an open letter to thesixtyone.com
I applaud you for trying to innovate but I think you should really step back from this a bit. Your changes have removed many of the best features of thesixtyone.com and now make music discovery a very tedious task.
The features I miss most are:
- social networking- t61 made it easy and possible for me to find and interact with enthusiastic and adventurous listeners who were interested in my music (independent, DIY, art music)
- genres- your intention of swapping genres with an “adventure meter” with is very subjective. I have no interest in browsing mainstream pop music so wouldn’t that be adventurous for me?
- the UI- the old lists (recently submitted, most active, genre) made it easy to find music that was interesting in a short period of time. When I suggested the site to friends who were initially put-off by all the pop music, I always explained that they needed to search for at least 5 minutes to get the hang of it. Right now your setup is more like Pandora which is like searching through the dirt for a few small gems.
The best thing about T61 is that you had found a very engaging way (maybe inadvertently) to connect artists/bands directly to their listeners which created small communities based on genres/micro-genres. Your kudos system of hearts and quests is a great way to encourage a wide variety of “adventurous” listening experiences and I encourage you to focus new development on that area. What is so amazing about how you had T61 setup is that it could help any artist find their audience. This in effect gave listeners (myself included) a very strong incentive to find value in music again and put my money behind what I was listening to.
I wholeheartedly (and many others on your facebook page) encourage you to rethink the redesign.
Sincerely Yours,
Paul
Paul Bailey
Composer/Musician/Educator
Los Angeles, Ca
UPDATE January 25, 2010-
it looks like thesixtyone.com as we knew it is gone for good. at this point a few other sites have popped up that are covering the bigger picture of the whole demise:
the rise and fall of t61 (via dreaming of butterflies)
http://www.iusedtolikethesixtyone.com/
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I have to say I agree with everything you have said. It has been a sad day for myself and all my friends that frequent T61. We have mixed emotions between outrage and disgust, that James and Sam would remove some of the best and unique features that made the site for at least myself and the groups of friends I interacted with. See thats the thing though, interaction know is half hearted. It feels like a ghost town, a very odd place to be. If I wanted to listen to music with big flashy graphics, I would open iTunes and use a visual. That is what I think most of their changes should have been, a visual that you enable by choice.
None the less, thank you for this post. I really hope James and Sam see the light and cater to their fans and not to the random people that are amazed by the flashy graphics but wont actually stay on the site. They only have so long before people get tired of the changes and end up going somewhere else, artists included.
Also, I think you should enable easier to post comments, having to register is prohibitive. Maybe thats the point though, hmm.
Paul and chapel, I agree, it’s sad for users who loved the old interface. I have admired t61 for a long time now, and I think they have created an awesome website. I actually did not know about them when I started work on Uvumi.com (http://uvumi.com) two years ago, but when I found what they had done, I was quite impressed and have been a fan ever since.
What bothers me the most about the new design is that they seem to be taking us, the fans and users that make the community what it is, for granted, and that just doesn’t feel good. Since when is it acceptable to strip down almost all the features that make a product what it is, without even consulting the community that uses the product the most?
If you are looking to try an alternative, though I wouldn’t say a direct competitor, please check out Uvumi, it’s a straight-forward site that helps artists promote their work by providing a seamless and easy listening experience to fans, as well as a very advanced press kit creation tool that it free and built with the artist in mind. We are dedicated to helping artists succeed, and we would love to hear feedback about how we can create a richer music discovery experience for listeners (or any other feedback!).
Thanks for your post, Paul, and I am betting that T61 will slowly be adding a lot of those features we all miss into their new design. Only time will tell, though.
Hi Paul,
About 200+ guys from t61 sought refuge on uvumi.com. We are more than happy with what we got.
The site puts the focus on community and is a great place to hang out. More and more familiar artist show up there and it’s heartwarming to see our favorite artists trickle in one by one. I would love it if you joined us there too. Your music is too good to stay hidden behind a giant pixelated photograph.
Sincerely,
WeekendGamer, (The guy with the King of hearts avatar)
PS: And thanks for your well worded and passionate letter. You spoke for all of us, but maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.