help me write a program to save independant music
 

hey. i need someone to help me write a program similar to really old napster. basically what i want is a freeware program that allows people to download independant music from artists who sign up, also for free. the program also allows artists to post information about themselves sort of like purevolume or myspace but again all for free. should we be able to find server space they could upload mp3's to the server or if we can't (which is probably) the program could work p2p style. also it would have various internet radio channnels that we would brocast independant music on 24-7 so people could hear new bands and the bands/artists could get more exposure. all of this completely free for both users and artists. if anyone has the ability to help write this, and by help i mean completely write it because i couldnt possibly do it, please let me know. i will however take over full responsibilty for the i-radio brodcast of the first channel and the acquisition of future channels. or if someone out there just likes the idea and wants to get involved please let me know that too. either respond here which i might see or better email me at mikeboydmail@gmail.com and let me know. thanks everyone that reads this.

I don't know whether or not this constitutes advertising, but I'm sure a friendly mod will handle it if it does. However, why not just use a website? Use a shoutcast streaming server to do the radio stations off of? If you're concerned about bandwidth, use bittorrent to provide the mp3s. Why reinvent the wheel?

While I share your enthusiasm for the independent music scene, it appears that what you're really looking for is a team of volunteer programmers to build this website for you. Unfortunately recruiting-related posts (regardless of whether the gig is professional or informal, paid or unpaid) is ordinarily considered a form of advertising, and so I've flagged this for review.

That being said, there already are a huge number of independent music mp3 download sites as well as online radio stations. As Matir already indicated, and which I'll likewise enthusiastically recommend, I've found a few very cool stations via Shoutcast and if you are interested in broadcasting yourself, that's the first place I'd look. In any event good luck with the project -- J.W.

well im very much not talking about a website. see websites require hosting, which costs money, domains, which cost money and a whole host of other complications. im talking about a downloadable program which people would be able to use for free sans any web browser. and im hardly advertising anything since there's nothing to advertise. thats the whole point. all im doing is seeing anyone is interested in helping me with the project.

Hmm, something with a recommendation engine like Stumbleupon, built on P2P, for music that's licensed as freely-distributable? GPL music?
Interesting :cool:

exactly. plus the other features i mentioned. also since all the music is independant, that is not affiliated with any label or company, and since the artists are posting it themselves there's no legality problems with having the mp3's on a server for even more ease of download.

Fair enough. But you'd still have to have some form of hosting for people to download the client from, and for the client to initially connect to, even if file transfers are done p2p. I just think that in many cases, it makes sense to use existing systems rather than reinventing.

but using a website and bittorent and all the other things you mentioned would ultimately defeat the purpose which is simplicity for the user. the point is that the user has a direct portal to all the music instead of having to go look for it. and keep in mind im not talking about a few songs here, i personally just from my experience in the indie music world have thousands of songs from great bands, far more than could ever be put on a website. if you want a quaint little metaphor its not reinventing the wheel as much as its attaching 4 wheels to one chassy instead of having them all run independantly.

I see. Please describe more how you see the program working, from both artist and user point of view.

yeah, i dont think ive been explaining it well. first artists upload their music to the server, as many songs as they want. they then have the option of creating a small artist information page for users to access to get information about the band without actually having to have a website of their own. then the user downloads and installs this freeware program. once open its got various tabs like kazaa. they can either search a database of all the music or browse all the artists by things like genre, date added and location. they can then download all the music free. if they like the band they can then get information about the band, see photos, maybe view contact info, and anything else the band wants to make availble. or, the user can turn to one of the "radio" channels which arent actually radio at all since there will be no talking, no "dj's" of any kind. just music being played from playlists that i or other people would set and everyone using the program could then listen to. and the best part is that instead of people having to go to a website, deal with browsers, find the song, find it on bittorrent or some other service that i dont believe is even free anymore, download it from there, which most people dont even know how to do, then go find information about the band, maybe go to yet another location to hear music in broadcast form, all they have to do is open one simple program to get all the music they want all for free. and again since its all independant music being uploaded only by the artists theres no legal issues.

I'm going to move this to General.... as I think that is probably a better place for it.

Sounds like a project plan/more defined goal/design is badly needed here before any code could be written.