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[Neil]

I don't know how good your May was but I've just roughly done the sums and May, 2005 will go down in aberdeen-music.com's history as a very important month indeed. Yep, for the very first time in the web site's history I am not using any of my own money to pay for the monthly web hosting fee! Thanks to all our sponsors and supporting members, aberdeen-music.com is at this moment in time completely self-sufficient!

This is a massive achievement for the web site and all of you who have donated money in the past or are a current sponsor/supporter should feel very proud of yourselves indeed. If things were to remain like this (and I sincerely hope they do!) then there will be no need for me to spend anymore of my own money on the web site. You don't realise how much less grieve I'll get from people about this fact!

Things might not stay this way of course. There are many other costs the web site has aside from the monthly web hosting bill. License renewals (for vBulletin, PhotoPost etc) are example of other running costs but thankfully they only usually come once a year. The web hosting bill is the all important one - if that doesn't get paid then the web site gets switched off and is always the most expensive bill to pay.

This now puts aberdeen-music.com in the unusual position of having a cash surplus beginning to build up. My intention was to never run this web site for profit and I'm not going to change my mind now. This means we now have the exciting prospect of using the money to make further improvements to web site or even donate or invest the money externally.

Being the geek I am I immediately think of how we might be able to add or improve to the web site using the extra money. One thing that immediately springs to mind is something we tried long ago with some success but something we had to switch off due to it's expense. Can anyone remember aberdeen-music.com radio? Feasibly, this would now be relatively affordable with this extra money - especially when the strength of pound is taken into effect (this is also why the web hosting is so cheap just now!). So what do people think? Would this be worth resurrecting for a trial period perhaps? Or should I spend the money on something else? If so, what do you think could be done with the cash?

For those of you that can't remember or were not a visitor to the web site back then, aberdeen-music.com radio was an Internet streaming radio station that people could listen to using most audio player software (e.g WinAmp etc). The station was programmed to play tracks submitted by local bands but also other commercial music. The highlight of the station though was when we did live DJ broadcasts. It was quite a laugh I seem to recall! If the station was to be relaunched then I would see it working in a similar way as before but because we would have more members this time round then I would hope more people would like to do their own live shows on the station. Shows can be done from the comfort of your home/venue or whatever but you do need to have an ADSL connection due to the bandwidth required and the usual DJ'ing equipment - CD player(s), mixer, microphone etc.

Anyway, let me know what you all think should be done with the extra cash! Be it setting up aberdeen-music.com radio or otherwise!

[psydoll]

Aberdeen-music radio sounds like it was a good laugh.

Well done on breaking even sir. I can't really think of anything fantastic to do with the money at the moment but if I do I'll stick it on here.

[chilli]

yeh nice one,

maybe you could consider offering promoters who can't afford to pay
a better financial option or incentive to join - up?

I'm sure, it would have a double edged benefit?

[Dave]

Howzabout a pay rise for your loyal staff, Neil?

The radio station is a superb idea, and I would definitely volunteer my services as a presenter/producer.

First of all, the radio thing would be a great addition to the site, so how about there being 'promoter' dj slots, playing music from the acts they have for upcoming gigs, both local and international?

[Alkaline]

Yeah, Aberdeen-Music radio seems like a great idea. Local band material would be the best option.

[Ollie]

agreed, the promoters who are keeping this scene alive should benefit from a free forum!

[Alkaline]

Originally Posted by Zeenat Aman

First of all, the radio thing would be a great addition to the site, so how about there being 'promoter' dj slots, playing music from the acts they have for upcoming gigs, both local and international?

Thats a good idea too, seconded.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by jsmith

agreed, the promoters who are keeping this scene alive should benefit from a free forum!

I think you'll find it's actually the bands and musicians keeping this scene alive. After all, if they didn't exist there would be much there for the promoters to promote would there?

And no, this isn't a dig at promoters. They play a very important part in the local music scene, any music scene for that matter, but it is one of the reasons that local bands/musicians are entitled to free forums here while prompters and venues have to become a sponsor first.

[Ollie]

for the local scene to develop we need top notch bands coming to abdn to inspire people,

promoters like interesting music\drakes/arkade etc put their hands into THEIR pockets to finance these creative and inspiring bands that other promoters wouldnt take the risk on

aberdeen music radio sounds like a silly idea, dodgy sounding demos of crap local bands doesnt inspire me at all. as per usual people are jumping on the bandwagon of "yeah that snds great" but just like everything else (chairty gig etc), the support will fade once the novelty has worn off

perhaps abdn music should use the money more wisely?

suggestions are a wonderful thing