We are gradually releasing parts of a new update that we started over the weekend.
An important change on the front page is the selection of blogs we draw from. By default, we now show posts from the top 100 music blogs as reported by Technorati, Delicious and our data. You can click “all blogs” to see the latest posts from all blogs we index.
This is an ongoing experiment and we are likely to tweak this further. We want to see what changes we’ll see in the usage when we make the front page move slower and have a more recognizable set of blogs in the set. This is all to make it friendlier and accessible to those typing in “hypem.com” for the first time.
Would love your thoughts on this as well, comment or email us.
UPDATE 2009-03-10: We are close to releasing a new experimental update that uses an idea suggested by Jeff from the Heart on a Stick blog: having the front page list one post per day (24h) per blog for all blogs. The post may contain multiple tracks but only one (typically the first one in the 24h period) will be visible. This will be default view. It addresses our concerns about volume on the front page as well as flattens the playing field for many blogs out there. What do you think?
The full view and the top 100 views will also be available.
UPDATE 2009-03-10 6:30PM ET: The new view is live: http://blog.hypem.com/2009/03/3-ways-to-view-the-front-page/
I think the whole change to the default of “top 100 blogs” is a sad, sorry move. I cannot support it, and I’d heavily encourage you folks to reconsider quickly, before any more blogs start actively begging readers to help them get to the top 100.
My basic thesis: the new default system is ANTI-COMMUNITY, because it will weaken all smaller blogs, and strengthen all larger blogs, thus creating a widening gap of “haves” and “have nots” not much unlike that huge disparity in wealth currently causing the collapse of the global economy.
Consider: The new system REINFORCES the status of the top 100 by exposing ONLY them, and by making the smaller blogs (thousands of them) harder to find, and thus makes it that much harder for blogs to come in and out of that 100. In other words: such infrastructures weaken the small to add value to the strong. Sure, such infrastructures abound more and more online. But I believe they represent the commodification of the caste system of the web, and will ultimately reinforce the current status quo at the risk of slowing down evolution and change.
Don;t get me wrong: I love that, as a reaction, a few dozen people have immediately added me to their favorites list. But this is small consolation for a system that only lets YOU get more hits by letting you “beat” and then obscure others vying for the top 100. I’m sorry, but I believe that this sort of competitive system is inherently anti-web, antithetical to the very nature of the social ebb and flow that make the internet what it is, and constantly improving and self-correcting.
That it also means less ad-wealth going to smaller blogs, and more going to bigger blogs, is part and parcel, if only a symptom of my real concern of social eye-awareness and visiting. But that last bit is not trivial, either. Instead, please note you just cost many newer blogs from ever becoming part of the top 100, and thus made it MUCH harder for new bloggers to ever be found, thus ever enter the fray as the next generation of new bloggers.
March 8, 2009 9:08 pm
Umm..
Your New player a the bottom of the page takes forever
to load..
I’m on a Ethernet Chord hooked up to the cable..
And,your Refresh to get New Songs that were just posted
Never worked on IE..3/4 of the time it didn’t work..
Don’t know if you still use it..
Maybe,it worked on Firefox but,it was a joke on IE..
I agree you should show Small & Music large blogs..
Thanks..
March 8, 2009 9:36 pm
not a fan.
when I search an artist and go to play one of their songs, it refreshes and sends me back to the latest page.
not a fan.
I dig the old hypem.
March 8, 2009 9:47 pm
the result of my frustration has lead me here again.
top 100 blogs.
not feeling it.
please bring the old hype machine back.
it wasn’t about the top 100 blogs.
it was about all the music.
thats what drives my interest towards this site.
bring it back.
I might have to burn my hype machine shirt & stop raving about this site. I feel its lacking rave-ability now.
thanks.
March 8, 2009 9:50 pm
See, if I were hosted somewhere other than Blogger I could just ignore all the c&d’s and just start posting material from artists (that shouldn’t be out for months) so I can get my score up and get into the top 100! That’s the only way to do this and be successful at it anymore apparently… Because I see the old guard on the list, and then big superblogs who take material and post it up (with no filter, just sort of whatever will get the most hits) with no remorse. Hype Machine helped make my blog what it is but no big surprise my numbers have taken a nose dive with your new approach. I used to get almost 3 times the traffic I’m getting now… but I’ve taken to playing by the rules… this is really frustrating.
March 8, 2009 10:23 pm
I agree with the above posts. Please bring the old-hypem back. I cannot access the songs that populate once I search an artist. Clicking the play icon sends me back to the main page. thanks.
March 8, 2009 10:44 pm
Folks, this isn’t about a technical problem that can be easily fixed, is it?
I’d encourage all readers to consider the larger issue, please. Hype Machine made MANY of us players, albeit small ones. The default settings are VERY powerful engines of visitor attention, socially and behaviorally speaking. With this change, we’ll get smaller, while the big guns get ever-larger.
Do we really want a Wal-mart world instead of our friendly main street, with its rich, diverse population?
March 8, 2009 10:49 pm
anyone else having last.fm scrobbling problems? is this new?
March 8, 2009 11:04 pm
I’m fairly new to HypeM and I guess I didn’t notice all the changes. When I saw that I was being presented music from the “top 100 blogs”, I quickly clicked on “all blogs” — I KNOW I’m not in the mainstream, and I was far more pleased with the resulting list. The player at the bottom of the page is a little easier to find and understand than the previous one. (Perhaps somehow making it even more obvious would be even better; I was pretty confused the first time. But aren’t we all.)
March 8, 2009 11:22 pm
Oh, and I love HypeM. I’m busily recommending it to all my friends (both of them).
(I just thought, it would be nice to see who else ‘loves’ a particular song… And then I figured out that clicking on the number beside the does that. I HypeM!) It might be nice to be able to distinguish between and . (Would that be or ?) Small matter.
March 8, 2009 11:28 pm
Portlad reinforces my thesis, I think — he’s “fairly” new, so he noticed that the breadth had changed. But would TOTALLY new folks see the tiny toggle switch? I bet MANY would not.
New readers without the experience to NOTICE that they are only seeing the “top 100” will, like Portlad almost did, likely decide that HypeMachine was not for their “type of music”.
Is that really the result you wanted, HM folks? I suspect not…
Look, I recognize the need for clean, but by trading away diversity and change? Sorry, no.
March 8, 2009 11:32 pm
I agree with a lot of the comments that have been already said. Top 100 blogs as default brings to mind a sort of HS-popularity-contest-prom-queen-top thing. Many people don’t notice, or bother to change the default settings. Being a top 100 blog makes it easier to ensure that you stay at the top. Also, because of this, you are seemingly giving the impression that these top 100 blogs are of better quality and are more deserving of traffic than the smaller, or newer blogs and I believe that this is such a false impression to give.
March 8, 2009 11:40 pm
I’m disappointed with the changes because the blogs where I find most of the music I love are not in the top 100. Hype Machine was my gateway to discovering so many great new bands, but now it seems neutered. I think boyhowdy’s comments above are a really great explanation as to why this hurts the music blogging community.
March 8, 2009 11:44 pm
Ooh, some of my comments got eaten by angle-brackets:
(I just thought, it would be nice to see who else ‘loves’ a particular song… And then I figured out that clicking on the number beside the *heart* does that. I *HEART* HypeM!) It might be nice to be able to distinguish between *heart* and *gee, I’d like to make note of this so I can listen again later*. (Would that be *love* or *we’re just friends, really*?) Small matter.
And, yeah, I’m mentioning to all my friends to click on “all blogs”. Much more satisfying.
March 9, 2009 12:12 am
Big mistake for so many reasons.
March 9, 2009 12:22 am
Wow, I can click to a new page without interrupting the song that I’m playing from the previous page. Thanks!
March 9, 2009 12:47 am
Wholeheartedly agree with boyhowdy and the initial post. “Top 100 Blogs Only” is an unfortunate development and a big mistake.
March 9, 2009 1:02 am
The player only plays 30 second clips, I’m so confused why I need a an Imeem account to listen to songs on Hype.
March 9, 2009 1:08 am
Everyone, thanks for your feedback. We read this and think about this tons. A few notes:
* boyhowdy: Your assumption that the top 100 blogs are not diverse or somehow post only popular music is incorrect. Have a look at them and you will find that they’ve mostly been around for a while and write well and post good selections. For people new to music blogs, this helps establish the authority of what goes on here.
That said, we are figuring out ways to make the front page more digestible, over time as we’ve been adding blogs to our index, it has become overwhelming. This is our first step to solve that and we may try other things as well. I am with you that it’s super-important to surface new blogs and we’ll be find more ways to do it. We aren’t certain that dumping all content on the front page is the best way to accomplish this anymore, hence this change.
* Patch: Your assumption about the top 100 is incorrect. Music for Robots, Said the Gramophone and Fluxblog are all in our top 100. I wouldn’t describe them and many others the way you have.
* Crystal: That IS the impression, yes and that’s what we intend. Those bloggers have been doing it for a long time, do it well and are a good way to introduce people to this whole thing as a result.
* Those of you with technical issues, please use the contact form, but most likely clearing your cache and restarting browser will suffice.
* Everyone else: we haven’t removed any blogs, they are still accessible via the prominent “view all” link on the front page.
March 9, 2009 1:15 am
I think “view all” should be the default setting, just to give everybody an equal chance to share their passion.
Thanks to the Hypem team for their great work over the years !
Cheers
T
March 9, 2009 3:38 am
boyhowdy summed this up perfectly. I’m surprised you’ve even considered this sad change. You’re basically telling all smaller blogs they’re worthless until popular.
If anything, you should be /promoting/ smaller blogs over the larger ones. Smaller blogs don’t have half the material that most of the popular blogs have, so they just can’t compete.
You’re KILLING traffic to smaller blogs, and in effect, you’re killing music. Change it back.
March 9, 2009 4:27 am
Anthony, I appreciate the personal response, but I think you missed my core point.
I’m not suggesting that the top 100 blogs are not diverse. I’m suggesting that they are not STATIC – that is, that over a year or three, WHICH blogs are the top 100 drifts, and SHOULD drift.
HOWEVER. Any structure which supports that top 100 by making it EASIER to find those top 100 reinforces the social power of that top 100 to the detriment of the other blogs. Because you are so popular, YOUR change MAKES it LESS likelythat any new blogs will be able to break the top 100, because it reinforces the visibility of the top 100.
Now, there are plenty of existing web sites that already do that. But Hype Machine has long HELPED other blogs have an equal say, by having a front page that was about the songs first and foremost, and only then about the blogs. This change is one which takes away that power for the other “long tail” blogs, and ADDS power to those top 100.
You should be proud that Hype Machine has helped so many blogs come into prominence. But that default setting has a HUGE amount of power int he blogworld, and your change bends that power towards reinforcing the status quo=, giving LESS voice to the “crowd” than it did two days ago. Now I’m asking you to step up and take responsibility for the way that you, as a popular aggregator, can make or break this process.
March 9, 2009 4:42 am
Another way to put this: do you think new and smaller blogs will EVER be able to break the top 100 again if labels and promoters start using YOUR top one hundred list to decide who gets the product?
After all, most new readers will never find the smaller blogs, in your new default setting…
I think you underestimate your power as tastemasters, gentlemen. Step up and accept that this change has major reinforcing effects on the CURRENT top 100, and thus may “freeze” it in place. And then realize that most blogs change over time, and your business model depends on being able to ride those changes, not support blogs long after they aren’t fresh.
In fact, you already KNOW this, because five DAYS ago you proudly posted the following quote from web industry guru Terry McBride:
“I love music blogs because they’re music fans. They’re authentic and passionate about music … All they’re doing is spreading the word about stuff they like. The authentic will rise to the top, which is why I like aggregators like The Hype Machine. I think it’s brilliant.”
The irony of touting a quote which names you as a prime example of a model in which “the authentic will rise to the top”, and then only four days later changing your own aggregator to one which reinforces the current status quo regardless of those POPblogs’ SUSTAINED authenticity over time, and keeps the authentic and new from rising anywhere as easily, is pretty obvious, I hope.
March 9, 2009 5:00 am
I’m totally with boyhowdy on this one. I can see where the Hype M people are coming from–wanting a front page that’s a little more exciting, rather than one where new visitors see a collection of blogs with poorly written posts and junky mp3s–but from a writer of a small blog that gets a nice increase in traffic after our posts go up, this will mean that Hype Machine will no longer be the best way to promote my blog. Even if we get tons more traffic, we won’t be anywhere near the top 100, and so will only get search traffic based on artist. Which is very little.
I do think that the change will deal in a nicer front page, but as has been pointed out, it’s also going to create a scenario where many blogs try to game the system, since being in the top 100 is going to mean much MUCH more than just simply being on Hype Machine at all.
It’s a shame, though the silver lining is that it opens things up for a competitor. Developers, start your engines!
March 9, 2009 7:19 am
I honestly feel it’s a poor move on your behalf to cut it to the “top 100”, the variety was the main reason I used this website!
ALSO, a larger problem is that the new player.
It’s an odd layout, I would prefer the playback bar, back on the left side of the page.
Also, I’m on a connection behind proxies in my University, and although the old player worked I now often can’t play songs and have begun to use Hypem less already!
Please sort the problems out!
March 9, 2009 8:21 am
I have hypeM loaded into my sidebar in Firefox but with the new play bar at the bottom it no longer fits to my sidebar so I can’t skip or pause unless I resize the window (which gets in the way of the current open tab.
March 9, 2009 8:42 am
The player at the bottom of the page refuses to load at any reasonable speed, and I am also being redirected to the “Latest” page when I try to play a song. This is terrible, frustrating, and making things so difficult.
March 9, 2009 10:21 am
This Top 100 Blogs has an elitist feel about it. The whole point of the Hype Machine is to let folks discover new music and, more importantly, new sources of info about music. If people are only seeing the top 100, it’s just going to be the same sites blog-lovers are already familiar with (brooklynvegan, stereogum, etc). Make it an option to only show the Top 100, but please don’t make it the default!
March 9, 2009 11:00 am
Like a lot of the other commenters, I’m really disappointed in your decision to only feature the top 100 blogs. One of my favorite things about Hype Machine has always been discovering new blogs. How am I going to do that if the front page only features blogs that I (and everybody else) have already heard of? I’ve always liked that this site has been democratic and put all the blogs it features on equal footing. With that element gone, you’re changing the philosophy of the site as well as providing a less useful service.
March 9, 2009 11:38 am
Hi, thx to hypem team for this update, i think there is a lot of good things… but is that possible to load the old interface ?? I have problem with the new player and my cellphone web browser. Maybe a special URL ?
My point of view on the changes :
– i think the followers/followong/blog counters… are less explicit than the old lists. I don’t think that new users will undertstand that followers are people, with the lists that was clear.
– Moreover the list was good in order to know/realize the blogs update or friends recent activity. Now this information is hidden, it is necessary to click on the several counters to get it…
– more technically, the new player doesn’t work with my cellphone browser…
Thx, bye.
March 9, 2009 12:03 pm
not liking the changes .. at least give us a right to set preferences for how we view ..
Also it takes for ever to load my searches .. come on, it crashed my laptop last night. And I still haven’t been able to load it at work (T1 connection)
March 9, 2009 12:43 pm
well, now you suck.thank’s
March 9, 2009 1:04 pm
Wow. This is a real corporate looking move hypem. I know that may not be the case but this default blog thing is as lame as it gets. Just because a blog is in the top 100 doesn’t make it good. In fact, some of those blogs are only there because they pay people to get them linked etc. Some of those blogs get music so late its a shame. I mean, make upgrades to improve features but don’t change the VERY thing that makes your site special. This is disheartening.
Sell outs.
March 9, 2009 3:33 pm
Funny thing is, I hadn’t read this blog post yet and the day I’m sitting there wondering why all these lame songs keep staying on the front page.
Wow, talk about a bad move.
March 9, 2009 3:36 pm
I don’t really care about the front page much, I usually have something I’m searching for in mind anyway. HOWEVER, I come to the hype machine to use the hype machine, not to be directed to imeem to have to sign up for a whole different account and service. 30 seconds then I have to be redirected? I think this is definitely a change for the worse. What’s the point of sending someone away from your page? I don’t know if you’ve made a deal with imeem and this is necessary now or something for ya’ll to get your paper (which you all should hype machine is the shit) but if it’s not I would scrap that right away. Not having my song stop when I do a new search though is the shit and it’s something I’ve been waiting for for a long time so thank you for that.
March 9, 2009 4:53 pm
well perhaps i’m coming from a different angle — i’ve been in the top 20 since hypem has kept a list buuuuut…
the list isn’t static. i’ve watched blogs move up and down it. blogs that deliver a solid product seem to move up (surprise, surprise).
this change shouldn’t have any effect on your blog or how you blog or why you blog. you shouldn’t be blogging because of your position on a silly list or where your mp3 lands on hype machine. it seems like some other comments are worried because their post won’t land on the front page of hype machine (?). so what? if that’s your concern then worry more about your blog and less about hype machine and before long you’ll be in the top 100.
my biggest complaint about hype machine has always been that it’s overwhelming. too much to digest too fast. i think it’s great to a slower, more curated front page.
ok and the player isn’t working for me 🙁
March 9, 2009 6:50 pm
Hate Hate Hate the changes! As a user who has discovered a great deal of wonderful music from the smaller, quirkier blogs listed on Hype Machine (that I often then go out and BUY), I was quite frustrated these past few days. I didn’t see the quality and variety of music I usually saw on Hype Machine – I saw the same tired, “popular” crud listed on mutiple sites. (It took me a whle to figure out the “show all blogs feature). Blogs become popular by posting content that people are “buzzing” about, and by definition it is easy to get exposed to that stuff. But who will show me the 1960s rockabilly or the obscure John Martyn cover? The out-of-print Philly soul? And will these more obscure bloggers, hoping for exposure, begin to change their emphasis to get more hits? As they say in the movies, I don’t think this is going to end well.
On a more superficial note, I am not digging the changes in font size, layout, and the new “player” at the bottom of the page. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go back to the old format, and we’ll all just agree that to act like this never happened…
March 9, 2009 6:53 pm
I’m going to play devil’s advocate a bit (from a user’s perspective).
When I first came here, after critical metrics exploded, the sheer variety was intimidating. Having the top 100 is a way to ensure, not necessarily quality, but consistency. It would draw newcomers into the community instead of scaring them off. I know I was consistently listening to the Popular tab before gradually shifting my use to the Latest tab when I wanted more songs suited to my particular taste. Popular had a more consistent quality of music (though slanted to the community’s taste), but I found all my favorite songs in Latest. I can imagine newcomers being scared away from Latest before finding that one, slap-You-in-the-face-amazing-song.
I -think- you want the 100 blogs to be another step to ease more people into the rawness of Latest; not that you’re being paid by the 100 popular blogs to maintain their power, raise their ad revenue, and fund the freemasons for another 7 millennia.
‘Thesis’: people new to this scene wouldn’t be interested enough to explore small blogs anyway. They’d get hooked through ‘popular’ stuff (as they’ve been lazily nursed mainstream music until now), then refine their tastes and check out the smaller blogs.
This being said, popularity is a dangerous thing. Look what happened to digg.
I just don’t think ‘well now you suck. thanks’ is the appropriate response. What about suggestions instead of pitchforks? Here, let me try: why not make this more of a layout design issue? It seems like adding another link titled ‘For Music noobs’ or whatever, would give newcomers a place to go, allowing you to leave the Latest page at all blogs for default. Perhaps after some time the visitors will tire of being called noobs and step into deeper waters. You could even articulate this link more. As it is, the menu bar is relatively ambiguous for newcomers. Like what’s a ‘Spy’? Shouldn’t Latest and Popular be more articulated than radio, spy, and merch? Am I really pretentious enough to tell you how to design your site?
Personally, as a user, I don’t mind making one mouse click to change to all songs. And the only request I have would be to move the media player to the left of the screen instead of the right.
Having said all this, you guys had to see this coming. Newcomers and casual users (the ones you seem to be changing for) are the last people to comment, or give two shits about a change that they don’t even feel. It’s the regulars that are going to comment and likely, criticize your changing the status quo.
But good on you for explaining and addressing these changes.
Rant finished.
March 9, 2009 8:54 pm
Having real trouble with the new player. Many of the songs take forever to load or never load at all..frustrating stuff..
March 9, 2009 9:18 pm
HypeM used to be my #1 bookmark and the first thing I’d check when getting home from work.
Now with the Top 100 change, this is no longer the case. 🙁
March 9, 2009 9:33 pm
Travis/GRRRAWR: you missed my whole thesis about how changing the default settings AFFECTED the ability to move up and down, I think.
And the point isn’t that I’m not on the front page anymore. It’s that 1. Default settings are very powerful, especially to new users, and 2) fluidity is GOOD, and a good aggregator supports such fluidity, not works against it. The change trades the former mode for the latter.
I recognize that being overwhelmed can be overwhelming (duhz), but making a clear buttong that lets you shift TO the top 100 seems like the best, most obvious solution here, not defending that top 100 AS the default.
IMHO, as long as these changes stay in place, Hype machine has shifted from supporting to undermining diversity. That said, I understand from elsewhere that Anthony has heard this concern, and is looking into it; I appreciate that he is willing to own up to how powerful and influential HM is, and willing, too, to try to address our concerns so rapidly. I look forward to change — maybe not BACK< but to something which can balance a need to clean up the front page with a system which supports diversity, discovery, and the motion which Travis champions once again.
March 9, 2009 9:38 pm
Noooo this is a bad idea. I knew something was up lately, and I’m just glad I found the reason. You guys REALLY need to switch back to the old Hypem we all know and love!
March 9, 2009 9:41 pm
Does this remind anyone of anything? How about the radio or mtv?
The “Top 100” blogs. Really Hype? I mean I can’t get over this. The whole beauty of this concept was that the PEOPLE decided what they liked and now trying to be slicked by defaulting to the Top 100 and deciding for us. This is gross man. We all want Hype to thrive and develop, and make money, just don’t do it like this man, this is purely shameless. And the truth is ALL SOMEONE HAS TO DO IS TAKE THE OLD HYPE CONCEPT AND MAKE A NEW SITE & there’s your Top 100 for you.
What a slap in the face to all the people who helped make this popular.
Sell outs.
March 9, 2009 10:17 pm
PLAYER ISNT WORKING PROPERLY
Also, all the music is turning to shit 🙁
March 9, 2009 10:59 pm
Lol I’m sorry, don’t mean to keep posting but this is ludicrous.
Everyone please go and take a look at the “all blogs”/losers category. While your there take a look at how many songs have 0 hearts. I’d say about 98 percent. Go to page 2, 3, 4, 5… and take a look at those too. So what does that say about how the most popular songs are going to come about? Is this some sort of insult to everyones intelligence? RawrYEah, yes the music has gone to complete doo doo overnight.
Also, there have been numerous new releases in the last two days & where are they?! Oh wait, the “Top 100” blogs haven’t posted them, so what would have in the old machine been booming is now in the back burner WAITING for the big blogs to post them. Anthony, I’m sorry but there’s nothing Hype about that. Please reconsider this wackness.
March 9, 2009 11:35 pm
Nail in the music blog coffin.
Way to stick up for yourself.
You see that this new player is very awful right?
Is there some new net startup that is tossing money at you?
They will just tank in 6 months anyway.
Sorry, you blew it.
March 10, 2009 12:24 am
Thank you all for the feedback, a bit overwhelming to respond individually right now, but feel free to email via contact form if you have direct questions.
FYI:
We are close to releasing a new experimental update that uses an idea that Jeff from the Heart on a Stick blog suggested: having the front page list one post per day (24h) per blog for all blogs. The post may contain multiple tracks but only one (typically the first one in the 24h period) will be visible. This will be default view. It addresses our concerns about volume on the front page as well as flattens the playing field for many blogs out there. What do you think?
The full view and the top 100 views will also be available.
March 10, 2009 12:25 am
The new idea sounds like a big improvement compared to the initial change. I look forward to seeing how it all works. The way it is now makes me so sad, I checked the “all blogs” view and the songs posted by blogs not in the top 100 have 0 hearts except for odd ones here and there.
The discussion about this at http://elbo.ws/vanilla/comments.php?DiscussionID=2938&page=1#Item_0 was really interesting to read.
March 10, 2009 1:07 am
oh please stop it with the whining.. changes happen.. like anything else that changes and improves you have to get over the awkward and relearning how to navigate
the read post on the player itself!
i love love love how the player keeps the song playing while you navigate away from the page!! keeps me from having twelve hypem pages open while i choose my song of the moment ie lowers load waits.. (:
*sigh* you guys make me smile on a daily basis
March 10, 2009 1:11 am
Not being a blogger myself, but still managing to keep up with quite a few, i have been reading some posts about this. So i come in here and the frustration is the same. The new player is pretty loveable, but concerning the “top 100” blog filter, i think you are losing some of the good things with hypem. Its like listening to a radio station which plays all music, contra one who plays pop music – and in this case, pop music not based on the music or artist, but the person posting these?! I mean, at least set all blogs as deafult setting, because most people new on hypem know to navigate around a webpage.
Your webpage makes my day
March 10, 2009 2:56 am
Anthony, that new idea sounds ok but it’s still lame and doesn’t really justify this whole top 100 blogs thing. Some of those on the Top 100 barely have hype followers but have good technorati scores, so what does that say about this system?
Last time I checked hype was an aggregator not a blog. Is this about music or about blog preference? It really just doesn’t add up.
Hype has officially gone from being a Google like company to Microsoft – restricting & wack.
How about letting the users decide what the default view is? From what I remember I was once a new hype user and I figured it out. This whole so new people thing sounds like crap man.
You see a bunch of songs and if you like it you press a heart dude, you had it right the first time. No need to make decisions for us.
March 10, 2009 4:02 am
Latest Songs… what on earth has this become?
Max Creek – Batman Theme*
Bob Walkenhorst – Sunshine Superman
ta2006 – 12 09 vbr
Aceyalone – Mic Check
mid – Beneath the Surface
Rifleman – Room With A View
Men Without Pants – My Balloon
Wilson Pickett – Land Of 1000 Dances
Ini Kamoze – Here Comes The Hotstepper
March 10, 2009 5:11 am
I really cannot get behind the idea of the top 100 blogs aspect. While I, and many others I talked to yesterday about this, do not have good Technorati scores, we all have dedicated groups of followers who are also upset with these changes. You’ve taken away play counts already. What next?
March 10, 2009 6:34 am
Anthony, I really like the change you’ve implemented. It gives the lesser blogs a chance to be seen. Hype Machine is by far the best way to promote a music blog, so I’d like for it to continue to be.
I totally understand the desire to make the front page more digestible, but I do think there are ways to do that besides giving preference to the blogs that don’t really need it. I don’t mind filtering the front page a little more, but giving preference to the top 100 blogs seems unnecessary. Hype Machine is great for finding new music, but it’s great for finding new music blogs as well.
Anyway, thanks for responding to the comments and requests.
March 10, 2009 9:13 am
I don’t like the top 100 blogs preference, and the new player is frustrating– it takes forever, and often, when I click on something, it just refreshs the page, so I have to sit through several songs I’m not interested in to get to the one I’m interested in. This website has been my favorite for months– it’s all I listen to at work– but it’s kind of becoming a hassle. I really, really love it, and I’m sure I’ll still check in to hear new music, but the site changes seem counterproductive.
March 10, 2009 10:07 am
@boyhowdy: I was completely with you up until the point when you complained about not being able to get label “product”.
You may be in this for the wrong reason.
March 10, 2009 10:16 am
Anthony, thanks for trying this new version of change out. I am glad to see it given a chance even though I don’t feel entitled to much time on the front page at all, with my small/new blog! It’s important for those in the middle range, in my opinion.
Thom, label “product” is something I’ll defend boyhowdy on. There’s nothing more frustrating than to think that a great album is coming out from an artist you’ve followed for ages, featured on your blog before, gone to see so many times, and the label/artist/PR person won’t or can’t get in contact with you because you’re not deemed important enough anymore now that there’s a barometer of who the top 100 best blogs are. It may not be happening yet, but we fear it might in the future. See my point?
Yes, we blog because we love the music, but it’s hard to love the music and talk about it when we can’t get listed on the Hypem because we can’t attach a mp3 to our posts. I rely on elbo.ws for my posts without music tracks, but it’s awesome to be part of both communities to reach more people.
Anyway, this place is about community and I’m honored to be a blog in this community at all and to have a chance to play a part in how it grows and changes, so thanks!
xoxo,
Tart
March 10, 2009 10:36 am
I think the new idea has a lot of potential and is definetly better than the original top 100 change. One song per post should be enough to draw attention to the post itself so the listeners can get the other tracks if they want, especially if all the songs share a clear thematic (same artist, different versions of the song, etc.) I think it will force bloggers to have more focused and organized posts, instead of “The Five random songs I’m listening to today…” type of stuff I frequently see. At the same time, each post should be able to stay for longer on the main page (or the first 10 pages, where we used to get the most hits) because there will be more space.
I wonder however how Hypem selects the “first” track… We always post (in WordPress using Podpress) the track we feel is the most important first (either a known single or an interesting piece), but Hypem seems to pick one of them at random to put it in “big” on the pages here. Has this to do with feed issues? The way the aggregator works? If it’s an issue on Hypem’s end i think it should be solved so authors have consistent control over the song that will be chosen to represent their post. (If it’s a problem on my end and someone else is experimenting this, i’d be glad to hear your recommendations!)
Thanks,
Georges
March 10, 2009 12:45 pm
In the new model, several tracks per post will be displayed, as it is now.
Unfortunately, the order of the tracks in one post (in how they are displayed) mostly has to do with how our systems crawls our queue, so it’s unlikely that this is always the same order
March 10, 2009 12:57 pm
Does that mean that a post with a song that has already been aggregated X number of times will be rejected automatically, even if it contains other songs that have little or no exposure? (If order mattered, I’d put the unexposed track first and expect the popular track, being second, to avoid the auto-rejection mechanism.)
And no, I’ve no problem with the rejections, we don’t need 18 instances of posts on the same song! But including that song among others might be fair game, no? Just let us know so that we choose appropriately in the future, if ya can.
xoxo,
Tart
March 10, 2009 1:13 pm
“Product”
Music blogs began as a reaction/alternative to the mainstream pipeline. Now, so many simply aspire to be a funnel for what the labels and PR companies are feeding. This is wrong. You’re not my local rock station. Don’t suckle from that teat, taking the free advances and the free t-shirt.
A little bit of attention from a publicist in LA or NY, and suddenly little Joe/Jill Blogger starts to get giddy like the freshman who just had the hot senior smile at them. “Sure, I can help with your math homework! Sure, I’ll post an MP3 from that shit band, if it means I might get an mp3 from your cool band one day!” Stop it.
You’re supposed to be a rebel, remember? Somewhere Joe Strummer is looking down on you in disgust.
I ignore Sterogum et.al. now the same way I ignored Rolling Stone and MTV before that. They’re playing the game now, looking out for their own intere$ts, not yours. You can’t write from the soul when your motives are dictated by a desire to be popular, keep labels/publicists happy, get free concert tickets and “product”, or pretend you’re friends with the band. If that’s your M.O. you’d be more useful hanging outside the backstage door offering free blowjobs.
I could name a few music blogs that aren’t far away from that already. If that’s what you aspire to, good luck. Just don’t clutter up my Hype search results, please. Thank you.
March 10, 2009 1:34 pm
I don’t think I quite understand the new model then, Anthony… You mentioned “The post may contain multiple tracks but only one (typically the first one in the 24h period) will be visible.” and then “In the new model, several tracks per post will be displayed, as it is now.”.
??
So is it plain just a limit of one post per blog per day, everything else stays the same? Or a rejection mechanism based on the song exposure like Tart suggests?
March 10, 2009 1:48 pm
HypeM went from a Google like company to Microsoft. Cool to tool. Fame to Lame.
Amazing what one little change can do huh. I just can’t comprehend why you would put what makes your site special to the back burner like that.
March 10, 2009 1:50 pm
Georges – a limit of one post per blog per day
March 10, 2009 2:01 pm
Why oh why meddle with a formula that works? The Darwinian promotion of the top 100 at the expense of the rest, the survival of the fittest, the big guy eating the small guy just feels so wrong.
Don’t exclude those of us on a mission to promote the unusual, the unheard, the unbelievable, the unsigned and occasionally the unlistenable!
Jeff’s idea sounds like a useful compromise which overcomes the main issue raised by Hype visitors and blogs alike and reinstates the equality between small and large. It’d be perfect if rather than just listing one track it lists the top two.
March 10, 2009 2:07 pm
If I wanted to see what Pretty Much Amazing posted today I would go to Pretty Much Amazing. How did Hype Machine go from feeling so exiting to dull?
Dude this is horrible.
March 10, 2009 4:10 pm
Update, new view is live: http://blog.hypem.com/2009/03/3-ways-to-view-the-front-page/
March 10, 2009 5:38 pm
Thom,
(my last volley on this “product” thread, I promise)
Do you suppose that once a blogger accepts a track from an artist/label/PR person that the back of their head opens up and all ability to discern what’s ethical and unethical falls out?
Don’t insult us by assuming the lowest common denominator is at work here. I, and many bloggers like me, only blog about music that truly turns us on. I turn down album review requests all the time. I refuse solicited posts from label reps, artists and PR folks if and when I listen to the music and it doesn’t suit me. But remember, what’s crap to one person is brilliant to another. And some blogs, mine included, don’t cater to just one genre or one particular sound. My readers know that when they come to my blog they might find music that week that isn’t their cup of tea, they come back the week after to see what I’m up to now. Many, many bloggers do what I do, I know because I simply followed their lead.
“Product” is not the evil lurking in the blogosphere. Closemindedness, lack of tolerance for what other people think constitutes “good music” and all too many people getting cranky over the gift given to us from those who do so willingly and politely — those things are what keep people from “writing from the soul” and being true “rebels” out here. We’re doin’ it, take time to notice.
And, one more thing, I’ll give my blowjobs at the backstage door if I wanna, ain’t no one gonna stop me, hun 😉 I’ll probably post about it in the morning too!
Tart – just havin’ my say, no insult intended here, to anyone
March 10, 2009 11:02 pm
er, that should say “un-solicited posts” duh! sorry
March 10, 2009 11:03 pm
I really prefer the old hype machine – sorry!
March 11, 2009 9:20 am
I have not fully read through all the comments in this thread yet, but as a blogger who started their site less than a year ago, but has seen rapid growth and support from the community it saddens me to see hypem reduced to a popularity contest determined by web stats. The web-stat based system ensures that blogs with longevity fill the top spots, as it takes time to build those delicious and technorati stats, thereby pushing out the opportunity for successful newcomers blogs to share a spots on the list alongside the veterans.
I actually sat down the other night and wrote an open letter to Anthony Volodkin/The Hype Machine and posted it on our blog. It’s been reposted on quite a few other sites since then. I think it might interest some if not all of you:
http://creamteam.tv/?p=859
March 11, 2009 9:55 am
Guys, i’m confused, with this new hypem, can I not listen to the whole song? What’s going on? Can someone help me out please. Thanks
f33sh
March 11, 2009 7:56 pm
Coming late to the ‘debate’, but have now had all my recent questions about why HM was turning into a short change service answered.
Speaking as a ‘reader’ rather than a blogger I would vote against what I’ve experienced thus far. I’ve actually found posts/blogs quicker Googling them than browsing HM of late. I know who I’d rather be utilising, but if the changes remain then I’m off.
DC
March 11, 2009 8:10 pm
The Hype Machine has introduced me to a wide variety of music. Each day I drop by and browse the pages looking for and finding artists and songs I don’t know. I follow the links to some music blogs I’d never have stumbled across except for Hype Machine. I won’t have that opportunity any more. Music blogs are opportunities, and I hate to see you shut the door on so many. Go back to your original format, please.
March 11, 2009 8:19 pm