Midterm Progress.
That’s the mockup
http://pages.uoregon.edu/jburson/notwordpress/code
That’s the code
This is where it’s at so far. Made some design changes between the mockup and the code after seeing it display in the browser.
Next steps: code the other pages besides the home page, implement a database, fill with content
I’ve decided to have the site focus just on EDM (electronic dance music). There’s a surplus of it online and not so much for the other genres I had originally planned for. There’s also a ton of genres that fall under EDM, and I don’t really like indie music anyway, for example.
There is a certain of set colloquial language that pervades the more bass heavy genres of EDM (electro-house, fidget, etc) that is used to describe “motion” (or, modulation) in a bass synthesizer patch. This includes slang terms “wub,” “wobble,” “womp,” “yoi,” and many others.
Because my goal is to garner attention for unsigned and/or lesser-known EDM artists, I am choosing tracks I like the most, and think other people would find likable. One might even say I’m shooting to find lovable tracks. From this, I have opted for a branding based on wordplay — this site is for music that is positively wubbable.
I’m not completely set on the logo, but I think it feels right.
I’ve also got a basic mockup of the site
Been trying to get a grip on what the organization is going to look like.. I’m thinking it could have five broad main sections each with their own more genre-specific “tags” for example here is what I have so far:
—-electronic
dance / house
d&b / breaks
dubstep / drumstep
electronica
glitch hop
idm
psytrance
techno
trance
uk dubstep / uk garage / uk funky
—hip hop
instrumental
r&b
trap
—acoustic
bluegrass
blues
folk
indie?
—rock
alternative
emo
grunge
hardcore
metal
post rock
progressive rock
—other
ambient
experimental
new age
world music
I’m also thinking I might just get rid of all the other genres besides everything in the Electronic genre, because it’s damn hard to find anything good from a lot of these. But it’s much easier for me to find good unknown electronic music, since I’m pretty familiar with the scene.
Here’s the pdf I uploaded after I completely revised it based on feedback.
For my project I will make a website, the function of which is to showcase a selection of the “best” unsigned music to be released publically. This is similar to the website Short of the Week.
Short of the Week is a website that features short films on a weekly basis, handpicked by staff. It began with two people who challenged themselves to find one solid short film per week and share it via their website. It has since exploded and they have picked up new staff and allowed readers to submit short film suggestions for the staff to review.
There are websites that showcase outstanding music on a weekly basis, certainly, and plenty of them. However, most of them are dominated by signed artists (music artists that have been signed by a record label, and thus are well on their way in the business and getting a lot of attention already), and they are also genre-specific. Lessthan3.com for example features only electronic music.
I want this website to focus on the unsigned, underappreciated, and yet wholly deserving artists who have not yet found the listener-base they need to become big in their scene. I have a friend who makes amazing instrumental-hip-hop music, but for years and years of his outstanding productions has gained little attention from labels and music-websites alike. I often ask myself how he is still unsigned, and this is my inspiration for my idea.
I also plan on featuring a variety of music, from electronica to folk music. Basically, wherever there is a genre of music in which musicians struggle to gain recognition, I will include the genre on the site.
I will have to determine how best to stream music on the website (be it something like soundcloud, or trying to hand-code my own streaming device).
I foresee the design process taking two weeks, and the remaining six will be spent coding and scrounging the internet for unsigned artists. For each week I work on this project will also be spent searching for music, so it has some content. I will likely use a CMS for database handling (such as wordpress or joomla). The theme, however, will be designed entirely by my own hand.
It will be interesting if this becomes something that big industry names pay attention to as I progress through it.
