The question was "How are you different than Discogs?"
"That said, they have no mobile site and no app, and so it's a pain to use on the phone or tablet."
Precisely and I don't disagree nor did I speak to any degree that Discogs is NOT effective at allowing for commerce. But to your point, Big Al's case is a whole "nother thang", however is a problem that we're designing a solution for. When these stores go out of business, the stories and knowledge of these collectors go with them (and are with those who visited them). So in essence, a link to the chain of a record's oral history is broken. In terms of preserving the tradition, this is a critical problem that technology can bridge so to educate a younger generation of collectors and the like. It's not a replacement for the record store experience, however may help a lot of people transition into "crate digging" and keep some folk fed along the way.
And before I'm taken out of context, I never said Discogs wasn't a resource for learning about or discovering new music. It will be what people make of it, no different than anything else in life.
I've rarely stumbled across work on Soundcloud and purchased the record (mostly because I prefer mixes when using the service).
My question for record store owners is how will you adapt to social circumstance of the rising price of rent, or the gentrification of your neighborhood, therefore change of customers? How do commuting visitors discover your stores and collections? Do you use yelp? How has that had an impact on your business? If you currently use social media, how does it create value for you? Is it measurable? Where are you analytics to back the time you spend using these platforms? Is it worth knowing about recording trends? How do trends influence what you carry in store?
This is on the forefront of my mind when it comes to providing a service worth coming back to. Again, free from ads and to download. This wouldn't be limited to mobile platforms-web, android and iPad are on our milestones list as we are able to successfully build a viable (meaningful) product.
"How are you going to populate your site, in order to draw people off those resources (not to mention sites like eBay [for selling] or Bandcamp/Soundcloud/Facebook)?"
How do most companies create adoption? The key for me as the founder and CEO (as it should be for leadership of early phase ventures) is to solve a problem (a mobile solution for quickly vetting out our database and partnering with 3rd party music API designers--we're currently working with several), listen to our customers, push improvements continuously, and continue supporting my team, and ensure we have funding in place so to not fold before having a chance to make an impact.
All of my developers / collaborators have shown up on their free time, which is why we created a crowdfunding site where our products can be owned so to afford their time on a more consistent basis (launch.vnylst.com). We've gotten a lot of feedback on it, especially the amount we're seeking (please factor in the cost to continue developing, produce, ship, cover fees and costs, pay a team of professional developers, to mention provide support for our customers before assuming that the entire $650K would be dissolved into a few people's salaries), and require every cent to do this the right way for a duration of time.
Something that perhaps isn't measurable by any data point or analytics is that this coagulation of the most meaningful experiences in my life of thirty five years. This isn't verbiage, but Vnylst is the summation of having worked at a publishing company, recording studio, record label, experience at Apple, Square and helping other companies add value to their customers as a ux designer. I've vested thousands of hours and committed my own finances to everything you see from Vnylst.
We make products for record collectors that I personally love and want to own. I've never really been into brands, even the ones I've worked for, because I mostly took jobs as a means to learn from hands-on experience. I truly love Vnylst, because it's for people I have the greatest respect for (e.g. DJs, archivists, artists, local record store owners, and mostly everyone in the artistic industry food chain).
It hasn't been easy, nor do I anticipate a walk in the park, even with funding. But Vnylst is my life and is something I obsess over twelve hours a day. It's the results of a lot of reflection, thinking, sharing and not being afraid of failure.
Osandi
Founder | CEO | Designer
Vnylst, Inc.
OR said:herbacios tweed said:you don't need $650K to make an app. I would know.
