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We're breaking even!


Neil

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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!

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Guest 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?

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agreed' date=' the promoters who are keeping this scene alive should benefit from a free forum![/quote']

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.

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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

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I think the radio is a good idea. It was a good laugh before and it could certainly be put to good use for local bands. Also way back when not many people had a broadband connection, now though, nearly everybody does. This would mean a lot more people would be able to listen in.

A quick question that I could probably read else where but I was just wondering if someone could answer it here. Are there other ways to subscribe and pay other than using Pay Pal?

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I think you'll find it's actually the bands and musicians keeping this scene alive. After all' date=' 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.[/quote']

well if venues & promoters didn't bring anybody from outside the area to play the music scene would wilt & die.......quicktime

I suppose as a promoter, instead of paying locals well, we could screw them like other promoters & venues & instead pay Aberdeen music the going rate to become a sponsor???

All I am asking for is a reduction to become a sponsor, afterall I send weblinks to here all over the planet to bands (e.g Caribou, jason ringenberg etc ) showing what folk thought of their shows.

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Guest Zeenat Aman

aberdeen music radio sounds like a silly idea' date=' 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

[/quote']

The charity gig at Moshulu raised money, it was a success.

The radio station wouldn't necessarily broadcast "dodgy sounding demos" as you put it. There would be a wide variety of music from the local scene and from further afield. I would imagine there would be an element of quality control involved when the material is being chosen for broadcast' date=' and if the shows are entertaining, informative, and have a semblance of professionalism about them, then I think it would be a great success.

It would also have the added benefit of attracting a lot more users, advertisers and sponsors to the site, if managed correctly. The site needs to evolve away from being dominated by the forums, and a radio station would be a more constructive way of participating in and contributing to the Aberdeen music scene as a whole. IMHO, anyway.[/quote']

I agree!

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well if venues & promoters didn't bring anybody from outside the area to play the music scene would wilt & die.......quicktime

I suppose as a promoter' date=' instead of paying locals well, we could screw them like other promoters & venues & instead pay Aberdeen music the going rate to become a sponsor???

All I am asking for is a reduction to become a sponsor, afterall I send weblinks to here all over the planet to bands (e.g Caribou, jason ringenberg etc ) showing what folk thought of their shows.[/quote']

dude its like what a tenner a month?

Hardly bank breaking is it?

Anyway i think the radio thing is a great idea i think its something the "scene" has been missing since the days of DDG and the earlier Aberdeen Music radio, i really believe something like this could help improve attendances at gigs as you find most people wont go to a gig cause, A) they havent heard of the band(s) or B) they havent heard what the band(s) sound like. Introducing something like this would give people the chance to have a listen before paying out money and may encourage more people to come down to the gigs.

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A radio station sounds like a great idea, but would it be purely for playing unsigned bands, demos etc? If you're streaming copyrighted tracks ie commercial cds, there may be licensing requirements if you're planning on keeping this site legal...

Probably best off just giving us staff an increase in salary then. To be frank the 25,000 pittance we're paid just now is just not worth the hassle...

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well if venues & promoters didn't bring anybody from outside the area to play the music scene would wilt & die.......quicktime

So your saying that unless "outside the area" bands came to play Aberdeen then the music scene as we know it would "wilt & die" ? I disagree with that statement.

I suppose as a promoter' date=' instead of paying locals well, we could screw them like other promoters & venues & instead pay Aberdeen music the going rate to become a sponsor???

[/quote']

This is nothing short of an insult to aberdeen-music.com's current sponsors and myself. This is maybe my fault for not making it more obvious but the prices stated in the FAQ are meant more as a guideline rather than the prices everyone must pay. As many of the sponsors know, I'm more than prepared to cater for their personal circumstances and lower the sponsorship rate in order to agree on a deal - they just have to ask. I don't think the likes of Arkade Projects, Moshulu and the GFN? guys, for example, would like to be referred to as promoters or venues that "screw" people over in order to pay aberdeen-music.com sponsorship money. They pay what they can in order to benefit from aberdeen-music.com and in turn attract even more people to the web site. Sponsorship should be mutually benefiting otherwise there is no point in sponsoring the web site.

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well if venues & promoters didn't bring anybody from outside the area to play the music scene would wilt & die.......quicktime

I suppose as a promoter' date=' instead of paying locals well, we could screw them like other promoters & venues & instead pay Aberdeen music the going rate to become a sponsor???

All I am asking for is a reduction to become a sponsor, afterall I send weblinks to here all over the planet to bands (e.g Caribou, jason ringenberg etc ) showing what folk thought of their shows.[/quote']

Ok so what your saying is that you actually dont get anything from aberdeen music ? Its a service and you pay to get the benefit surely. You put on gigs and you advertise on here and people come down to the gigs having seen it on here, therefore you make more money allowing you to put on the gigs you want. You saound likje your doing it out of thed goodness of your heart and getting nothing in return, its like anything else, you want posters for your gigs you pay for them and people see them and come, it's the same principle.

The radio thing sounds like a really good idea, and well done Neil :)

Cheers

Stuart

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Guest onlynik

I think neil should treat himself, after all he's put a shit load of his own money into running the site, and if the site continues to make money then it can be plough back into the site. Saying that It's probably only making a fiver a year :)

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I loved the radio when it was going. And you had the chat rooms to speak to the Dj's as you were listening to the radio... Ah, It was great. Bring back the radio!

Or, you know, whatever else is cool. But firsty Neil, go out and drink alot of cider with the sponsors money!

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i'm not entirely sure of what to spend the money on, but i thought i'd fire in here and say well done to neil and thanks for all the effort you've put in. for people like myself who have a great interest in the aberdeen scene but can't find the time to make it up north that often, it's a real pleasure to have access to a facility like this which keeps me in touch. i'm not gonna give heaps of chat about the days of the aubl and fudgenet board on bravenet and how far we've come since then, but it really is a tremendous resource for both information and entertainment. well done!

also, you should maybe hold onto the money and let it accumulate for a bit, just in case anything unexpected comes up. alternatively, it was my birthday a week back and i don't remember you gettnig me anything, so perhaps you could rectify that now :D

spoons

/x

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This is nothing short of an insult to aberdeen-music.com's current sponsors and myself. This is maybe my fault for not making it more obvious but the prices stated in the FAQ are meant more as a guideline rather than the prices everyone must pay. As many of the sponsors know' date=' I'm more than prepared to cater for their personal circumstances and lower the sponsorship rate in order to agree on a deal - they just have to ask. I don't think the likes of Arkade Projects, Moshulu and the GFN? guys, for example, would like to be referred to as promoters or venues that "screw" people over in order to pay aberdeen-music.com sponsorship money. They pay what they can in order to benefit from aberdeen-music.com and in turn attract even more people to the web site. Sponsorship should be mutually benefiting otherwise there is no point in sponsoring the web site.[/quote']

My comments were trying to be constructive, with a touch of irony, sorry if you feel I have insulted your excellent operation etc, Aberdeen Music is a fantastic resource centre for NE Scotland music & we'd be lost without it. The fact is as a promotor, we would also love to say we are @ a break even situation. All we want to do is attact artists to Aberdeen who nomally don't come here & who we want to see ourselves, plus if we can promote local artists who are trying to do something which in our opinion is interesting, then great stuff. We are music enthusiasts, who are independent promotors & not a commercial operation. As you probably remember I did ask for a quote to be a sponsor about a year ago, but was put off due to the cost, which we couldn't afford. Didn't realise there was flexibility to these costs.

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I don't think the likes of Arkade Projects' date=' Moshulu and the GFN? guys, for example, would like to be referred to as promoters or venues that "screw" people over in order to pay aberdeen-music.com sponsorship money.[/quote']

Considering it costs peanuts in reality to have a forum, it works out as a matter of pence for each person coming to our gigs to pay for the forum - I can't be bothered to do the exact maths, but the numbers involved per person are so insigificant that it wouldn't change anything about the gig prices - really, the difference involved would mean paying an extra pound to every local band that plays..in reality, what's going to help more, paying them that extra pound, or paying for the forum on here?

I know for a fact that we've never screwed anyone locally, so I do take offence at being referred to as such. If we've ever paid under the going rate for local acts, I've always explained why - and we've never "underpaid" just to pay for our forum. Considering we only now have one regular "prime" spot a month in a venue, I'd say we do pretty good not ripping anyone off while saving a little bit each time for a rainy day.

As for what I'd like to see on the website :

<promoter hat> I'd like to see a better way of advertising gigs without using the forums - perhaps a page where people could click to look at all the gigs on in a certain month. Ideally, it would be set up so people could add gigs - perhaps people who have paid to sponsor the place could automatically add gigs as a privilege, whereas anyone who hasn't would need them to be approved by a moderator first? I find the biggest problem at the minute is that there's not one page I can bookmark to immediately see what's on in a given month - the calendar is too..awkward? </promoter hat>

<personal hat> The radio is a great idea, provided there's no issues with copyright and suchlike. I can think of various things that it could be used for - instead of just music, why couldn't things like interviews be broadcast with local people?

In fact, considering you want to move away from being "about the forums" and more of a resource, what about having a page with comprensive information about all the parts of the "scene" - as it stands, there's not a place where people can learn all about the individual aspects of venues/promoters/etc - so information pages combined with interviews with people (text, that is) could be very fascinating to see.

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therefore you make more money allowing you to put on the gigs you want. You saound likje your doing it out of thed goodness of your heart and getting nothing in return' date=' [/quote']

absolute fool!

i doubt very much if interesting music break even, never mind make money!! for someone who goes on about how much of a hero you are in the music industry you have embarrased yourself!

go and check out the special acts that they bring to aberdeen! see the handful of loyal punters who go to be amazed each week! then ask mike or graeme how much door money they took and how much the band cost! they will almost certainly tell you that they lost money but they dont care because there were 30 people who walked away truly delighted!

that is what music is about, that is what being a promoter is about!!! i think you have been hanigng around your mate cloud too much recently, he too seems only interested in making money or pulling "punters" through the door when it comes to music

go take a look at yourself!

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