Nervous Says Send Me Your Clip!
Author: Nervous

Producers and Artists, I NEED a 2mb, 128kbps clip of your music! Read on and see why.


Hello, my name is Nervous. You might be familiar with me as a writer for Rap Reviews. A good friend and I have developed a project – a real simple idea really.

Like a lot of you, I have spent a considerable amount of time on sites like MySpace and SoundClick checking out other people's music and trying to get them to check mine out too. Most of the time, NO ONE is really checking each other's music out, they are just leaving nice comments in hopes that they can get someone to listen to theirs in return.

"That's hot, come check out my beats at www.myspace.com/listentomybeatstoo" does not qualify as a positive comment. Oh come on, you KNOW that you've done that before!

One day, I had a brainstorm: would it be nice to have a place where you did not have to worry about graphics and text loading and could just concentrate on the tracks? No marketing tricks (that's crazy coming from someone who WORKS in marketing), just go from track to track and concentrate on the music?

I thought about a site called "Hot or Not" that was very popular several years back. The whole idea was simple - just click a rating from 1 through 10 for each person's picture, and the next photo loads immediately. A counter keeps track of how many people have voted and what your average score is.

Simple, yet effective.

I thought it would be cool to bring that same approach to music tracks.

I dropped the idea on my man Rob Phas (a much better programmer than I am) and a few days later, he had put it together.

It's called The Track Meet. It is located at www.TheTrackMeet.net. The idea is simple - just email a 128kbps MP3 (2mb limit) to TheTrackMeet@gmail.com, along with your Artist/Producer name and track title. In a moment, your music is ready to be listened and scored at www.TheTrackMeet.net.

I decided to limit the tracks to 2mb because I wanted to make it so that the tracks would load as quickly as possible. You get the idea of most tracks in two minutes - the approximate amount of time that 2mb allows. This is to calm the fears of those who worry that someone may try to record their entire track from the streaming data.

I also know that many people are not going to be cool with the absence of many tools, including the ability to load the tracks yourself or stick your personal graphics up there. I will include your contact information with your file, so if someone wants to get at you, they can.

Though there will be additions over time, because every project evolves, the whole point of doing The Track Meet was to create a simple and pure experience – minus all the other things you deal with on a daily basis as a music producer trying to make it. The beauty of Craig's List is that it is such a simple experience, no one is filling your page up with party invitations, dancing graphics and wannabe models trying to get on by becoming your "friend".

Note: For the record, I DEFINITELY do not mind the pictures though.

Right now, it will only keep track of the top 50 beats, there are no personal accounts. I'm imagining this will mostly appeal to hip-hop heads, there is no limit on the type of music you can send. It is all the same to me.

It's simple. There are no chat rooms, no posting boards, no reviews, no comments, no oversized graphics, no "friends", no ads, no gimmicks and no fronting – just a few minutes of music and a easy score of 1 to 10.

There is nothing to do but focus on the music.

Peace,
Nervous

Originally posted: April 1, 2008
source: RapReviews.com