Monday, May 11, 2009
Tidying up the site
After a major change like the removal of Ring tones from the product range there is a lot of tidying up to do.
Dreamweaver comes into its own as a mangangement tool - enabling a site wide search for references across 5000+ files.
The on line free site map tool at http://www.auditmypc.com/free-sitemap-generator.asp helps too with identification of remaining site quality issues - some of which still have to be fixed. Broken links caused by typos etc.
A little trip down memory lane to the menu files and a follow up today to finish the job.
There is an opportunity to revamp the whole side bar now but I'm going to mull that over for a while.
Oddly enough the price changes seems to have gone through relatively smoothly. Although there is little in the way of automation to help with the HTML, the back end system is relatively rigourus because the prices are only kept in one database table and that is what get's charged. Because I was editing the table in Excel I was able to use sorting techniques to check the integrity of the application of the pricing policy. The first paying customer has now ventured in and all seems to be well.
Dreamweaver comes into its own as a mangangement tool - enabling a site wide search for references across 5000+ files.
The on line free site map tool at http://www.auditmypc.com/free-sitemap-generator.asp helps too with identification of remaining site quality issues - some of which still have to be fixed. Broken links caused by typos etc.
A little trip down memory lane to the menu files and a follow up today to finish the job.
There is an opportunity to revamp the whole side bar now but I'm going to mull that over for a while.
Oddly enough the price changes seems to have gone through relatively smoothly. Although there is little in the way of automation to help with the HTML, the back end system is relatively rigourus because the prices are only kept in one database table and that is what get's charged. Because I was editing the table in Excel I was able to use sorting techniques to check the integrity of the application of the pricing policy. The first paying customer has now ventured in and all seems to be well.
# posted by www.download2mp3.com @ 7:32 AM 
Friday, May 08, 2009
First New Price Structure since 2004
When we opened this site our declared pricing strategy was to follow iTunes. What we ncould not anticpate was that it would be so stable for so many years.
But the dollar a track bulwark is beginning to crack and we have decided to go with the flow.
So we have now implemented a new structure based on track duration.
5 minutes or more 0.99$(US)
4-5 minutes 0.69$(US)
3-4 minutes 0.49$(US)
<3 minutes 0.29$(US)
The PayPal processing fee has been retained for orders below 3$(US) and the 30% discounts still kick in on orders for 3 or more items.
So far there has been no response to these massive price cuts - perhaps price never was an issue and music buyers are not as rational as all that.
Oh and by the way we have bailed out of the Ring tone game but they might come back as freebies I suppose because they are quite nice. It was fun to do but never caught on commercially possibly because they only work on phones that can download the MP3 file from the PC.
But the dollar a track bulwark is beginning to crack and we have decided to go with the flow.
So we have now implemented a new structure based on track duration.
5 minutes or more 0.99$(US)
4-5 minutes 0.69$(US)
3-4 minutes 0.49$(US)
<3 minutes 0.29$(US)
The PayPal processing fee has been retained for orders below 3$(US) and the 30% discounts still kick in on orders for 3 or more items.
So far there has been no response to these massive price cuts - perhaps price never was an issue and music buyers are not as rational as all that.
Oh and by the way we have bailed out of the Ring tone game but they might come back as freebies I suppose because they are quite nice. It was fun to do but never caught on commercially possibly because they only work on phones that can download the MP3 file from the PC.
# posted by www.download2mp3.com @ 7:56 AM
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
14 New Mozart Recordings
At last we have got them launched.
The production process for these recordings was a joy. It has taken a little while to get familiar with the capabilities of our new set up and the experience with the Beethoven Symphonies was very instructive.
I have always loved the Mozart concertos which we have interpreted here and it was great fun working out how to arrange them to best effect. The quality of the MIDI files on which they are based is good and we now have a fairly settled mix and mastering approach which produces repeatable results.
We have used the Talking Steel module before to under pin or supplement the steel drums but in the Horn concerto it comes into it's own as the lead instrument. In contrast for the Flute and Harp Concerto we used a Flute and Harp as the lead instruments and a percussion band as the orchestra but the wonders of electronic music mean that we were able to make them more prominent.
We don't have complete Mozart Symphonies but the two first movements we have recorded stand up on their own.
We haven't decided where to go next on the recording front and there is more work to be done on the web site and the commercial side of things.
The new sample player technology seems to be working well and with that and the new hifi samples we have doubled the volume of download data from the site every day and after a somewhat sticky period our advertising revenue has picked up again.
The production process for these recordings was a joy. It has taken a little while to get familiar with the capabilities of our new set up and the experience with the Beethoven Symphonies was very instructive.
I have always loved the Mozart concertos which we have interpreted here and it was great fun working out how to arrange them to best effect. The quality of the MIDI files on which they are based is good and we now have a fairly settled mix and mastering approach which produces repeatable results.
We have used the Talking Steel module before to under pin or supplement the steel drums but in the Horn concerto it comes into it's own as the lead instrument. In contrast for the Flute and Harp Concerto we used a Flute and Harp as the lead instruments and a percussion band as the orchestra but the wonders of electronic music mean that we were able to make them more prominent.
We don't have complete Mozart Symphonies but the two first movements we have recorded stand up on their own.
We haven't decided where to go next on the recording front and there is more work to be done on the web site and the commercial side of things.
The new sample player technology seems to be working well and with that and the new hifi samples we have doubled the volume of download data from the site every day and after a somewhat sticky period our advertising revenue has picked up again.
# posted by www.download2mp3.com @ 7:06 AM
Monday, February 09, 2009
Google Rankings Churn
Here is a blast from the past - Page rankings on Google.
Time was many of us watched anxiously for the next shift in Google's ranking formulae because of the dramatic impact they could have on our site traffic. But for some time now things have been very steady on the page rank site.
However today I noticed that music Downloads were in the top 10 volatile sites on the latest little excursion by Google.
Here are the top 10:
To see the chart got to Rank Pulse here: http://www.rankpulse.com/music-downloads?p0=on&p1=on&p2=on&p3=on&p4=on&p5=on&p6=on&p7=on&p8=on&p9=on
(Rank Pulse have got a bit more secure on their image copyright.)
This illustrates the turbulance over the last few days. We are not seeing much back wash in our little corners but it keeps you on your toes.
Our lack of activity on the site for a long time followed by a lot of changes in a short time also seems to be having little effect on rankings and traffic but sometimes that takes a kittle longer to come through.
Time was many of us watched anxiously for the next shift in Google's ranking formulae because of the dramatic impact they could have on our site traffic. But for some time now things have been very steady on the page rank site.
However today I noticed that music Downloads were in the top 10 volatile sites on the latest little excursion by Google.
Here are the top 10:
To see the chart got to Rank Pulse here: http://www.rankpulse.com/music-downloads?p0=on&p1=on&p2=on&p3=on&p4=on&p5=on&p6=on&p7=on&p8=on&p9=on
(Rank Pulse have got a bit more secure on their image copyright.)
This illustrates the turbulance over the last few days. We are not seeing much back wash in our little corners but it keeps you on your toes.
Our lack of activity on the site for a long time followed by a lot of changes in a short time also seems to be having little effect on rankings and traffic but sometimes that takes a kittle longer to come through.
# posted by www.download2mp3.com @ 8:20 AM
Monday, February 02, 2009
Player Effects
There are the some modest indications that the new players may be having some effect on the proportion of very short visits to the site which is obviously positive if it is sustained.
So we will carry on with the application on the more popular landing pages and see what we can do and perhaps we'll see if we can add one to this blog page.
So we will carry on with the application on the more popular landing pages and see what we can do and perhaps we'll see if we can add one to this blog page.
# posted by www.download2mp3.com @ 9:46 AM
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Settling Down
After making significant changes to the site and launching new products you are naturally prompted to delve a little further in to the site monitoring data.
As ever there are mixed results - the use of the new player has substantially increased the volume of music streamed off the site. Some of that is push and some pull and we have more work to do to get a proper handle on that. Suffice it to say that we have plenty of head room on our ISP package to expand the volume still further but I want to do it in a controlled way. There is definitely scope for more page specific play lists and we should be able to have more fun with the site wide players using hidden, randomised play lists.
On the other hand we are not seeing much in the way of change to other aspects of the site as yet, apart from the usual random changes that occur from day to day. Hopefully further refinement on the use of pushed music on the site will have positive effects - at the very least we are increasing the audience for our music.
As ever there are mixed results - the use of the new player has substantially increased the volume of music streamed off the site. Some of that is push and some pull and we have more work to do to get a proper handle on that. Suffice it to say that we have plenty of head room on our ISP package to expand the volume still further but I want to do it in a controlled way. There is definitely scope for more page specific play lists and we should be able to have more fun with the site wide players using hidden, randomised play lists.
On the other hand we are not seeing much in the way of change to other aspects of the site as yet, apart from the usual random changes that occur from day to day. Hopefully further refinement on the use of pushed music on the site will have positive effects - at the very least we are increasing the audience for our music.
# posted by www.download2mp3.com @ 11:44 AM
Monday, January 26, 2009
We're Back with the Symphonies
I can't believe it has taken so long but we are finally there and two Beethoven Symphonies have been published. An early bird has already bought the first movement of the Fifth!
The hubris of recording these wonderful pieces on new world instruments caused me to pause for some time but each time I listened to them I heard something new and the overall effect was so positive I have pressed ahead.
Inevitably some of the machinery was a bit creaky after such little use - not least my memory for where I had put things.
We also bought a new player which is taking a little time to bed in - not helped by browser quirks on this PC which refused to play them - sorted now! We're looking to develop the use of play lists as a way of promoting sales but there is a bit more work to do on that.
The auto play of the excerpt from the first movement of Beethoven's 5th is a temporary celebration and will be replaced by a more controllable solution later this week.
After the repair work we did last spring the shop has been working well - so all is ready - come and buy!
The hubris of recording these wonderful pieces on new world instruments caused me to pause for some time but each time I listened to them I heard something new and the overall effect was so positive I have pressed ahead.
Inevitably some of the machinery was a bit creaky after such little use - not least my memory for where I had put things.
We also bought a new player which is taking a little time to bed in - not helped by browser quirks on this PC which refused to play them - sorted now! We're looking to develop the use of play lists as a way of promoting sales but there is a bit more work to do on that.
The auto play of the excerpt from the first movement of Beethoven's 5th is a temporary celebration and will be replaced by a more controllable solution later this week.
After the repair work we did last spring the shop has been working well - so all is ready - come and buy!
# posted by www.download2mp3.com @ 9:49 AM
