May 23, 2010 - Hope you're all having a great May, got a couple small updates about SD.com for you today.

 

First off, I want to thank everybody who comes to the site regularly, occasionally, rarely, even once. You are noticed and appreciated. Over the last three months, we've had our bigges 3 traffic months in the 15 months we've been running (assuming May stays at its current pace). Thank you.

 

Over the past few months, I've been mentioning some coming changes to the site. Most, if not all of them are/were based on me moving my family into a new, bigger home, where I can get the computer out of the bedroom and into an area where I don't wake anybody up late at night.

 

The new home is out for now, but the computer is also out of the bedroom.

 

What does this mean to you? The first change begins tonight, as news posts will be made primarily at night again. I'll still get you some updates during the day (lunchbreaks and other free times), but the amount of news coming in lately is more than I can handle while at work, so the witty commentary from me will have to wait until the 9-11 p.m. (CST) hours. I expect to be a little more creative and have more info available, as I'll only be wasting my time, not somebody else's while posting.

 

And now that I've freed myself some late night music time again, I am going head first into the podcasting experience. I don't have all the details yet, I just know it's around the corner. I've got some last minute research to do on equipment, time, etc. before I begin and currently expect my first podcast in late July (if you've been following my news posts, and know where I live, that may be a hint as to what the first podcast will be, maybe.)

 

I've also been looking at something for the unsigned artists out there. I am getting a few more albums sent to me by all these hard-working bands that don't get the attention from the major sites/rags, and I've been tossing a couple ideas around for what I may be able to do to help out. It's on the radar, but not quite sure when to expect something.

 

I suppose that's about all I can tell you today. So for now, keep reading, keep listening, and most importantly, keep buying the music each of these bands are gracing us with.

 

Peace

 

Ben

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March 5, 2010 - If you've been following me over the past year, you've seen some changes to SD.com. Most notably the additon and large quantity of new releases on the release dates page. You've also noticed ads appear, disappear and reappear.

 

This time, the ads are from a new source, and seem to be much more pertinent to what you and I are here for, music. Some have asked why the ads, and frankly it's because I hate working a real full-time job. I'm ready to do this full time, for you, for me, for my family, for music.

 

Which brings me to you. Any help you can give, clicking links, referring friends, offering to help with ideas (adding digg toolbars, tweet this links, whatever) will help me bring more and better coverage to you.

 

Are you tired of seeing the "press releases" in full like you occasionally see here and see way more frequently on other sites? Me too. Now you ask what is SD.com going to do to be better than everybody else?

 

I can't tell you the full plan. I can tell you that it's something nobody else does (at least not frequently). It'll be worth it, giving you a more in-depth look at the bands you want to know. The part I can tell you is I will begin implementing podcasts sometime this summer. I've been doing the research, but won't be able to start until I get moved into a new home, one where I can have the computer out of my bedroom so as I don't wake up my lovely wife who is thankfully putting up with me going after this goal.

 

The full scale of changes can't happen until I'm able to work on this website full-time, which is a possibility, but I'd be lying if I told you it was right around the corner. Once we acheive enough traffic to afford me the hardware I need, that goal will become much closer to reality. Until then, enjoy what you can, and please let me know of what you like, what you don't, and anything else on your mind. I'm always open to suggestions and comments.

 

In case you are wondering, since we added the new ads, we have seen a spike in our traffic. How closely it's related, I don't know, but currently (I know we're only on day 5 of March), we are on pace for our highest traffic month to date, and this month marks the 12th since I started the website.

 

So thank you to everybody who has been watching and the occasional comments, recommendations and referrals. It's all worth it, and I hope that you enjoy the material that I continue to bring to you.

 

Ben

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January 1, 2010 - It's been a while since I've updated the blog, and if you're one of my followers, you've seen a few changes already.

 

Over the past few months, we've dropped our freebie section, as the traffic wasn't worth the upkeep. I've added a 10s on the 10s section, which will be a monthly Top 10 list of something pertinent to what's going on in society, music, or otherwise. You also may have seen the Top 25 Christmas Song Countdown which was a very successful page in December, and today, I'm debuting the Record Labels page. This page will be a list of Record Labels, make use of it, find some new bands and records and all kinds of free shit. Since todays a holiday I won't get much up, but over the rest of the weekend, while I'm bored to death at my FT job, I expect to see this list grow very quickly. Keep coming back as I update it and you can stay in the know with me.

 

Another change is that there are now some ads on the website. I expect to add more in the coming days, as my space for the site is growing and before long, so will my costs. Thus if you want to help out, you can always click on a link for me.

 

Hope you all had happy holidays, and wishing you a wonderful New Year!!!!

 

Ben

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August 30, 2009 - Dropping the Freebies

 

Things are pretty much back to normal at SonicDissonance. My wife gave birth to our second child early this month and everyone is healthy and doing well.

 

As for the site, the freebies section is probably going to disappear. For the amount of work/time I put into those pages, there is far too little traffic being generated there. I will still post new links to new freebie mp3s in my news roll. This also frees up some space on the front page for SD.com. I've got a couple ideas brewing including a SonicDissonance.com search feature and something for the unsigned bands of the world.

 

You'll probably see the search show up first, as I work out some details on the other new feature.

 

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the posts throughout the site.

 

Ben

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July 30, 2009 - Temporary break

 

I'm taking a short (hopefully) leave from the website. Short version is my wife is having some minor complications with her pregnancy and there is a chance they take the baby out this weekend.

 

I'll be back and update as soon as possible, but understandably, my time is more valuably spent with my wife and child for at least the next day or two.

 

I will update this blog as time allows.

 

Thank you for all your support and I'll be back soon.

 

Ben

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June 21, 2009 - Cosmetic changes

 

You've probably seen a few changes to the cosmetic appearance of the site. First up, the logo at the top of the page has been enlarged (finally!) I think I'm still gonna tinker with the top to make it a bit more directed toward music. In line with the header logo, I moved the main menu to a horizontal bar directly beneath. This will allow the sub-bars (like the freebies page) to run down the left side of the page. Eventually, every page will have something running down the left side.

 

Big change to the reviews page. I simplified the archives of albums reviewed, rather than listing them all by text links, I've now got the album image up with artist name directly beneath. The images link to their respective page. Plus it looks 1000% better IMO.

 

I broke up the release dates text block with lines to help ease the reading. I'm picturing the release dates page becoming a by month thing, with each upcoming month listed in the left menu bar eventually.

 

I've also added a couple new links to pages that I frequent as well as our twitter feed. The SonicDissonance Twitter feed is basically going to be used as a preview for the news that will be posted later that evening. Due to the Full-time job, updates to the news section are going to be made at night now when I have more time. The Twitter feed will give readers a quick idea of what to expect plus you can then search for more info if you have time on your hands.

 

Yet to come: I'm still working on creating a true news rather than scrolling through the entire news page (or by month). Also, I'm looking at the possibility of a comments section or tacking a forum link to certain pages. If you've got an opinion, let me know ben @ sonicdissonance.com.

 

Last but not least, don't be too surprised if you start seeing advertisements showing up on pages. I'm not a huge fan of them, but they can help pay the bills. That said, I have no intention of adding ads to the site for those stupid f*%$ing IQ ads or any other non-interesting source. My intention is to put up music ads, bands, labels, sites, guitar shops, whatever. If it's music related, they have first dibs. After all, that's what we're here for.

 

On that note, I leave you with my long-standing favorite Radiohead song (I think I even still have this on VHS somewhere at home, btw, if anyone knows an easy way to convert VHS stuff to digital files, email me please & I'll share them with the world!)

 

 

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June 15, 2009 - pickRset

In case you didn't read the news section tonight, pickRset is a new social fan site for music, where fans can help pick setlists for upcoming shows.

This is a bad idea.

The closest I ever got to selling my own music was one 20 minute stage performance and a four song demo EP, so I'm hardly an expert. However, with hundreds, if not over a thousand concerts under my belt, I can't really imagine how unoriginal those concerts could have been if this option had been available for the past 15 years.

Sure, bands don't have to use the information this site is gathering. Or they could just see that fans like Song F better than Song B. Of course, if the bands aren't realizing that from the stage, they really aren't paying attention in the first place.

That said, this certainly isn't the worst idea I've ever heard, and I suppose in some circumstances, it could be useful to a band. I do like the interactivity of it, as musicians are a business model just like restaurants and chain stores. So feedback can be a positive tool.

But all I keep hearing in my head is that dreaded line that gets fed to me every time I go see a band for the 5th, 6th, 10th time, "isn't it the same show." Thanks to this website, they might be the same shows from now on.

In honor of pickRset, I give you Refused.

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May 31, 2009 - Return of the News page

After a few weeks of toying around with ideas and lots of failed attempts at making a tour dates catalogue that would be worth posting, I've shelved the tour date database and I'm bringing back the news section.

The news section is going to run similar to an RSS feed, and eventually I'll get around to making it an RSS feed for easier use. Anyway, it's gonna be done as a monthly thing. So for the news posts on the main NEWS page will be up for a month, then archived to their own month pages for easy access. For the time being, it'll likely be 2-3 posts per weekday, and sporatic posting on weekends.

Peace!

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May 9, 2009 - Freebies