Our fellow member MySounds kinda asked me to share my vision of what lies ahead for the wikiloops project, so, here I sit challenging myself into this :)
Mind, this all goes back to the transparency report for 2023 which I posted some days ago, too, so, I'll boldly assume you have had a look into that.
I made mention of some technical improvements which have been worked on in 2023, and part of my vision for the wikiloops project has to deal with such technical issues, so, let me start from that side.
Invisible to all of you, the wikiloops code that runs this platform is undergoing a transformation, and after one and a half year of cleanup and restructuring,
we are slowly getting closer to a point where the project is again maintainable by professional standards, at which we will be able to improve things on the surface with ease.
We are taking time with that process, as both me and my wingman karuma enjoy the freedom to work without pressure.
We like to spend time discussing ideal solutions and could probably nerd about for a couple of more years, but I believe both of us are also eager to get to those more visible things.
Now, what will surface?
I believe we will finally see a re-design of the current interface, as that offers lots of room for improvement.
I do not believe there will be giant new features which would turn wikiloops into something different,
I rather believe we will re-organize and improve the given functionality, to let it appear more self-explanatory.
Let's be honest - todays wikiloops interface has it's clunky areas, does not follow any consequent style guide and sometimes reacts in unexpected ways -
most of you do not notice these glitches any longer, as you have found your ways around them, but that's what needs fixing first.
I did re-design the new member registration form this year, and watching the number of daily registrations rise after that change has proven that smoothening the user experience has a dramatic effect.
The act of signing up as a new member itself has not changed one bit, but the different presentation of the process obviously makes a huge difference.
Based on that experience, I am confident it will be possible to increase the engagement rate of new visitors further, as wikiloops becomes a bit smoother on the surface.
Today, wikiloops appears a lot more complicated than it really is, take that away and people will stick around longer, that is a belief me and karuma share.
This is a long read anyways, so let's have a few more lines recapping options - what could one add to this platform that would really make sense?
Some things would make sense to improve the budget situation, but wikiloops is a community for people who enjoy making music...
One could add a "learning center" type of section where people could engage in tutoring and knowledge transfer in a more educational way than wikiloops does so far.
One could add a gear review section and more or less join the line of those advertising gear.
Sure, wikiloops could do with some sort of gear marketplace of its own.
We could also finally start to hold monthly competitions and curate the best of the fest, possibly offering fame and fortune...
All nice and well, but since this here is a recap of my personal vision,
I'm taking the freedom to say no to all of that.
The core wikiloops mission is about letting people interact musically across borders, we value the experience of the individuals creative experiment over objective musical excellence. (Man, what a statement, I'm on a roll...)
Don't get me wrong - i like excellence in music, but wikiloops is about pushing that record button and doing it, no matter if that is high quality recording gear,
and without asking if you can read sheet music.
I like quality gear, and i wish i had more of a musical education, but I do not envision wikiloops benefiting from trying to become the single source of all that.
As you can probably tell by now, I am at peace with wikiloops being a niche website for people like, er, you, who like being part of this pool of relaxed creatives that has gathered on wikiloops to play it their way.
If I had investors on my back critically eyeing the wikiloops numbers and waiting for huge returns, I'd be in a different position,
but I am quite sure I am a happier man having operated this project on a community funded budget, and I am going to try continuing that.
This is also a quite pragmatic position, leaving me with the freedom to pursue any work on wikiloops when I can spare the time.
Being a family dad has come with its responsibilities, and I believe we all can be happy I managed to let go of trying to squeeze a family income out of wikiloops.
Yes, I would still love to have that option, but I'm not going to wreck what we all have built here over that.
Let's talk about the current budget for a few sentences.
To operate this digital enterprise which is acting 24/7/365, globally, from a german based old-world legal business entity - on a budget of 24k/year?
You'd have to be totally insane to do that, as it requires finding volunteers for just about everything.
It also takes someone to take care of all the jobs nobody else wanted.
If a long term vision for wikiloops should involve the project surviving a moment where I might choose (or have to) discontinue my commitment,
then we better make sure the annual budget is above 100k a year.
At least that would feel like there is a slight chance to find someone to steer this boat.
If I was asked to operate wikiloops on such a budget, I would not say no, as it would allow me to work full throttle on the project and bring in some outside expertise, too.
Having a limited budget does sometimes lead to awful compromises, that situation would most likely end around the six digits.
So, am I saying we are actually flying at 24% of a healthy long term budget? And am I also saying there are no giant plans for even bigger changes?
Yes and yes. I see your raised eyebrows from here friends, hear me out.
Yes, we even missed the low budget mark last year, so let me give you the two scenarios that are on the table right now:
Plan A:
If the positive trend in new member registrations continues, the budget situation will improve in the course of the next two quarters - if then people keep supporting the loops.
The most interesting group of people to convince supporting wikiloops is a great idea are those who are new and are posting their first tracks -
if they can be led into that creative flow experience that has let you guys churn out another whopping 24k tracks in 2023, then we will overcome the budget issue.
One simple solution to try to push that a little would be to add a random "new members first track" to everybodys news feed,
just to make sure our new members get some extra first feedback.
We all tend to get stuck in our newsfeeds bubbles, so it might be good to break that up a little.
Now, a second line of strategy will indeed go towards acquiring sponsors/partnerships, as rootshell and others suggested over in the transparency report thread.
I have tried that some years ago and had a hard time finding interested parties, but as the whole internet marketing situation has evolved quite dramatically, it might be good to start another round of that.
If anyone could offer help reaching out to potentially interested companies, that would be a great feat.
I have had a hard time getting a foot on the ground with US companies back then, maybe we have someone who feels capable of making some connections?
If that is you, please do get in touch :)
Mind, I am talking about decent and relevant advertising, no need to fear needing an adblocker on wikiloops any time soon.
Speaking of online advertising, I am tempted to rant about YouTube and others increase in intrusive ads here, let me cut it down to stating we will not interrupt anyone's music with ads.
Plan B:
If all else fails, we'll eventually have to raise the monthly membership fees, simple as that.
wikiloops membership upgrades prices have been untouched since 2017, so it might as well be fair to raise them.
I'd actually like to get rid of the intermediate silver status, as it does not make me feel good to not-offer simple and fun things like the profile image gallery or album creation to those silver supporters.
It was a decision we took back then, I'm not sure if that silver/gold distinction really makes a lot of sense tbh.
So, bottom line for 2024:
I am expecting for things to at least slightly improve, budget wise. With every supporter joining, and with any sponsor won we will be one step further,
but we will also need to find a healthy balance between growth, "sell-out" and preserving the wikiloops communities character.
I daresay some investment people would look at wikiloops and think like this: "Just throw in amount X in marketing budget, to increase users by factor Z and boom there is your prospering business" -
and yes, that will work with a lot of products, but it might as well wipe out the homely feeling of the wikiloops community.
It only takes one grumpy idiot on the shoutbox on wikiloops to temporarily turn this place into something ugly. We love to keep it friendly around here, but try the same with a surge of advertised-in people?
I would be very, very careful about that.
I believe the wikiloops community can grow, but better slowly, and maybe with some slight changes in functionality that may help preserve the wikiloops feel.
I'll give you a drastic example:
I have been wondering if wikiloops is in need of some simple "avoid this user" button, which could be used to simply hide any contributions by some user, across the full board of comments, music, shoutbox, everything.
That might be one thing to install, thinking of future community growth. Maybe it will take this type of "active member co-moderation", as we can not expect the volunteer mods to clean up everything all the time.
Yes, we are trying, and we will continue, don't get me wrong on that.
Let me round this up.
Did I just say I'll continue to fly this spaceship on a microscopic budget rather than finally breaking thru with the new TikTok called wikiloops?
Yes, that pretty much sums it up. I am whistling on the bridge as well.
We have a ton of music loaded, so I'll avoid risky asteroid belts.
Maybe that means we'll run out of fuel one day, and guess what - I'll be the fool shutting off the lights and taking the blame if that happens.
Maybe we can establish a healthy way to generate some fuel as we go. The mission continues.
There are things you can do to help.
- spread the word out there. Let people know about wikiloops on and offline, personal referrals matter!
- offer help moderating or taking on one of the many tasks (like checking new members initial music contributions)
- give a hand making some marketing partnerships happen - we have thomann, there is space for more partners like that
- give me a signal of support. It matters. Sometimes, I dream of a life with less than 200 mails to check. Trust I am trying my best, even tho you might be waiting for a response for ever.
- tell your friend at the XY-foundation there is this crazy music project. Throw cash at the 'loops, we'll turn it into music and comradery, promised.
Mind, this all goes back to the transparency report for 2023 which I posted some days ago, too, so, I'll boldly assume you have had a look into that.
I made mention of some technical improvements which have been worked on in 2023, and part of my vision for the wikiloops project has to deal with such technical issues, so, let me start from that side.
Invisible to all of you, the wikiloops code that runs this platform is undergoing a transformation, and after one and a half year of cleanup and restructuring,
we are slowly getting closer to a point where the project is again maintainable by professional standards, at which we will be able to improve things on the surface with ease.
We are taking time with that process, as both me and my wingman karuma enjoy the freedom to work without pressure.
We like to spend time discussing ideal solutions and could probably nerd about for a couple of more years, but I believe both of us are also eager to get to those more visible things.
Now, what will surface?
I believe we will finally see a re-design of the current interface, as that offers lots of room for improvement.
I do not believe there will be giant new features which would turn wikiloops into something different,
I rather believe we will re-organize and improve the given functionality, to let it appear more self-explanatory.
Let's be honest - todays wikiloops interface has it's clunky areas, does not follow any consequent style guide and sometimes reacts in unexpected ways -
most of you do not notice these glitches any longer, as you have found your ways around them, but that's what needs fixing first.
I did re-design the new member registration form this year, and watching the number of daily registrations rise after that change has proven that smoothening the user experience has a dramatic effect.
The act of signing up as a new member itself has not changed one bit, but the different presentation of the process obviously makes a huge difference.
Based on that experience, I am confident it will be possible to increase the engagement rate of new visitors further, as wikiloops becomes a bit smoother on the surface.
Today, wikiloops appears a lot more complicated than it really is, take that away and people will stick around longer, that is a belief me and karuma share.
This is a long read anyways, so let's have a few more lines recapping options - what could one add to this platform that would really make sense?
Some things would make sense to improve the budget situation, but wikiloops is a community for people who enjoy making music...
One could add a "learning center" type of section where people could engage in tutoring and knowledge transfer in a more educational way than wikiloops does so far.
One could add a gear review section and more or less join the line of those advertising gear.
Sure, wikiloops could do with some sort of gear marketplace of its own.
We could also finally start to hold monthly competitions and curate the best of the fest, possibly offering fame and fortune...
All nice and well, but since this here is a recap of my personal vision,
I'm taking the freedom to say no to all of that.
The core wikiloops mission is about letting people interact musically across borders, we value the experience of the individuals creative experiment over objective musical excellence. (Man, what a statement, I'm on a roll...)
Don't get me wrong - i like excellence in music, but wikiloops is about pushing that record button and doing it, no matter if that is high quality recording gear,
and without asking if you can read sheet music.
I like quality gear, and i wish i had more of a musical education, but I do not envision wikiloops benefiting from trying to become the single source of all that.
As you can probably tell by now, I am at peace with wikiloops being a niche website for people like, er, you, who like being part of this pool of relaxed creatives that has gathered on wikiloops to play it their way.
If I had investors on my back critically eyeing the wikiloops numbers and waiting for huge returns, I'd be in a different position,
but I am quite sure I am a happier man having operated this project on a community funded budget, and I am going to try continuing that.
This is also a quite pragmatic position, leaving me with the freedom to pursue any work on wikiloops when I can spare the time.
Being a family dad has come with its responsibilities, and I believe we all can be happy I managed to let go of trying to squeeze a family income out of wikiloops.
Yes, I would still love to have that option, but I'm not going to wreck what we all have built here over that.
Let's talk about the current budget for a few sentences.
To operate this digital enterprise which is acting 24/7/365, globally, from a german based old-world legal business entity - on a budget of 24k/year?
You'd have to be totally insane to do that, as it requires finding volunteers for just about everything.
It also takes someone to take care of all the jobs nobody else wanted.
If a long term vision for wikiloops should involve the project surviving a moment where I might choose (or have to) discontinue my commitment,
then we better make sure the annual budget is above 100k a year.
At least that would feel like there is a slight chance to find someone to steer this boat.
If I was asked to operate wikiloops on such a budget, I would not say no, as it would allow me to work full throttle on the project and bring in some outside expertise, too.
Having a limited budget does sometimes lead to awful compromises, that situation would most likely end around the six digits.
So, am I saying we are actually flying at 24% of a healthy long term budget? And am I also saying there are no giant plans for even bigger changes?
Yes and yes. I see your raised eyebrows from here friends, hear me out.
Yes, we even missed the low budget mark last year, so let me give you the two scenarios that are on the table right now:
Plan A:
If the positive trend in new member registrations continues, the budget situation will improve in the course of the next two quarters - if then people keep supporting the loops.
The most interesting group of people to convince supporting wikiloops is a great idea are those who are new and are posting their first tracks -
if they can be led into that creative flow experience that has let you guys churn out another whopping 24k tracks in 2023, then we will overcome the budget issue.
One simple solution to try to push that a little would be to add a random "new members first track" to everybodys news feed,
just to make sure our new members get some extra first feedback.
We all tend to get stuck in our newsfeeds bubbles, so it might be good to break that up a little.
Now, a second line of strategy will indeed go towards acquiring sponsors/partnerships, as rootshell and others suggested over in the transparency report thread.
I have tried that some years ago and had a hard time finding interested parties, but as the whole internet marketing situation has evolved quite dramatically, it might be good to start another round of that.
If anyone could offer help reaching out to potentially interested companies, that would be a great feat.
I have had a hard time getting a foot on the ground with US companies back then, maybe we have someone who feels capable of making some connections?
If that is you, please do get in touch :)
Mind, I am talking about decent and relevant advertising, no need to fear needing an adblocker on wikiloops any time soon.
Speaking of online advertising, I am tempted to rant about YouTube and others increase in intrusive ads here, let me cut it down to stating we will not interrupt anyone's music with ads.
Plan B:
If all else fails, we'll eventually have to raise the monthly membership fees, simple as that.
wikiloops membership upgrades prices have been untouched since 2017, so it might as well be fair to raise them.
I'd actually like to get rid of the intermediate silver status, as it does not make me feel good to not-offer simple and fun things like the profile image gallery or album creation to those silver supporters.
It was a decision we took back then, I'm not sure if that silver/gold distinction really makes a lot of sense tbh.
So, bottom line for 2024:
I am expecting for things to at least slightly improve, budget wise. With every supporter joining, and with any sponsor won we will be one step further,
but we will also need to find a healthy balance between growth, "sell-out" and preserving the wikiloops communities character.
I daresay some investment people would look at wikiloops and think like this: "Just throw in amount X in marketing budget, to increase users by factor Z and boom there is your prospering business" -
and yes, that will work with a lot of products, but it might as well wipe out the homely feeling of the wikiloops community.
It only takes one grumpy idiot on the shoutbox on wikiloops to temporarily turn this place into something ugly. We love to keep it friendly around here, but try the same with a surge of advertised-in people?
I would be very, very careful about that.
I believe the wikiloops community can grow, but better slowly, and maybe with some slight changes in functionality that may help preserve the wikiloops feel.
I'll give you a drastic example:
I have been wondering if wikiloops is in need of some simple "avoid this user" button, which could be used to simply hide any contributions by some user, across the full board of comments, music, shoutbox, everything.
That might be one thing to install, thinking of future community growth. Maybe it will take this type of "active member co-moderation", as we can not expect the volunteer mods to clean up everything all the time.
Yes, we are trying, and we will continue, don't get me wrong on that.
Let me round this up.
Did I just say I'll continue to fly this spaceship on a microscopic budget rather than finally breaking thru with the new TikTok called wikiloops?
Yes, that pretty much sums it up. I am whistling on the bridge as well.
We have a ton of music loaded, so I'll avoid risky asteroid belts.
Maybe that means we'll run out of fuel one day, and guess what - I'll be the fool shutting off the lights and taking the blame if that happens.
Maybe we can establish a healthy way to generate some fuel as we go. The mission continues.
There are things you can do to help.
- spread the word out there. Let people know about wikiloops on and offline, personal referrals matter!
- offer help moderating or taking on one of the many tasks (like checking new members initial music contributions)
- give a hand making some marketing partnerships happen - we have thomann, there is space for more partners like that
- give me a signal of support. It matters. Sometimes, I dream of a life with less than 200 mails to check. Trust I am trying my best, even tho you might be waiting for a response for ever.
- tell your friend at the XY-foundation there is this crazy music project. Throw cash at the 'loops, we'll turn it into music and comradery, promised.
+11
