Funding BEA

[purple]

TAKE MY MONEY. I keep on throwing money at the screen and nothing happens...

AM, I know you want this, so I suggest making premium membership and/or a donation link as soon as possible (just please don't advertise donations like Wikipedia). I wouldn't even need premium, but would get it anyways. Premium perks might include seeing no ads, gaining all the perks of leveled users (including all chart types, personalized title, etc.), and whatever else has limited access on the site. A reasonable price would be around $10 US dollars.

I know for a fact there are some nights when I'm drunk, surfing BEA, and am all like "I would throw AM $10 if I could right now," so you should make a donation link too; a perk might include a list of users who have donated the most (you know Naples and a couple others would have to be tops, so escalation would help you drastically here). Just a suggestion...

Speaking of perks, if these are actually acted upon, it might help to include "badges" on a user's page, much like on the artist and album pages. E.g. top chart (joyofdivision, the perennial chart topper), top 10 or 100 chart, top 10 mod point users, top 10 commenters, top 10 raters, top 10 donation givers, etc. Just thoughts... but, like Microsoft (e.g. xbox), I tend to think perks improve motivation to add content

hotdogs

[albummaster]

Thanks, it's nice to know. But it's not so much I want this, it's more that it will be the only way the site can stay running long term. This year, more than ever, I'm struggling to do my day job and BEA at the same time. They are both impacting on each other, but if I didn't do anything on BEA for more than a few days, things would quickly get out of control as there are a lot of things that happen in the background to keep the site running that a lot of people aren't even aware of (so I allocate a lot of time to BEA at the expense of my day job). I've deliberately not added donation links because I want people to get something back out of this. The main 'features' that I had in mind were no banner ads, bypassing the points ladder, a special indicator to show you are a premium member, plus a few exclusive features. I was considering a micro payment, more along the lines of what people pay to use apps. Certainly no more than $10. This was going to be added this year, but I've slipped on the 2012 roadmap due to other things going on.

I like the idea of badges, and something like that could definitely be added.

[Romanelli]

[GeevyDallas]

Yes,I'd would definitely give the site a few quid.Saying that if I was a new user I would probably be put off joining a site where some users have paid membership and some haven't,maybe it's just me but I'd almost feel pressurized to buy a premium membership and that could maybe alienate potential new users.Especially if it would be easy to distinguish between 'premium' and 'non premium members'.

[Kiki]

What would hypothetically makea lot of money for this website? Like so many of the artists of the albums it promotes, what would be the "big break" for BEA and get massive crowds coming? Or will the it be a slow snow balling effect until it becomes a big website and importantly, a self sustaining website?

I'm afraid I have never used money over the internet so I wouldn't be able to pay anything. I could probably persude someone to buy an album through the website and maybe get more people to join. Is there any other ways I can help right now?

[albummaster]

That's no worries, and the paid model isn't something I want to push hard on people because I know not everyone can afford it, or will want to do it, and I don't want to alienate people. I've been quite happy for things to build up slowly because it gives the chance for the infrastructure to be in place, and the right systems and processes to support it, so the snowball is really what I'd prefer to keep happening rather than a 'big break'. I actually like the pace of growth here, year on year the site is growing fairly significantly, but it's still a manageable size to look after (technically and administratively).

The site has appeared on a few news aggregators this year (e.g. Reddit, Stumbleupon etc), and those sorts of sites refer a huge amount of traffic, but most of it is transitory and is just looking for one article to read before they move on to the next one. Traffic generally trails off a few days after featuring on those types of sites. I suppose the best type of site for BEA to feature on would be one of the larger music portals or magazines where fellow music enthusiasts hang out, and that might happen a little bit with the end of year lists.

[pearljammer13]

I'd give albummaster every cent I have to my name if it was needed to keep the site running. If BEA didn't exist... ...I don't even know. Tough to explain how much I love this site now. My girlfriend thinks I'm addicted to it, and she's probably right. I've discovered countless music through this website, and I'm forever thankful to you Albummaster, oh holy one. I'd pay for a membership or make a donation in a second.

[Defago]

Same here. The amount of new music I've found thanks to you is worth way more than 10$.

Badges sound really fun, too!

[RFNAPLES]

Could GARY pay to get out of jail?
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by RFNAPLES
Bubbling Under The Top 100 Greatest Mus...y RFNAPLES

[albummaster]

Anybody that's perma banned will be banned again if they try and re-register.