I haven’t asked you to review a site for a while, so I thought I’d get your take on this one. Put It On claims to be a home to the World’s Undiscovered Artists, which, depending on your point of view makes it either sound like a treasure trove, or a creative ghetto.
What do you think? Vibrant community? Showcase opportunity? Admission of defeat?
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39 Comments
Another website to look at for musicians *bashes head against wall* repeatedly.
But your links are generally quite relavant. Would be good if you make a top 20 or 30 websites musicians should be on. I think Bob Baker did that at some point.
Yeah, but it’s not just musicians is it? that makes it more interesting. And free! Treasure trove I think.
Good idea to make a top 20
Rather unusable without javascript, hence unusable for me.
As soon as I saw “Fashion” I got turned off.
But that’s probably just me.
Why be turned off by fashion? the music business is full of people with their own fashion lines as a side to their music (Puffy for one). Think of all the extra people who would be listening/looking…….
I could probably tell you more about Puffy’s clothing line than his music, actually. I can’t name one of his “songs”.
Yeah, I know what you mean!
Love how “admission of defeat” is a possibility!
Not sure how this site is better or worse than the many others that are out there. Interesting that it provides a potential for cross-pollination between fans of art / music / fashion / film, but it’s hard to predict how that would play out in reality. And other than that juxtaposition, it doesn’t seem there is much that is remarkable about this platform…
Seems just like unsigned.com. Even the layout, etc. looks pretty much the same. What I wish these sites would do is offer a player that would stream randomly selected tracks. It’s still too painful to have to visit each individual page to listen to new artists. From within the player, they could enable you to go to an artist’s page if you like the music.
It is still just too cumbersome to sift through the piles.
The thing I always wonder with these websites is, do any normal music fans actually use them (apart from myspace)?
Does anyone really come home in the evening and think, “What I’d like to do now is find some new music website and search for some random unsigned bands.”
Agree with THE BLOB. I think the question is… how to get new music into the hands (ears?) of the user in the most fun, unobtrusive, least annoying, least-laborious way, with a reason to go to the site on a daily basis. Is ultra-simplicity the key?
One very simple idea is being done over at SongShooter Dot Com, which apparently has one new (free downloadable) song posted per day. That’s all they do, no more, no less. I think they’re still in Beta, looking in need of a bit of a spiffed-up design, not super-publicized yet, but they are up and running. Check it out here:
http://www.songshooter.com
To Blobby, Nick, Josh, Andrew:
Ha ha! You guys must work for the same company or be VERY good friends! Ha Ha…
I am 19 years old and have already sold units via this website!
Have you checked out Rodeo Church?
These guys are young fresh and hotter than anything you will find on most of your ” platforms”! And guess what! They dont pay a middle man!
They make their own money on the site. For Free!
Other platforms will typically take a cut. Pio also has live chat and live streaming, apart from the fact that you have no cap up to 1 gig of space for your stuff!
The advantage of having film aswell etc. Is that it is a better experience in general. Ie If I am watching a music vid, because I can access it on it’s own so easily, the thing actually loads quickly! UNLIKE other sites where you would wait an eternity for a bunch of videos to load because they were all on one page ( the artists page). Pio is better quality than youtube and faster than hulu.
In general the people who tend to use the site tend to be of the younger generation, because they are more savvy about alternate avenues of promotion. And they value this one more than any social networking site run by a bunch of non- artists or even capitalists like murdoch.
Pio was obviously designed by artists for artists. Yet is so well designed that viewers can access art in a number of ways, both in the classic ( think itunes) and unconventional ( think random selections or top tens, most viewed, or highest rated..) ways.
Guys if you want to have your music classified, just remember to put it in the appropriate category ( I think they allow three)!
Josh, I asked about the player too , apparently it is on it’s way.
So you will be able to do just what you said.
That is apart from their comp. ” Battle of the States”, and a pending film contest aswell… As well as a live streaming mobile app…
Personally I think this site is so well designed and comprehensive that it will be unstoppable.
It is up to us as the older generation to learn how to use things like widgets, favourites, chat, events posting, live event streaming, etc.
The trouble is you are all just too lazy! Watch these artists make their own money! You will need to do the same soon!
The time is now!
The social networking sites just make you a needle in a haystack! Pio let people find you. Not their fault if you are too chicken!
And once again. They don’t take a cut!
Brilliant…
Brrrk, Brrrk, Brrk…
Outsider-
Well said with regards to Rodeo Church. I came across their music browsing on PutItOn. But maybe that’s because I’m part of the younger generation too. However, my 60 year-old uncle is on the site and has thus far been happy with it too.
Outsider – The biggest issue I have with any of these sites is the time it takes to sift through the pile of crap. Nobody has solved that problem yet. I am a chicken if being a chicken entails not having enough time to sift through piles of crap. Ha.
I appreciate your enthusiasm for the site, I’ll give it a second look as a result of your encouragement.
Thanks,
Josh Turner
Vindico Music Group
hello
ww.3istgah.com
I think the site looks cool. It’s layout is simple and clean which good for me… it feels more like facebook than myspace in that regard. I think its a good opportunity for bands to sign up to these sites earlier rather than later, this way they are more visible and not lost in the shuffle of tens of thousands of bands. Plus, you never know who will be the first band to make it big through PIO- it could be you. or me :)
I’m all about this. The live streaming?!?! That’s rad.
Meh.
The front page looks nice and clean, not at all like all those other music sites.
Unfortunately once inside it’s the same old mess of names and faces and words and columns and meaningless categories and lists of “top whatevers”.
I click a name at random. It doesn’t matter which one I don’t have any way of telling anything about them. I’m taken to another page with almost nothing on it.
There are two boxes with words underneath – could be songs but hard to tell. I click one.
Ah there we are. Something that looks like a music player at last. The song is pretty good. I’m impressed.
Unfortunately I have no idea who it is and I’m now 3 or 4 levels deep and I can’t remember why I came here.
Good song though.
I have found that their system of categorisation is very complete:
If I want a certain type of music I just select the genre, If I want random stuff I go to random music, If I want specifics I filter by, or use tags. If I really want to go the top rated route it’s there too.
It may still need filling up, and don’t like to say I told you so… But there really is some great stuff on there if you just browse a little…
I’ve found lots of good art on here. And after all… Isn’t that the whole point?
And I’ve just figured out how to work live streaming!
YES…
Glad it’s working for you outsider. I’ll think I’ll try again tomorrow.
Some days are just no good for surfing the net, it’s your brain’s way of telling you to go outside.
One good thing I have to say about the site is that the audio quality is high.
Live streaming sounds very interesting.
yeah, the live streaming sounds cool and it ill be interesting to see how bands use it. very innovative…
Have you guys discovered anyone you’re into other than Rodeo Country? I came across a band called Dead Country that’s pretty cool. Lots of interesting art also…
Yes, I liked Roy Apps in music, Paul Pinson in Art, and Leonardo de luzio in film…
It’s a good looking and functional site for sure.
I think it is great there there is yet another site to display your creations – And at the same time I can’t help but ponder the saturation problem of it all…
The web is down right bloated and growing more so every day. Soon we might all be needles in a needle stack!
Sure… But I love this site because there are no other sites, as an artist, that let me make my own dough free of charge. They also let me upload a huge amount of stuff compared to other sites. 1GB free? Pretty unbelievable. And Pio seems to have all the capabilities of all it’s competitors combined together…
I mean I can check how many people have looked at what and when, I can see how many downloads I am getting etc.
Yet the player and live chat and live streaming and hd etc. are all top notch, comparable to the best sites out there.
To my knowledge, there are no other sites that are so comprehensive in serving my needs as an artist that aren’t trying to fall into the old addage of making money off artists’ backs. In the sense that I’m not being charged up the backside that is a definite plus for me.
Plus there is a sense of real community thanks to it’s social networking features, unlike other artist sites which make you feel like you ARE a needle in aneedle stack. But here I feel like I have achance to actually build my following in the same place that I promote myself. Really I have found nothing better!
@THE OUTSIDER So, what’s your job at Put It On? Marketing, web development, or is it an internship of some kind…? ;)
My job is making money as an artist! But that is the world we live in!
A young artist has to make his own way nowadays! But that is the world we live in!
It is only natural that one would think that an artist is more powerful than he is!
It is thanks to the few sites like putiton that I am able to do this… Wink.
ps. If you have any clues about other good sites I should check please let me know, at the end of the day a struggling artist still needs to work to get somewhere!
I agree that the features of PIO are really nice… Much better even, than many others.
I guess the trick is if it manages to grow into something as (publicly) recognizable, known & accessible as say a Myspace or Facebook (yeah, they are both super bloated but just about everyone knows what you are talking about when you speak of either of them).
On a completely personal level I just LOVE what PIO is doing! Just like I love what Soundcloud is doing… Again, my concern is about whether or not the ‘public’ will hear about them?
On that note – I have noticed that Soundcloud is beginning to really gain some exposure momentum… So I am more optimistic than pessimistic that PIO can do the same thing!
PS – I would not know about either of those sites if I did not visit here! Good one Dubber! You are down right viral!
That explains the cough.
I can’t wait until bands start using the streaming function to play shows for their fans, or give updates when they are writing or in the studio. I loved myspace for the fact that it brought the fan face to face with the band and the two could message back and forth, but PIO seems to bring it to a whole other level. I think a site like this breaks down that invisible barrier between artist and consumer bringing a new level of intimacey to the online music experience. :) Not to mention it’s not nearly as cluttered as its monster counterparts (myspace, facebook, etc)
I don’t know, I just kinda visited the art page, saw a picture I liked that wasn’t available for sale or maybe an edited wallpaper download, visited the music section and came back here.
It just didn’t grab me instantly and that’s what a website has to do. Yours has content straight away, it gets you reading. Twitter is intriguing, you want to read it and despite many bad things about MySpace you usually hear a tune before you’ve got a chance to go elsewhere.
This had nothing instant.
“nothing instant”
Hmm, I think that’s the impression I’m left with too.
More importantly, nothing new – we’ve all used dozens of sites just like this before.
Sure, the specific features differ but the overarching paradigm is essentially the same – artists showing their work to other artists with great enthusiasm and little tangible return.
Outsider – the wall between the interior and exterior may be a little – ahem – transparent.
Josh, what’s crap to you isn’t crap to someone else!
What I like is it looks clean,so far is easy and above all FREE. Wouldn’t every artist like not to have to pay through the nose for their talent?
Still like to see more fashion and film though – it must be a very new site
agreed.
I like the overall look of the site… I have to say though, that I get instantly turned off when 2 out of 10 artists actually have a photo uploaded. Shallow, I know, but it makes the whole site look a little ghetto. I’m not a huge fan of myspace, but how many artists on there don’t have a picture? Maybe PIO should require a photo upload with all music uploads.
The intro page is very attractive and looks promising, and hopefully in the future it will attract some real talent. (Not that there isn’t any on there yet, I just didn’t find any in the 5 minutes I browsed)
I can’t wait for PIO to explode, it seems to be attracting good talent already. I’m extremely happy I found Rodeo Church, they are fresh, energetic, and much more innovative than anything I’d ever found on the bloated monster that is myspace. I probably wouldn’t have found them if it weren’t for this fabulous site.
For the most part the layout is very classy, a few things could un-ghetto-fy it, such as requiring profile pictures for artists.
The thing is are people who aren’t artists paying attention to this? Or is this another site with only artists trying to be discovered?