Here's a nifty little feature for ALL users, recommended artists. While surfing around DM, you will notice this new box on the left side of some artist pages suggesting some other artists you might enjoy.

Why did you do this?
To get users to listen to more music. I mean if you're a huge Alexander Lindqvist fan, wouldn't it be cool if you had this little digital buddy suggesting some other artists like Josyph Cryss, and then from Joseph's page, you might find Sween...pretty cool eh? [note please pardon the eh there, I'm a huge hockey fan]

Wait, you guys are spying on my listens? I'm sueing!! for something...
No, it's nothing like that. Basically, some artists have groupies (users that watch the artist's track releases) when that artist's page loads, the recommended artist box magically selects a few other artists from those groupie watchlists and suggests them.

Let me guess... subscribers only right?
No, the recommended artist box is for everyone.

Isn't the artist page getting too crowded?
You are correct, we are in talks currently for redesigning that page along with the whole site. But that said, we want to continue to offer new cool stuff.

What is the fastest land animal on earth?
Besides Kingo? The cheetah.

Oooh, sounds pretty cool. Now, all I need is a bunch more random people to subscribe to my page...

first DMusic,
and then,
THE WORLD!

HA! Here are my "magically selected" artists at the moment...

- Ime Mine
- Monda
- Cagey House
- Valerie Diane
- Mimic of a Mind

This is quite an interesting feature... Not sure what I think of it yet.

mine is at the moment

mux
- Dislocated Boner
- Sween
- VickxVaporDubs
- Ryan Williams

http://www.dmusic.com/forum/Announcements/19141#37

I don't really like the randomness of this, to be honest. It's a great idea, but I think we should get a choice as to who we would really recommend, or at least the option to turn it off.

My

eh,

I'm sorta with onewhodreams on this one. Ideally it should be the artist's choice who to feature ...if they so choose to do so, or not, or leave it as is ...if that's what the artist wants. Ultimately, it is the artist's page is what I'm trying to get at...

but it's not a big enough issue for me to raise any stink over. Dmusic does so many wonderful things for us already that I trust the decision on this.
Let's hope it works as intended.

No biggie.

(I do know that I plan to utilize this feature whenever I am doing my FAVORITE thing that I do at Dmusic ...which is FINDING NEW tunes/artists that I haven't yet heard!)

um duh we already have who we pick in our play list you dorks this is just an added feature and we should be greatful that our name randomly pop up on any ones page

...well, as long as the 'list' keeps changing frequently and this is a usefull TOOL for the Dmusic users instead of just a clever way to try to deliberately direct us towards certain songs...

(like ALL the "top 10, top 40 lists only ever were..)

----------------
But I think Van's motives behind this new feature are pure.

Its just a clever way to try to deliberately direct us towards certain songs...

*as I desperately hack the system*

I doubt this will cause any odor, it's useful, and there is still the "favorite sites" tab

i just think i should be on everyones recomended artists thingy...but that is just me.

only for artists .... so we ain't in the everyone class

see ..i am confused about this feature...i saw an artist recommended on my page...an artist whose work i had never heard...then i went to that artist´s page and...i was recommended in there!!!...so.. how in hell works this??

it's genius! especially now that it has the genre distinction!

Y'know...we've already got an option to turn stuff on or off...and to promote who we like on our own webpage...it's called the LINKS section!! Why do we need this other box as well? I've seen more variety in the LINKS sections And with the links we maintain page control. You can't force artists upon an audience...you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink!

Also... to all those who never use their links section...or only promote themselves!

Uhm... it's a free country and we can use our pages however we like, especially if we pay for it. So I don't think those are quite necessary.

...and thank you for moving the Recommended Artist Feature below the Links section, looks much better.

Just trying to encourage people to help other artists who are otherwise overlooked owd. One of the main criticisms we have to address here is that a lot of music remains buried or undiscovered. :dismay

The was just a joke owd, sorry if that offended you personally...but the message was a plea to ALL members here to consider helping those who are new and undiscovered. I owe my popularity at DM to those people who originally promoted me...I never forget that...and I like to try and do the same for others. Remember, many new members may not even be aware of the links box - so far, with regard to discovering new music and helping newbies find their way round the site, it has been very successful

If it's a free country then why are DM imposing recommended artists on us? You and a number of other artists are currently paying for pages where the admins are imposing promotion of other artists on you! That was my original point! So largely we are in fact in agreement! We ALREADY have a LINKS section to promote artists, which is non-intrusive, you can opt in or out with it - totally optional and yes, you can use it "however we like". So we don't really need duplication with a recommended artists feature too.

My intentions here are good. I hope this explanation clarifies that.

Rodrica maybe you have to change your name to "Clarify" I'm tired of explaining myself too.

Everyone enjoys a good now and then, just don't expect a from me unless I really really like you. Rodrica, come on over & I'll fix you right up

All kidding aside...
Rodrica, you are the most selfless person I know on or off the internet. When I came here, DM was at the height of the first "best artist" contest, and after about two days you came along and checked out my music while I was still saying to people who were in a frenzy of pre-contest-self-promotion and couldn't be bothered. Whenever I had a problem of any kind since, you were and are there for me, giving forthright and honest opinions on my music, and using the notes system for anything I may not want advertised to the world. In other words, a decent person behaving like a professional. You have become a real friend and it's a total honor to know you today Rodrica.

This site provides tons of features to paying subscribers like me, the disk space alone is worth the money, that's why I pay it. But one thing that is also very cool about DMusic is the fact that they want to keep the site free to artists in their mission statement. The features alone are a selling point, I get way more than my money's worth there, and never was I directly pressured into subscribing. Any artist who makes use of this site is entitled to their opinion, and their opinion carries every bit as much weight whether they choose to shell out the green or not. Perhaps others don't look at it that way, which is OK too. It's a free country? I feel really bad for any DMers reading that from Cuba right now

About the feature, I would like it to be optional. I don't feel the need to promote random popular artists on my page, nor to I want my link forced on anyone else. A simple diplay toggle can change an intrusive feature into yet another very cool one.

I think the BEST thing out of all the BETTER THAN ANYWHERE ELSE things is the COMMUNITY aspect.

I've been recommending this here for two years!

Thanks Gary...I believe this is what the site is all about - community!

I've been coming across here as horribly negative which isn't my intention. My work involves advertising, marketing, publicity and promotions (and has included venues, music promoters, bands both indie and signed) etc. So here's some basic information which I hope will sound more constructive...

Broadcast media (i.e. TV/radio/internet) is largely an "intrusive" form of advertising, i.e. products can jump out at you unexpectedly and by necessity are short, sharp, simple burst of information or entertainment. Unlike magazines/newspapers which can provide more in-depth information and tend to hold an audience's attention for longer. Therefore to create enough attention, broadcast media relies on methods such as gross impacts (i.e. repeating a message until in sticks in your mind). Insufficient impacts result in nobody remembering the message, whilst overdoing it results in diminishing financial returns and a very irritated audience - a fine balance.

In theory our "recommended artists" idea should work perfectly as it follows the above mentioned standard methods. However, at DM we have a more unusual marketing situation - most of the "audience" here are also "products/artists" in their own right. This can easily lead to a conflict of interests and therefore requires alternative promotional techniques (too complex to elaborate on here). But in short, we are running the risk of relegating many of our potential subscribers (and in some cases existing subscribers) to being simply target audience status.

To maintain the community spirit and to ensure we maintain/increase subscription levels, I believe we need to do some tweaking to establish a fairer system of operation on this. It'll possibly involve a lot more work and will be more complicated, but I feel well worth it for the site in the long run