Allihoopa can be fun and has available much air upwards to improve the User experience and "fairness". The latter one refers to the current situation that only genres proposed by featured groups get focused, while other genres/groups sink into an undiscovered nirvana, thanks to a fast-paced society not willing to "waste their time" to dive any deeper than needed. In my humble opinion this isn't fair for Artists who are not dwelling in mainstream. Music itself is about a big package that can't be framed to what we consume via Radio or get introduced through friends attending clubs.
I get the Admins concern that not every available group can be featured or else it defeats the purpose BUT what about a genre based category instead ? Each genre deserves the "same" spotlight, don't you think too ? A possible compromise could be like this:
Classic/Film music
Jazz/Blues/Funk/Soul
Ambient soundscapes/New Age (Hint: it doesn't have to be the group i created a couple months ago !)
8Bit Retro/Videogame music
80s Pop/Rock
90s Dance/House
Teeny Pop/Singer Songwriter
Heavy Metal/Goth
Hip Hop/RnB
Dubstep/Breakbeat
etc...
Conclusion: Nobody says we have to overdo it with hundreds of genres, ...just try to create groups which combine genres that can relate with each other. You can pick up the well-known the world (west & east) has to offer, to keep a certain minimum available. After all we are talking about a global society so you can't expect everyone to be into a tiny - made popular because often played - fraction.
Another thing which kind of annoys me is that some Artists either don't understand Allihoopa's concept or ignore it for the sake of pumping up fame. A few seem not to be shy in tag-nagging a list of nicknames. This careless culture has a consequence that we have to be more careful who we follow or not. And this may hurt Allihoopa's essence in connecting Musicians to create more Music TOGETHER. Apropos "together", ... i guess it would make sense to have a PM feature, so we could contact favored Artists to propose an idea that may lead to a fruitful collaboration. PM could be also used for exchanging patches, regardless if Reason, Korg Gadget, Model 15 or Figure,... related.
We don't have to discuss Project related ideas publicly, in the comments section, right ? Unfortunately not every User has a webpage, or is registered with Reasontalk at all or even available under the same nick. Let's not forget about the individual worries which may come by with having to share an email-addy due privacy, age and spam related concerns. Although i go by my real identity i fully respect these concerns. A collaboration doesn't cry for a soul-striptease you know. So i don't care about private details unless it's about joining projects & building friendships in RL. Apart form that i would love to share MIDI-files.
Reasons: Sometimes i encounter inspiring sequences which i would love melt together with other components but what if i don't need the drum-loop or that bassline ? Plus the excessive loudness kills the quality which means an extra work-load to tame the harshness. Another thing i need to address is that not every singer is well-equipped with
an external microphone. Of course, Reason has couple of options to correct all the generally well-known issues but again, ...it's an EXTRA workload for the Reason Users to get the maximum out of a Take User's otherwise excellent performance. Perhaps sponsors could be found for contests, regularly held on Allihoopa. And a "singtothis" contest should always contain an Iphone compatible microphone-setup, i mean why not ?
Although i may have expressed delicate demands, i'm certain that i'm not alone. In regards Allihoopa's name i assume that they "had to" find a suitable name which allows the fusion of two circles. This may also have something to do with
sacred geometry. This doesn't mean PH to be into esoteric but from a Web/Graphic Design's perspective we know about the
golden ratio, consequently Fibonacci = harmonious impression. Thus, it isn't unusual for companies to let in these "golden aspects" in their cooperate design.
Much Love
Nicola
Ps: The upload limit with 10 Minutes is kind of too short to have an adequate statement for Ambient soundscapes as this genre - unlike other styles - evolves and breaths slowly. Ambient soundscapes don't get aired much through the mainstream ether, unless it's a sub-genre such Ambient Pop that can be compressed to fit the restrictive Radio-format. I guess that's why you have to dial in alternatives such Journeyscapes, Hearts of Space and so on.