a good selection of music just from the front page. Would you consider adding a radio option that's based on a song or an artist, like Pandora and Spotify do?

Have you considered doing a variable pricing model like Amie Street did back in the day? The more popular a track or album is, the more expensive it gets. I think this is a really good model for selling independent music because it rewards all the right people in the right way. If you get an album for an inexpensive price that means you helped 'discover' that artist and you helped them gain popularity (i.e. their price goes up a little). And if you buy an album for the going market price ($9.99 or whatever) that means a lot of other people have already validated that it's good and you know you're getting a good deal. Just a thought.

Re: Show HN: Spotify for Independent Music

#8

Post by martinml » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 2:09 PM UTC

I understand that if I disable plugins in my browser some pages are going to break, but a friendly warning to whitelist your site would be better than silence and Object # has no method 'play' in the console :)

Re: Show HN: Spotify for Independent Music

#9

Post by jurre » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 2:12 PM UTC

This looks cool! Is there or will there be an API at some point so I could potentially build native clients?

Re: Show HN: Spotify for Independent Music

#10

Post by sakbhatn » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 2:14 PM UTC

ollerac wrote: post #7

I really like the design. Your logo is especially nice. There are a lot of buttons, but the interface seems to be well organized. I got a good selection of music just from the front page. Would you consider adding a radio option that's based on a song or an artist, like Pandora and Spotify do? Have you considered doing a variable pricing model like Amie Street did back in the day? The more popular a track or album is…

Thanks for the nice feedback :)

Radio based on artist is already under the works, we should have that out soon.

Variable pricing does seem like a good option. We'll have to explore this further & see how that goes well with the artists. Because they and they alone control the pricing for now. We however do a have a "pay what you want" feature right now, something people have used more often than not.

Again, thanks for the great feedback. I have your email, would like to send you free invite to preemium features once we have them out.