Here's an idea: A music version of IMDB!

[TerranRich]

Think about it! Haven't you ever wondered who sang that song you love? Or what songs a certain band has out? Haven't you ever wondered what year a certain song came out, or how long the album version is? Or what remixes exist for a song?

I want to know if anyone would SERIOUSLY be interested in ASSISTING me in the creation of the IMD: The Internet Music Database. (Or I could call it something else.)

Think it's a big venture? So was the IMDb, I'm sure. I mean there are probably as many movies in existence as there are songs. Or maybe not. Perhaps there could be a limit to how old a song is to be included in the database. But think about it...

Just like IMDB lists actors as well as movies, and even a list of years and what movies came out that year, the IMD could list the same for songs (performer, song title, album name, release year). The following properties could be archived per song:

• Song Title
• Performer (Singer/Band)
• Album Title
• Release Year
• Producer(s)
• Song Length (non-remix versions)
• Genre (this one might be a tough one, there are genres [rock], subgenres [punk rock], and sub-subgenres [emo punk rock], so... )

Possible additional properties:
• Parodies
• Music Video information
• Remixes
• Remakes

Any ideas? Suggestions? Offers for help?

I admit, I don't know much about programming a database on the web. Maybe somebody could help me out with that, I would be more than willing to do the research and get as much information as I can on all songs, in all genres.

[Gregjazz]

Yes! That's a great idea.

I'm still learning PHP, and it's pretty easy to learn. PHP is ideal for websites such as your idea. What you want is to use a MYSQL database to hold all the data and for quick searches and data manipulations and all sorts of nerdy-sounding things.

[Darth Mandarb]

GraceNote is what you're looking for I think.

It used to be called CDDB, but they changed the name a few years ago.Ã,  It's where WinaMP goes to get track information if you put a CD in (and play through winaMP) while connected to the 'net.

I think it's a great idea, but would probably eat up the rest of your life getting it done.

[Sylpher]

I agree.. would be a great thing. However, not to be pessimistic, but I think it will be a bit more difficult then IMDB because..

Music is a lot easier and cheaper to produce then a movie. As well it has been around longer. Even if you had a cut off date there is at least double if not triple the amount of music as there are movies floating around just from the past forty years.. Also there are thousands if not millions of 'indie' garage bands and music from anything to DJ's to kids just learning how to mess with a 4-track.

Not trying to discourge. Just putting things into perspective how large of a project this would be.

[TerranRich]

Yes, something like GraceNote/CDDB, except much simpler in design and organization, and also information should be stored about individual songs. You're right in that it would be quite a hefty project, but it could also accept user submissions as well. Thing is, users tend to submit multiple artists, forget to capitalize any words, and misspell things. Maybe at first it would be editable only by the creators and the only information available would be track listings and things, like the CDDB. I mean, if IMDB could do it...

[Felipe]

Would it be a good idea?
YES! It would be a great idea...

However, as everybody pointed out, it would be a huuuuuuuuuuge project, something that can't be done by one single person.
And you're right about 'user submisssions', they have many bad points. Something like this should be done by a group of people, that know and trust each other... I'm sure there's not a 'single person' behind IMDB.

If you're willing to spend the rest of your life doing it, go for it.
But my advise is to either team up with (many) others or suggest it to a company, person, whatever that has the time (and money) for doing it).

I really liked the idea, but I'm just trying to warn you of what comes with it.

Besides, there HAS to be something like this already... I can't believe nobody thought about it!


-Felipe-

[Dart]

You mean a music site like this?

http://www.allmusic.com

It has the song title, performer, album title, release year, producer, song length, genre and sub-genres of all of the music bands out there. Well, not all of them, but about 95%. It even has the Chrono Cross Soundtrack in its database.

I don't think it lists parodies, music video information, and the like, though.

[Timosity]

I'm sure there's a lot of them out there as already pointed out, but none that spring to mind like IMDB. I guess that's the hardest part, promoting well enough to deep root into peoples minds to make it the first thing they think about when it comes to looking up music (if only you could add nicotine).

It is a good idea, and I've thought about it before, but never got off my arse to do anything about it as it is a huge task.

As far as comparing it to IMDB as already mentioned in different words, the amount of movies in history probably wouldn't even register 1% of musical artists let alone albums, letalone individual tracks.

So obviously it would be a continually growing project, adding new stuff and finding stuff that has been missed (and then still obviously you'd still miss out on millions of artists)

It could be a lot of fun, but whether it gets used much is another thing, and if you want it to earn money is another thing entirely.


I had a group project at Tafe in 2000 where we had to come up with a website concept where we had to fully design the site as well as come up with the theory of how we'd get it to work, as well as make money.

I came up with the idea of illegally having music for download calling it "Criminal Records" as it was all theory I thought we'd get away with it as it would be a comedy event at the presentation. But luckily I spoke to the teacher at an early stage and he said it sounded like a great idea but as it wasn't a legitimate idea, we couldn't do it.

Eventually we came up with an idea to create a site for unsigned bands, ie bands that haven't been signed by a record label, and have bios, history, photos, gig dates, full downloads as well as samples. Bands would have a small fee to add themselves, and that would be the income.

I wanted to do this seriously and eventually start up a record label in association with it, but I never got round to implementing it.


These days though it's rather easy and cheap to start up a website and there are so many out there that it's really hard to stick your head above the crowd without having a lot of money spent on advertising and promotions.


but having said all that, I think it's worth doing, even just as a hobby, If it's done really well without ads (well only promotion of music [hopefully not too commercial] as that fucks up any site) you never know what might happen, it might just slip right up there for no reason and just become popular and a household name.

The other key is sticking at it for a long time, If it's around for years with the same name, it will have more chance of being remembered (unless you change the name with a huge promotion from the millions of dollars you've made)

As far as user entries are concerened, I'm sure it's possible to have it so it doesn't go directly into the site once proof read and possibly edited, I think that's the best way for user submissions. Although if it becomes huge and you're getting thousands of submissions a day, it could be a problem, but that's when you'll need staff and money to pay them.

anyway, good luck

[TerranRich]

I've taken all of your points into consideration. Felipe, it would indeed be a great project, and that's why I asked for help in my initial post. I could do the design and some research. I was thinking, perhaps starting with one genre, from the most popular, to the semi-popular, stop, then go onto another genre.

However, once I saw that All Music Guide, I kinda lost interest. That's the thing with the internet: it's so immense that everything's practically been done before. The catch is finding something that hasn't been done properly and do it right. The All Music Guide seems to have it down properly. I was thinking going one step further and having one entry per song as well, but that might just be pushing it.