Ampcast Announces Shut Down

[Didier]

Dear All,

DECEMBER 25, 2005 - Online Music Distributor (OMD) AMPCAST.com today announced on their website, how they were going to suspend their online services and probably go off-line by february of 2006.

Ampcast Announces Shut Down (plus Dubroom comments)

Didier

[john]

Hey Didier

Interesting. Sad too, though not a great surprize it has to be said.

Where do you think it leaves a site like Songstuff? We kind of sit in the commercial vacuum. By not having music hosting we can't make money from downloads for the site, or directly for artists. I hope we do help artists sell by improving visibility, but that is indirect.

This is why one of my aims for 2006 is to establish improved links with the music industry, to consolidate the help we can give artists. At the same time I want to improve the music.songstuff.com domain to be more targeted at listeners.

As we've been looking at hosting and providing a proper OMD targeted at listeners, there may be a completely listener targeted sister site to feature Songstuff artists. This would allow Songstuff itself to remain completely focused on the artist end of things.

Whachafink?

Cheers

John

[ATom2]

You know, even though I disagreed with the operators at Ampcast and eventually left, this really bothers me. Once again, the power of the internet proves to be not that powerful.

Tom

[Guest voclizr]

You know, even though I disagreed with the operators at Ampcast and eventually left, this really bothers me. Once again, the power of the internet proves to be not that powerful.

Tom

And what's even more disturbing is that Ampcast CHARGED people like Tom to post their music. I looked into posting on Ampcast and they wanted something like $100.00 a year. THEY got revenue like that and they still couldn't afford to continue. Now, how can a site like Soundclick continue when they host for free?

JB

[Guest voclizr]

I guess that eventually, thay will all have to charge something for uploading and downloading!

JB

[Guest voclizr]

I guess that eventually, thay will all have to charge something for uploading and downloading!

JB

Excuse my poor spelling! THEY will all......etc. (my keyboard's fault)!

jb

[john]

Hey

My guess because they charged musos they lost members to free hosting sites, while at the same time they didn't pull in enough download traffic to make it worthwhile for themselves or the artists.

The fact that the site was completely pitched to artists rather than listeners meant they didn't have enough listeners to fund a download site.

The site stagnated and eventually lost it's search position with the likes of Google.

Having looked in on the boards from time to time, it's also possible the owner has moved on to new things and lost focus on Ampcast.

Cheers

John

[ATom2]

My thoughts on Ampcast:

I'll start off first talking about the fee they charged.

Actually charging $100 a year to host music was not that bad. This was to pay for unlimited storage space for what ever I wanted to put there including pictures, text, and as much music as I wanted to store. Remember, not everything I uploaded was shown on my front page. So, as far as I was concerned, money was not an issue. There was talk about having a free account for those that wanted a limited amount of space, say 3 songs or so, but that was decided against by the owners and quite frankly many of the members. The reason behind that was, we felt those that didn't want to pay were by majority those that weren't serious enough about their music to feel it was worth the cash. Sure, there may have been some fantastic musicians that simply couldn't afford the fee but by and large most were "musicians in a box"...if you know what I mean. Think back to the free accounts at MP3.com...a lot of pure junk!

Download talk:

During my time there, which was about 3 years, (off and on) I accumulated somewhere around 60,000 downloads/plays. Sounds like a fair amount, but not really when you break down the time. Many of those were generated during the "Rating years", which meant to me most of those downloads/listens where from folks that wanted me to do the same for them. You see, my songs for some reason were high on the charts during that time period. Not because they were all that great, but because I spent a lot of time there. I was just more noticable than others. Toward the end, about the last year, we (the active members) asked that the charting system be dropped. It just wasn't fair as far as we were concerned.

Making money:

When I first joined Ampcast the had a program where you were paid a small amount for each download your music received. The money to pay for that came from the advertisers. Well, we all know how well internet advertising worked. It didn't. Therefore, the money stopped coming in and that program was dropped. At that time it was decided that the individuals could now start charging for downloads. Anywhere from $.50 to $1.00. I, myself didn't participate. I guess I never felt my music was good enough to ask for the same kind of cash as the big boys. Don't get me wrong. I worked hard, and did my best, but my music was hardly studio quality. Therefore I kept my music free to those who wanted it. That pissed off many that were charging and they let me know it. My reply to them was "I guess you are not being realistic about your own music and need to ask yourself if it is worthy of an asking price! And besides, don't tell me what to do with my music" That usually shut them up as there really was no arguement they could give. Another reason that people didn't make money was it was a time consuming process for the buyer to sign up.

Other factors:

Ampcast had a CD program handled by a third party. I found it rather difficult to set up, so I never used it. Some of those that did said it was a great program. Those that had things go wrong with the program and asked for help were often ingnored...specially toward the end. It is true, toward the end the owners simply gave up, and in a way I can't blame them as this OMD was not a money maker for them. They had promised to "revolutionize" the OMD industry, but in all reality, it was sunk even before they started. I guess for Chris, Jim, and the others who worked for Ampcast it was time to move on. I wish them well.

My reason for leaving?

Easy actually. My musical thoughts just dried up. There was no reason to pay for hosting when I had nothing new to offer. The other thing that soured me was all the back patting that was going on. Many people had convinced themselves that Ampcast was the greatest thing going, and all the time I was standing back and seeing that it was going down hill. Then there was Frank! Probably the biggest loudmouth supporter of Ampcast there was. If you disagreed, or complained, he'd let you know it. You see, Frank was Wolfman Jacks sidekick in radio way back when, and I guess he never came down from his cloud. I detested his greater than thou attitude. I'm sure you can all relate to someone like that.

Anyway, like I said, I thank the owners of Ampcast for the good times, and I'll forget the rest.

It was a good run fella's.

Tom

P.S. Spellchecking and grammer checking were not used in the above. I'm too lazy.

[Steve]

P.S. Spellchecking and grammer checking were not used in the above. I'm too lazy.

Spell checking should be 2 words, and grammar is spelt with an A.

[ATom2]

Spell checking should be 2 words, and grammar is spelt with an A.

I know what else is spelt with an A and is one word.

[Steve]

I know what else is spelt with an A and is one word.

Is it Avitar...?

[john]

avatar even...

[ATom2]

Screw you guyz. I'm taking my ball and going home!

[john]

rattle .. pram?

[Nightwolf]

Good observations about Ampcast.

Got a good laugh too boot

[Guest voclizr]

Quote ATOM2:"......my music was hardly studio quality....."

Tom, my friend. You're simply TOO modest for your own good!

I have everything you posted on Ampcast (and a few other tunes from your IUMA site). What you did with your little Roland 1680 and those three synths was absolutely UNREAL! I'd put it up against ANYTHING the pros are putting out in both the quality of the recording and the music itself! The first tune I downloaded of yours was the instrumental "Ala Mood" . I could've sworn ATom2 was a JAZZ BAND! Then I DL'ed a few of the other song before I saw the pic of your studio and my first impression was "this guy's full of it! How can anybody get a sound like THAT out of this little set up!" You have not only mastered songwriting, but the whole enchilada, including performing, engineering and production. I say this with all honesty, Tom, (and I'm NOT just trying to be a nice guy). Your music is the best I've heard in years and I really think you could've marketed it. I really hope you regulars on this blog got a chance to hear at least some of Tom's music before he pulled off. If you didn't , you don't know what you missed!

TOMMY, DON'T YOU DARE SELL YOURSELF SHORT LIKE THAT!!!!

Most Sincerely;

John B.

PS: It was YOU who inspired me to get back into songwriting and recording after a 12 year writers slump!

[john]

A fan! A fan!

How did you sneak in

[Guest voclizr]

Oh, and by the way; I WOULD'VE PAID FOR IT!

jb

[Guest voclizr]

A fan! A fan!

How did you sneak in

Darn right I'm a fan! I'll wear the T-Shirt too!

jb

[Guest voclizr]

Incidentally, I overlooked in the above that "Ala Mood" was actually done by "Big Sofa" (Tom, when he colaborated with his friend Bill Counter, who's an excellent guitarist). Sorry for overlooking that.

(Gee, this is getting SCARY! I'm sounding like one of those obsessed fans that know too much about their fav groups)!!! LOL

JB