Major announcements regarding Rate Your Music and Sonemic are here!
Read about them in the new development portal: https://rateyourmusic.com/development/
Forum discussion: https://rateyourmusic.com/board_message?message_id=7779318
1 November 2020
Today we have some major announcements regarding Rate Your Music and Sonemic.
We have launched a significant update to Rate Your Music, bringing in Sonemic charts, a "new music" portal, new front page, artist following system, speed improvements, 50+ small features/bug fixes, new subscriber model and other features.
We are announcing a new release/development strategy for the future of RYM, Sonemic, Glitchwave and Cinemos. In short, we are going to bring most of the Sonemic and Cinemos features we've already developed directly into RYM, so that users can enjoy them immediately and not have to wait for betas (today's launch includes six of those features). We are also planning to soon allow new signups to Glitchwave.
We have launched a new development portal to make it easier for users to be up to date on our progress.
We have hired a new part-time frontend developer/designer.
We are having a mini-fundraiser during the month of November and have updated the subscription features, prices and tiers.
Let's go into more details:
1. We have just launched a significant update to Rate Your Music
The November 2020 update to RYM brings three major Sonemic features directly into RYM: The chart system, the updated front page and the new music portal. It also brings 3 minor features from Sonemic: compatibility lists, artist following system, and new suggestions system on album/film pages for subscribers. For the first time, users can access Sonemic functionality, out of beta, which is updated and based on live data. The following new features are now available:
Front page: The new front page includes a feed of all of the reviews that have been featured on the site or on our social media pages, going back several years. It also features database statistics, a quick look at the (improved) new releases, access to special features/interviews, and a link to the new development portal.
New music portal: The new music portal includes a quick overview of the top charts for the current year, the most listened to releases and songs (based on the new listening feature, described below), and a section which lists all new releases. There are two ways to view new releases: see all releases, or see releases personalized to you (based on artists you follow, a new feature described below). In both views, you can choose to exclude specific artists, genres, and album types (compilations/singles).
Sonemic charts: The Sonemic charts are now part of RYM! The new charts feature the following:
A brand new, cleaner and easier-to-use interface
A new algorithm which we proposed in March and worked with users to refine over the course of development (you can read about it here.)
New "popular" chart type to sort charts by the most ratings.
New "diverse" chart type to limit charts to one entry per artist.
The ability to filter by descriptors (such as lyrical content, atmosphere, style, mood, form, etc), language, and influence (secondary genre)
The ability to create advanced filters with genres, descriptors, languages, and locations. You can now, for example, simultaneously filter by one branch of the genre tree and exclude a different part of that branch. You can create filters with two genres in which releases much match ANY of the genres rather than ALL. You can filter based on a genre appearing as primary OR secondary.
The ability to exclude specific locations, descriptors, languages (in addition to genres).
The ability to select ANY combination of release types for music charts
The ability to specify any year range, rather than only a single year or decade.
Clean chart URLs that are easier to share and/or modify
Ability to exclude cataloged and wishlisted items (in addition to rated)
All of these improvements also apply to film charts, with the exception of filtering by location.
For subscribers, the ability to specify the minimum and maximum number of ratings, and the popularity weighting.
For "Select" subscribers (see below for explanation), the ability to filter on the age range of users, to see a daily version of the charts, and to see twice as many results.
Chart updates are now automated and more consistent, updating between 9-10 AM Pacific coast time in the US. The date of the last chart update is now displayed on the chart page.
Note: These charts are missing some features that were previously available in Sonemic (Song charts, filtering based on user lists, more detailed location charts, chart history, etc). We plan to re-add these.
Additional features
A new listening system. You can now choose what you're listening to directly from release pages, and you can specify a specific song as well. This feature allows us to aggregate and display what users are placing most often in the "listening" section of their profiles.
A new artist following system. Following artists allows you to customize what appears on the "my new releases" tab of the new music page. We plan to add more functionality in the future as well.
A new mobile-friendly lists portal with more filtering options.
We have implemented the long-planned conversion of the "public/private friend" system to a more standard follower/following system which is more well known/understood.
We have made some changes/improvements to the site design to bring it closer to the direction of Sonemic.
You can now remove yourself from lists you've been added to.
New, improved genre introductions that are consistent, concise and can be used in UI (such as the user interface to select a genre on the charts page).Thanks to fourths, lovelyanimal, Molecules, and _aleph for their hard work in this project!
You can now see the number of ratings/reviews in discographies when using mobile devices.
New subscriber options
We have added a new "Select" subscriber tier for people who want to support RYM with a recurring monthly donation in the style of Patreon/Twitch/etc. This tier adds the ability to dive more deeply into charts with up to 2,000 (yearly) and 10,000 (all-time) results, filtering by age range, and having early access to updated daily charts.
We have added the ability to pay for a subscription with credit/debit cards as well as special payment options for some EU countries: iDEAL, EPS, Giropay, and Przelewy24. You can also pay with Google Pay or Apple Pay in some countries (when choosing credit/debit card). You can still use PayPal if you prefer.
We have updated the subscription pricing for RYM, which we've explained in detail later in this post. We have added nine subscriber features:
For all paid subscribers:
The ability to filter charts by min/max rating
Adjust popularity weighting of charts
See more users on your compatible list (250 instead of 100)
Genre cloud on collection page
(Optional) supporter badge on profile
For Select subscribers:
Daily chart updates : Have access to the latest chart information as soon as it's available, typically updated every 24 hours instead of once per week.
See 100% more results for every chart (10,000 for all-time, 2,000 for all others)
Select supporters message board: Access to a board where we will occasionally post previews of upcoming editorial content such as site interviews, playlists and featured content, and where certain additional topics outside of the current boards can be discussed.
Bug fixes
Improved site performance all-around. This is especially noticeable on the charts, recommendations, and "friends" page.
Fixed the ability to set "film influence" for users you are following.
Fixed the "see chart" link on genre pages for genres with ampersands in their name (e.g. R&B)
Track ratings are now properly removed from your catalog when you delete them.
Fixed issues with submitting releases/corrections with a large credits section.
You can now upload profile images and list images if you have lost database submission privileges.
Many additional smaller fixes.
2. We have created a new development portal
To keep everyone updated with the latest information, we have launched a new development portal.
This portal contains essential information for several purposes: to familiarize people with our development process, philosophy and history, to allow people to know what we're working on, answer common questions about development, show how we've spent fundraiser money, provide reasoning on why we've made certain decisions, and show the history of improvements made to the site.
This portal is linked from the new front page.
We are announcing a new release/development strategy for the future of RYM, Sonemic, Glitchwave and Cinemos
In short, we will be bringing Sonemic features directly into RYM, one at a time, until we either launch Sonemic or the entirety of RYM is essentially upgraded to Sonemic.
When we announced the Sonemic, Cinemos, and Glitchwave project in 2015, our plan was as follows:
Raise money to replace our aging servers, which were constantly having issues and requiring us to waste significant time on upkeep rather than development.
The extra free time we would have as a result of not having to spend so much time on maintenance would lead to Sonemic, Cinemos, and Glitchwave launching significantly more quickly.
The first part of our plan worked: we replaced RYM's server infrastructure and the site speed and reliability has been fantastic since. We went from having hours of downtime per week to having nearly zero: with a few exceptions, the only downtime we've had in the past four years is the 15-30 minute maintenance window before updating charts on Tuesdays (and following this update, there will no longer be any downtime before chart updates either).
However, the second part of the plan hasn't worked as expected, for various reasons. The first is that we underestimated the amount of work remaining for the new projects. We gave the best estimate we could at the time, but were incorrect; we had to refactor some features which were already developed and the remaining tasks have required far more developer time/resources than expected.
The second is that during the course of development, the traffic and userbase of RYM increased significantly, but without additional revenue that would have allowed us to hire more people; this increased traffic required more of our time maintaining the current site, which worked against our expectations.
And finally: as RYM has grown, the amount of administrative tasks, legal requirements/regulations, and other unexpected issues we have to constantly deal with have increased. At some point, it became important to devote more time to making fixes/changes to RYM.
We recognize that it's time for a new development strategy: We need to give users access to the new features and functionality we've already developed, and users should see continuous bugfixes and improvements to the site they're using. Therefore, we have designed and implemented a new plan:
We are bringing Sonemic features directly into RYM, one at a time, until we either launch Sonemic or the entirety of RYM is essentially upgraded to Sonemic.
Sonemic features available in RYM today:
Charts
Front page
New music page
Compatibility lists
Following system for artists
Updated suggestions on album/film pages(for subscribers)
For the next update, we plan to bring in the new lists feature, as well as some smaller components.
Again, we will continue this process until either Sonemic has launched or everything has been ported over (in which case RYM will effectively have been upgraded to Sonemic).
Note that we are also bringing in Cinemos features to the film side of RYM and following the same strategy. We will soon be investigating the feasibility of allowing Glitchwave signups, so that all users will be able to use the site as soon as possible. We will start this work today and keep users updated on its progress.
We have hired a new part-time frontend developer/designer
In March of this year, we hired Yasna Naderi as a part-time frontend developer/designer. After what you can imagine was a rough start given the events of this year, she has ramped up her knowledge of the codebase and has contributed significantly to today's update.
Yasna is someone with whom we've worked professionally in the past and who has already done great work for Sonemic, as can be seen by much of the UI in today's update, and we look forward to having her as part of the development team!
We are having a mini-subscription drive during the month of November and have updated the subscription features, prices and tiers
Today we are announcing an update in our strategy regarding subscriptions.
RYM is supported by a combination of advertising and directly from users, in the form of subscriptions. It has always been our preference to be supported as much as possible by direct support from users and as little as possible from advertisements, however subscription revenue has consistently remained a smaller portion.
Today we're launching a more structured effort to shift RYM to being more user supported. We are starting a mini-subscription drive in November to launch this effort, but these changes represent a long-term shift in strategy for the funding of the site.
I will briefly outline the changes we've made as well as the rationale for each one.
We are offering a new subscription tier for people who want to support RYM with a recurring $4.99 monthly contribution, in the style of Patreon, Twitch and similar.
Over the past years, this type of monthly direct support from users has become more commonplace on the internet thanks to services like the ones mentioned above, and from our perspective, they are strongly preferable because they give us a steady, regular stream of monthly revenue, as opposed to the unstable/precarious revenue stream that comes from advertising. Our revenues from advertising were affected pretty strongly by the economic downturn this year and in general, we want to spend less time, energy and emphasis on advertising as a method to support RYM going forward.
We have decided to launch a new "Select" subscription tier which is mainly designed for people who would like to support RYM at a $4.99/month (or $49.99/year) level. In exchange, we are giving these users access to some more advanced chart features.
We have added seven new payment methods
In addition to PayPal, you can now pay with credit and debit cards, as well as Apple Pay, Google Pay and several European payment options: iDEAL in the Netherlands, EPS in Austria, Giropay in Germany, and Przelewy24 in Poland.
For years we have received regular requests from users to allow non-PayPal subscription payment options, and starting today we are finally able to do so.
We have updated the standard subscription price from $15 to $19.99.
In 2008, RYM launched a subscription option at $14.60/year and it has largely remained unchanged despite inflation and rising costs on our end. We hope that users find the price point of $19.99/year to be reasonable given the twelve years that we kept the price static.
We are offering the highest-tier Select subscription (until Sonemic launches) to all users who donated to the Indiegogo fundraiser (even those who donated $1).
We also upgraded all subscription perks from the Indiegogo fundraiser to the Select level, which will begin when Sonemic launches. |
