ContentSphere - Music & Media in an Online Culture - This Blog

Re: ContentSphere Down // Editorial Message

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 15:46:40 +0200

I sincerely like to apologize for the awkward lengthy downtimes of ContentSphere just recently. Apparently, some modules in my blog software (Serendipity) is not working that great. There’s a constant overflow of a module intended to block spam - though it appears to block access rather. Secondly, I just found an error in yet another backend module steering the graphics.

But bear with me, rescue is on the way!

Actually, even before I got into this hassle, I decided to part with Serendipity for a number of reasons. Shortly, there will be a switch to WordPress accompanied with…

an all new design,
all new logo,
neat & clean categories to choose from,
a separation of feeds (business, private, geo location)

… and lots more.

Also, the blog will benefit from my engagement with Marcel Weiß’s blog neumusik.com. Since neumusik is entirely German (language-wise), I’m presenting some of the content or related articles in English right here on ContentSphere. You may consider it as two blog siblings.

Best,
Wolfgang

It's A Commercials' World. But Sometimes A Nice One. (thx to AdTaily & Magix)

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 01:05:42 +0100

Recently I hinted at the addition of the AdTaily widget as a part of ContentSphere. First off, to be honest I was a bit sceptical. Though being able to decide which ads get my “go” I expected the usual suspects to ask for ad space.

But I was wrong. I think two weeks had passed (or less) with the widget showing a blank “advertise here” square. Then, I got a mail a request for posting an ad was pending. Still, I thought… ok, here they are - where’s the “Thanks, but no, thanks” button?

Now I find myself positively surprised that it’s something for real. Even better, Magix (who are running the ad you see since about a week) are a perfect fit to the site. Their products are just all about music & media - just have a look.

What I like even more is their connection with mufin, which is a spin-off of Magix. Once working with metadata and semantics myself, it’s simply awesome to see products like the new mufin player go live.

Anyway, it fits. It’s something I’m willing to endorse. Instantly, via their affiliate zanox.com, Magix purchased a 2-week ad at a price of 15.68 EUR. Whoah. Certainly not much… but compare this amount to the numbers I yielded with flattr (which is rather for acknowledgement) or even with AdSense.

Conclusion: Thanks to Marcel Weiss from neumusik.com where I found AdTaily the first time.

Now, I’d really like to test the advertised Magix Digital DJ software - too bad it’s not available as a trial version like other products. Actually, I’d even more like to check out the new mufin player. Though - PC required. And Android. Sometimes, it simply is no Mac world. That’s bad when you completely switched.

Here’s something I think might be interesting… The software is available at EUR 39.99. Subscribing to the Magix newsletter gets me a EUR 10.00 coupon. If November revenues will result in a minimum of EUR 20.00 (flattr, AdTaily - excluding that very first Magix ad) I am going to shell out the remaining EUR 10.00 and buy the software. After all, you can add your 2 cents to make it happening.

However, maybe the guys from Magix are reading this - send me a trial version, and I’m willing to run a full review. Includes Twitter, Facebook and friendfeed service. But - the review will be a non-biased one. You can buy ad space, but not my opinion.

I think that’s a fair way to express my thanks for the ad. Really, I appreciate it. Big thank you to Magix!

Oops! flattr's deflated...

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 08:57:47 +0200

AdSense vs. flattr, Ads vs. Donations - What's Best? You Decide!

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 00:32:37 +0200

Not long ago, ContentSphere saw a comeback of GoogleAds. I just wanted to give them a serious second try. Yet, now it gets a new twist. As you can see, I also added flattr buttons for the entire blog as well as separate ones for each entry.

That means: I’m having two additional streams of revenue. Maybe I should replace the term “streams” by “drops”. However. I’m running a kind of study. What’s the best choice to achieve better revenues? Not that ContentSphere has that much readers (360 feed subscriptions). That’s why I’m not expecting big piles of money.

What’s the most attractive and acceptable to you – that’s the question. Ads, or directly asking for financial support?

Plus, as you will see later on in this article, it helps me in advising my customers. Artists, most prominently.

Ads and donations - both approaches might be seen with mixed feelings.

Ads, the way that AdSense provides, rarely meet the requirements the author of a blog has set – no matter what restrictions you define, many advertised products, services and companies appearing on your site you simply don’t really want to see there. Moreover, it distracts from your site’s layout. In particular, it’s the picture ads that do so. Actually, if they were reasonably professional, they would be more useful for integration.

flattr, on the other hand, might be dismissed as begging for money from your readers – or fans. This is something which is discussed quite controversial. Just have a look at older entries at Amanda Palmer’s blog. In my opinion, no matter if you are an artist, journalist, blogger or whatever – as long as you offer anything you are allowed to ask for a price. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be high quality content. Just look at the charts and you will see it’s not always quality that sells. In the end it’s up to you to decide whether to pay anything. Don’t you forget, in the case of flattr you are almost entirely free in deciding how much you are to spend at flattr. The minimum to spend per month is 2 EUR, and each content you flattr receives a fraction of the monthly total.

I don’t want to discuss the issue of ethics here. Similar to the use of Creative Commons licenses, there are artists who are convinced that art should be free for everyone. No work of art should be sold. Though, artists need to make a living. Even those artists who’d like to give away all or parts of their work for free.

Fact is, the most reliable income is based on several streams of revenue. It’s not necessarily a high income allowing for a life in luxury. Yet, it’s more securely distributed over several resources.

Advertisements along your work, sponsorship, endorsement, patronage, donations – any of those and even more should be seen as complementary resources of financial support. Pick the ones that suit you best, and remember to pick those that work for you.

And here we are. I want to be sure that I’m advising artists and customers the right way. Do advertisements help to generate additional income? Is flattr (or any other form of donation) more acceptable? Of course, it depends on your fans and customers, your image and your profile etc.

I’m curious to see how it works in the long run.

More Concepts & Ideas to Collaborate With Independent Musicians and Upcoming Media Companies

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:57:00 +0200

Finally, I decided to change the content design of ContentSphere quite a bit.

Previously, articles have been long. Some very long. Others… well, think of the Chinese Wall. The disadvantage is, the longer the articles are the less frequent there’s a new posting.

From now on, each day will see a very short posting. Some ideas that came to mind. Some link I came across. Some new site worth a mention. It would be really great to get a bit of feedback from your side relating to these postings. Because, based on these I decide which short article or new issue is worthwhile to work out.

Concept is to throw in one longer article (deserving that name) once a week. But don’t expect it to be as long as the chart toppers from previous months - some consisted of more than 10k characters (don’t ask for #1… 18k).

Maybe I won’t show the discipline to keep up with my new principles but at least I hope so.

Regarding the topics to cover in forthcoming articles, I aim at providing more advice and most of all more exchange and more collaboration. So, you took my advice and it went wrong - the result did not match your expectations? Mail me, post your reaction, whatever. I’d like to learn.

Also, shortly the static pages are about to be changed and featured more prominently. But that’s another story.