The site definitely needs to be redesigned to actually work if someone has noscript running, because it can't possibly look like this by design, and I'm not "allowing all" just to see what it's really supposed to look like.
Hi,
humbly said: I am the maker of this project - wowa.me (beta)
I’m working on it beside my job and three children - towards a dream I had 3 years ago.
I am aware that "Unsplash for music" is a very high goal and I am far not a good coder. Nevertheless, I believe in being able to get closer to this aim TOGETHER.
That's why I'm looking intensivly for qualified feedback like:
- what are main issues to solve?
- what are basic features to provide?
- is „staying ad-free“ a must?
- do you think a kickstarter crowdfunding campaign would be appropriated?
Etc.
One thing I noticed: I just wanted to buy you a coffee, but the help-me-stay-add-free button at the bottom kept moving away because of infinite-scroll :)
Regarding staying ad-free, I'd say it really depends on what your goals are and what your actual product is. I'm not a specialist (by far) but I'd first try to validate the market fit before trying to raise funds (Kickstarter or however else).
thanks a lot, appreciate your feedback!
You are right, for now there are not so many songs, but in future it will be annoying to scroll down to get to the footer.
Will try to create Footer-less Website....
Thanks so much
I'm not sure which is best for you, or how established you are as an artist. But if the website is early days then changing the url/product name would be least harmful. Or just submit your own tunes under a pseudonym if it's royalty-free. I think my concern as an artist is that you might make it big and take back the domain name.
I think domain is not so important - the project can run with any domain even if I would take it away.
What I love about it is just that its short.
What I hate, that you can think its related to me personally. I dont want to be in the foreground.
What do others think about URL and Name - should we change it?
With it sharing your artist name, it makes me suspicious (I don't think you are doing this, but if I randomly stumbled across the website I would) that the goal is to promote mostly your own music, and create an ecosystem around that. I don't have a problem with that at all, but in my mind, it's a very different goal than Unsplash for music.
Wowa and friends vs open music platform.
Regardless, I think it's a great idea and look forward to exploring it more. If you do change the URL, please make sure this redirects, or has a link to the new site so I can find it again!
How do you compare to https://incompetech.com/music/ or rather, how do you plan to distinguish yourself from the existing grandmaster of royalty free music?
Kevin MacLeod is awesome and an inspiration.
I think incompetech is only MacLeod music or?
I would love see all different artists - "unsplash for music" simply :)
I would think just making more/different styles of music available would be sufficient. MacLeod's work is great, but it's already been used in so many podcasts and YouTube videos that it fairly leaps out at you when you hear it.
I think you're off to a Great Start. I love the selection of music pieces and the interface is easy to use and clean. There's a good emphasis on Quality over quantity, which I appreciate.
Here are some features I would like:
1. Allow downloads without having to change windows.
2. If the song is already downloaded, the UI should indicate that: so i know what I've downloaded and what I haven't.
3. Perhaps, make some recommendation for an offline music player that defaults to downloaded location. Explanation: For those of us who are just getting started with offline music, it's hard to find a player that can play the music.
And, don't forget your primary value prop:
Offline/royalty free music is awesome because it doesn't use Data and its free.
Honestly, I was expecting the music to be extremely weak. The third item I hit was fire. The design is clean, no bs; Sold.
Suggestions:
1. add autocomplete to your search box.
2. make it easier for people to give you their email address (i.e. least intrusive as possible modal that disappears after an email address is submitted).
3. pressing play on one player should pause any other players.
I'm excited! It's not the first time I see a project like this, so I hope you gain a lot of traction.
One thing that I immediately thought about: I'm preparing to ramp up a (non-tech) YouTube channel and I'm a bit worried somebody will claim ownership of any do-whatever-you-want free music I would use to de-monetize or copyright-strike my channel. I know big sites like Epidemic, AudioJungle or Audioblocks have some sort of legal structure in place to protect their commercial clients. Any thoughts on that?
You are absolutely right. I found many Projects and YouTube Channels in the past which were claiming "no copyright" music but have either many different crediting rules in small print or have claimed ownership via YouTube or Soundcloud.
As a Music Artist I found out early, that Music-Copyright is not trivial - just because someone says a song is copyright-free and submit it, it really is - still someone else can claim ownership rights on parts of the song etc.
I realized that I can't easily get some songs from the internet and put them online. I decided to give my own music away for free as I can assure the rights and I only used license free material in the music. In the hope others will follow.
To answer your question: All submitted songs to wowa.me will be checked and reviewed one at a time on quality and ownership. I use tools to ensure this song is not already registered etc.
Furthermore every submitter has to accept terms of submission.
But you got me on two important things:
1. Submitting System needs to validate email-realness via double-opt-in or so.
2. How multiple commercial usage can work? Example: artist uses the free beat/soundtrack and publish this new song (with vocals) to all platforms (spotify, itunes and youtube network) Question: Will YouTube copyright mechanism take effect if another artist uses same free beat with other vocals?
I will uplaod the music to youtube later but I will not add them to "youtube network id's" as this would prevent also you / the user from using the music in your videos.
So I think we will concentrate on unique soundtrack music which is not suitable for putting vocals on top but everyone can use them in videos, apps & co. of course remix and them etc.
Not sure if this is the HN effect but i'm unable to play anything unfortunately - I can click play on multiple songs at a time with lots of crosses appearing ( presumably to stop playing - i'm not sure? ) but with no sound actually playing
Sorry for the late reply i was on chrome but just had another try and it works now!
Although I do still find when I click play multiple times everything plays over each other - so I would prevent that if you're looking for something to fix :)
Quote from the license text :
> This license does not include the right to compile music from WOWA to replicate a similar or competing service.
I think this clause coflicts with CC0, or prevent bundling into FLOSS (e.g. GPLed one). Am I wrong?
For example, Pixabay's image, which has such a clause in the license, was recently banned using with WordPress theme (because WordPress is GPLv3).
I am getting very nervous about such a clause, but I know CC0 is weak for trolls... Annoying.
I added this one to make it even clearer:
"So you can be safe and sure: You can make commercial projects by using all music on WOWA, you just can't sell the music as it is or create another "WOWA" with this music."
The issue is you're claiming three incompatible things
- 'no copyright'
- 'CC0'
- 'you just can't sell the music as it is'
It is not possible that all of these things are true at the same time.
For example by claiming CC0 you have waived 'all of [your] rights to the work worldwide under copyright law', but then you try to assert the right to tell me not to sell them? How do you think this works?
It might be helpful to check out Icons8. They seem to be operating under a similar idea to what you're looking for. Their licensing page is here: https://icons8.com/license
I think they also have a great business model in general.
"WOWA is licensed under Creative Commons Zero which means you can copy, modify, distribute and use the music for free, including commercial purposes, without asking permission from or providing attribution to the creator or us."
and this one forces you to create an account before you can download which might be fine if you're using it for a long time, but it adds friction for when trying out new services
May I suggest 2 improvements:
1. a volume slider
2. I think in 99% of use cases it would be better if one track stops playing once you start another one
Interesting project, I directly put it in my list of cc0 content which I can use for my tiny side project games
Hi thanks!
1.Not sure about a volume slider - always saw this as avoidable for simplicity and UX.
2. You absolutely right. Its a must. Was to complicated so far... we'll see
I used to be with you on the volume slider being redundant, but at least a few times lately, the more video editing I do, the more I find that I am constantly having multiple windows open, often playing things simultaneously, and wanting one thing to be significantly less loud than another.
Edit: also, the tracks that I’ve listened to are great! I’ll definitely be looking here for a future project. Thanks for doing this, and I wish you success in keeping it going and making it profitable!
Really interesting I was going to have a go at producing some theme music / cues for actual play podcast I am in using live and this is a fab looking source.
Very cool project. Worth noting that it's not just a webpage that compiles a bunch of CC-0 tracks, but the OP/author himself is the composer/producer of many of the tracks, so kudos to him for sharing his music for free.
There's not a ton of tracks now, but it might be useful to add a genre label and bpm, alongside the track names, to make it easier for people to narrow in on what they're interested in.
Basically all is left is a white page with some unstyled text and DOWNLOAD links, which let me download MP3 files.
Of course I could click in the address bar and disable content blocking for this site, but that's an all or nothing switch and I'm not sure I want tumblelog.js I didn't inspect it but its name doesn't inspire trust.
Great idea! How do you plan to "scale" it? Will you personally review every song that is submitted? And I guess related (though probably a "worry about it later" problem too) but how will you verify that some troll isn't just posting other people's work as their own?
you have been asked about scalability, and you have not answered. I do not know if it really is a serious project, or a project with which you wish to self-promote.
In as much as, take care of your https, you expire next month.
And the numerous cookies that are implanted, including those of a counter that you have hidden somewhere, those of tumblr, those of doubleclick, yahoo ..
Adblock blocks an item Which apparently is also hidden somewhere. Because when I deactivate it, I can not reach what it is.
This is a tumblr? Turned? Too much for a site with 19 songs.
Likewise, it is appreciated as something that is free.
I'm sorry for my English. Good luck with the project.
hi. I'm not sure if I understood everything but I will try to answer:
Regarding scalability: I think in the far future scaling will be possible through implementing AI, optimized and automated processes and a bigger team working together on that project.
But honestly I am much more focused on quality than quantity for now and things like "understanding all legal aspects" etc. But of course in future I will work on having more different artists from different genres on the platform with growth capacity.
--
Regarding "self-promotion": As I stated in other reply, I just started giving my own music for free as I realized that this is the only way to start assuring copyright restrictions.
It should not be about me primarly.
I also consider changing the Domain-URL from ".me" to a ".com"
to support this.
--
Regarding all technical issues you mention - wow really helpful thoughts but I am not a pro by far. None you mentioned is in any way with bad intention - the opposite, I tried eliminate all unnecessary stuff from a tumblr template to get a clean website. If you have concrete improvement ideas please contact me directly via mail - really appreciate your thoughts!
For now I'm already starting to work with some of you who offered to support the project technically and to build it on a more scalable solution. stay tuned (newsletter)
Thankyou!
Hi HN Community,
I want to thank everybody participating in this discussion about „Unsplash for Music“ (beta) :-)
This is my first experience on HN and I have to say it was fascinating and enlightning.
Thanks for all the qualified feedback, corrections and kind words.
For me - I’m gonna roll up my sleeves now and implement some of the feedback on the website with the help of some of you contacted me and offered their support.
82 comments
[ 159 ms ] story [ 2404 ms ] threadI am aware that "Unsplash for music" is a very high goal and I am far not a good coder. Nevertheless, I believe in being able to get closer to this aim TOGETHER.
That's why I'm looking intensivly for qualified feedback like: - what are main issues to solve? - what are basic features to provide? - is „staying ad-free“ a must? - do you think a kickstarter crowdfunding campaign would be appropriated? Etc.
Warm regards and a big Thank You from Germany.
Wlad
One thing I noticed: I just wanted to buy you a coffee, but the help-me-stay-add-free button at the bottom kept moving away because of infinite-scroll :)
Regarding staying ad-free, I'd say it really depends on what your goals are and what your actual product is. I'm not a specialist (by far) but I'd first try to validate the market fit before trying to raise funds (Kickstarter or however else).
What do others think about URL and Name - should we change it?
Wowa and friends vs open music platform.
Regardless, I think it's a great idea and look forward to exploring it more. If you do change the URL, please make sure this redirects, or has a link to the new site so I can find it again!
How do you compare to https://incompetech.com/music/ or rather, how do you plan to distinguish yourself from the existing grandmaster of royalty free music?
Here are some features I would like: 1. Allow downloads without having to change windows. 2. If the song is already downloaded, the UI should indicate that: so i know what I've downloaded and what I haven't. 3. Perhaps, make some recommendation for an offline music player that defaults to downloaded location. Explanation: For those of us who are just getting started with offline music, it's hard to find a player that can play the music.
And, don't forget your primary value prop: Offline/royalty free music is awesome because it doesn't use Data and its free.
Thanks!
Suggestions:
1. add autocomplete to your search box. 2. make it easier for people to give you their email address (i.e. least intrusive as possible modal that disappears after an email address is submitted). 3. pressing play on one player should pause any other players.
One thing that I immediately thought about: I'm preparing to ramp up a (non-tech) YouTube channel and I'm a bit worried somebody will claim ownership of any do-whatever-you-want free music I would use to de-monetize or copyright-strike my channel. I know big sites like Epidemic, AudioJungle or Audioblocks have some sort of legal structure in place to protect their commercial clients. Any thoughts on that?
EDIT: I can't grammar.
As a Music Artist I found out early, that Music-Copyright is not trivial - just because someone says a song is copyright-free and submit it, it really is - still someone else can claim ownership rights on parts of the song etc.
I realized that I can't easily get some songs from the internet and put them online. I decided to give my own music away for free as I can assure the rights and I only used license free material in the music. In the hope others will follow.
To answer your question: All submitted songs to wowa.me will be checked and reviewed one at a time on quality and ownership. I use tools to ensure this song is not already registered etc. Furthermore every submitter has to accept terms of submission.
But you got me on two important things: 1. Submitting System needs to validate email-realness via double-opt-in or so.
2. How multiple commercial usage can work? Example: artist uses the free beat/soundtrack and publish this new song (with vocals) to all platforms (spotify, itunes and youtube network) Question: Will YouTube copyright mechanism take effect if another artist uses same free beat with other vocals?
thanks
So I think we will concentrate on unique soundtrack music which is not suitable for putting vocals on top but everyone can use them in videos, apps & co. of course remix and them etc.
Not sure if this is the HN effect but i'm unable to play anything unfortunately - I can click play on multiple songs at a time with lots of crosses appearing ( presumably to stop playing - i'm not sure? ) but with no sound actually playing
Thanks
I think this clause coflicts with CC0, or prevent bundling into FLOSS (e.g. GPLed one). Am I wrong? For example, Pixabay's image, which has such a clause in the license, was recently banned using with WordPress theme (because WordPress is GPLv3). I am getting very nervous about such a clause, but I know CC0 is weak for trolls... Annoying.
I added this one to make it even clearer: "So you can be safe and sure: You can make commercial projects by using all music on WOWA, you just can't sell the music as it is or create another "WOWA" with this music."
Thanks
- 'no copyright'
- 'CC0'
- 'you just can't sell the music as it is'
It is not possible that all of these things are true at the same time.
For example by claiming CC0 you have waived 'all of [your] rights to the work worldwide under copyright law', but then you try to assert the right to tell me not to sell them? How do you think this works?
if I read the official CC0 Page it fits completely https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en
I will study the topic even more and provide a suitable declaration. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode
thank you
IANAL, but yes, I think your license is not CC0.
CC0 is "public domain". It is intended to abandon all copyrights. So if you want to publish music under the license, you can't argue any restriction.
And, Unsplash license is currently not CC0. It WAS originally CC0.
I like your philosophy, so I want to agree with you, but I cannot help concerning about licensing issues on FLOSS or mix-in usages...
References:
https://medium.com/unsplash/why-we-moved-from-the-creative-c...
http://wpandlegalstuff.com/unsplash-gpl-compatibility-concer...
https://make.wordpress.org/themes/handbook/review/resources/...
I think they also have a great business model in general.
"WOWA is licensed under Creative Commons Zero which means you can copy, modify, distribute and use the music for free, including commercial purposes, without asking permission from or providing attribution to the creator or us."
One nice to have feature would be to stop the currently playing track when I click on play.
Worth submitting it here:
https://github.com/neutraltone/awesome-stock-resources
How to add it to this github?
Interesting project, I directly put it in my list of cc0 content which I can use for my tiny side project games
Edit: also, the tracks that I’ve listened to are great! I’ll definitely be looking here for a future project. Thanks for doing this, and I wish you success in keeping it going and making it profitable!
There's not a ton of tracks now, but it might be useful to add a genre label and bpm, alongside the track names, to make it easier for people to narrow in on what they're interested in.
> The resource at “https://assets.tumblr.com/client/prod/standalone/audio-ifram... was blocked because content blocking is enabled.[Learn More]
> The resource at “https://assets.tumblr.com/assets/scripts/tumblelog.js?_v=633... was blocked because content blocking is enabled.[Learn More]
Basically all is left is a white page with some unstyled text and DOWNLOAD links, which let me download MP3 files.
Of course I could click in the address bar and disable content blocking for this site, but that's an all or nothing switch and I'm not sure I want tumblelog.js I didn't inspect it but its name doesn't inspire trust.
Scaling will be supported by AI and more personell in future I assume. Thankyou
In as much as, take care of your https, you expire next month.
And the numerous cookies that are implanted, including those of a counter that you have hidden somewhere, those of tumblr, those of doubleclick, yahoo ..
Adblock blocks an item Which apparently is also hidden somewhere. Because when I deactivate it, I can not reach what it is.
This is a tumblr? Turned? Too much for a site with 19 songs.
Likewise, it is appreciated as something that is free. I'm sorry for my English. Good luck with the project.
For now I'm already starting to work with some of you who offered to support the project technically and to build it on a more scalable solution. stay tuned (newsletter) Thankyou!
To give appropriate thanks to you all, I decided to provide a new exclusive free short track which I posted privatly. You can find it here: https://www.wowa.me/private/182444650937/tumblr_pm6riikWf31u...
For me - I’m gonna roll up my sleeves now and implement some of the feedback on the website with the help of some of you contacted me and offered their support.
All the best.
T H A N K Y O U !!!