The Sound

This site is all about nerd music.

Wait, kids, there's even more earth-shattering declarations ahead! ;)

Seriously, though, I spend a good chunk of my free time seeking out, reviewing and promoting nerd art not because it's fun (although it is) or lucrative (which it assuredly isn't), but because it is my passion. That tiny intersection of music and nerdery is the cozy little place I call home. It is my hobbit hole.

I try to invite the rest of you around as often as I possible because I love the company and because I know that your share that passion.

The problem is I am only one man. A tiny man with big responsibilities that lie well outside this particular stratum. As such, you typically get what's left, what little scraps of time that I can devote to writing and researching and recording. Often that's not a lot.

Thankfully, there are others who share my noble mission. There's the Rhyme Torrents community, OverClocked ReMix, the Nerdapalooza crew, EMPulse and Scrub Club, not to mention my blogging brethren at sites like Game Music 4 All and Wizrocklopedia. But, just like me, their time and resources are sorely limited.

But what if there was a way that we could all chip in? What if there was a dedicated place where artists could share music, fans could discover new acts and everyone connect on their own?

That's exactly the project that's been suggested by my friend Snipeyhead.

I think you all know Snipe. I've spoken of her a number of times here at the blog, and she is a veritable fixture on the nerdier side of Twitter.

She recently outlined her idea for a literal nerd music community, a place that's essentially a finely-tuned last.fm or t61 just for us. A place where nerd artists can share their songs, stories and shop links, and where listeners can discover new shit and share their thoughts.

Here’s an overview of planned features for the user:

• one-stop shop (literally) for all manner of geeky music
• artists are searchable by name, sub-genre, etc
• user-ratings help guide new visitors towards the best music, even if that music isn’t well-known (yet)
• commenting/feedback options (maybe)
• callout area for newest music, new artists, and top rated

Overview of features for the artists:

• bio area obviously
• links back to your website/myspace/facebook/twitter/etc
• links to buy on your own site, amazon, itunes, cdbaby, etc
• flash player to play all or samples of your tracks – this will include an mp3 upload option, or you can link back to your own-hosted mp3s
• import your show schedule RSS feed for display on your profile. If you don’t have one just for shows, an admin interface to add them is likely
• generated RSS feed for each artist that aggregates your blog posts, show schedules, new tracks added, etc.
• ability to copy+paste links to your YouTube vids for inline display
• widget to put on your own websites (if you want?) for your visitors to vote you up on the site
• generated “become a fan” functionality to tie into your facebook fan page
• possible option to auto-truncate songs in flash player so you can offer partial samples without having to cut a separate track

Snipe, who is the consummate coder girl, is looking from input regarding the project, so please proceed to her blog to check out the deets. (Important: The password for the previous link is nerdcore.) You can also check out a wireframe mock-up to give you an idea of where it's going.

I know a lot of us have kicked around the concept of a full-on nerd music storehouse, but Snipe genuinely has the chops to pull a huge undertaking like this off. All she needs from you is your suggestions, and, of course, your kind attention.