Inside Stereofame

Songs for the August Artist of the Month Contest are currently being judged by the Stereofame community.

To cast your vote for Stereofame's top talent, listen and review music that was submitted by Stereofame artists last month. Your individual music reviews will influence the final score for each artist. The top 10 scoring artists will be forwarded to our expert Judges Panel where the winner will be selected using the same review process as the Stereofame community.

Artist Prize: $1000.00 cash! Winning artist from also qualifies for the Stereofame Artist of the Year contest with a prize package of $5000.00.

Listener Prize: 10,000 Points! With each vote, listeners earn a chance to earn 10,000 points. The more votes you submit, the more chances you have to win!

Listener Voting Period: September 12, 2008 - September 18, 2008

Winner Announced: September 23, 2008

Start reviewing and scoring songs now!

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About Stereofame Artist of the Month Music Reviews

The Stereofame Artist of the Month Music Reviewing system is designed to allow all artists entered in the contest an equal opportunity to be heard and scored by the Stereofame community.

As a music reviewer, you want to review as many songs as possible, plus leave well-constructed written comments to be considered for a "star review" badge. "Star reviews" count considerably more than standard reviews and can influence the final scoring for an artist.

Each music review you submit creates a score for that song. The artists with the highest scores are forwarded to the Stereofame Judges Panel where the winner will be selected.

For more details on how the music reviews work, watch the Stereofame Music Reviews Screencast or read the written instructions instead.

Post a comment and let us know what you think of the music reviewing system!

Labels: contest, Stereofame.News, updates

SF Rank Update: Check Your Stereofame Rank Status
A Stereofame Rank update was released today and Stereofame members may see fluctuating SF Ranks. SF Rank is considered a benchmark of popularity and all members seek to have a low SF Rank. An SF Rank update happens once every few months to maintain quality results for music fans seeking to discover new musical talent. This update focused mainly on ranking artists based on broader musical appeal rather than gameplay. (Note: Re-ranking of artists does impact the ranking of the Labels to which they are signed, see details below.)

What do you mean by gameplay vs. broad music appeal?
In short, broad music appeal means that you have a larger fan base. An artist with 10 fans each voting every day isn't as influential as an artist with 70 fans each voting once a week; same numbers of votes, but the second has a broader appeal so will rank higher.

How does this update impact my Label's SF Rank?
Labels are ranked based upon the success of the artists that they have signed. Check the SF Rank status of each artist on your Label. If any of their SF Ranks have changed significantly, you may want to think about getting some fresh talent on your Label.

What about my points?
No changes are being made to the point system, and Stereofame members may view artist and label points on any member’s profile page.

What is SF Rank?
Stereofame displays artist popularity by SF rank rather than points. Similar to Google's "Page Rank," SF rank is based on listener popularity. The more popular the artist is based on thumbs up and other actions (as performed by the listeners), the higher the SF rank of the artist. This will ensure that artists are ranked based on actions performed by the listeners, and not by the actions performed by the artists. With SF rank, Stereofame members solely determine which artists are the most popular.

SF Rank is also applied to Labels. Labels are ranked based upon the success of the artists that they have signed and that success is determined by Stereofame members. This will ensure that labels who are really good at picking out great artists rise to the top of the rankings.

SF Rank does not affect the point system.

Bottom line: the best artists and the best labels rise to the top and the SF ranking is determined by Stereofame members.

Stereofame Abuse
Staff members and the Stereofame community monitor activity on the site and flag those attempting to 'game' the system. If a Stereofame member has been flagged and found to be violating the game rules, points gaining through those efforts will be removed in addition to probation from the site. Fore more detail, please read the Stereofame Terms & Conditions, Section 10.

Post a comment and let us know what you think of this update!

Labels: Stereofame.News, updates

Stereofame is the Social Music Game where artists and fans gain points playing the game and cash them in on great rewards

These Release Notes cover what's new, game rules, known issues and frequently asked questions about Stereofame.

Give us your feedback through this feedback form.

What's New in the Stereofame August update.

Release date:
August 13, 2008

Music Upload:
Upgrade to the music upload process to eliminate problems with file transfers.

Photo Cropping:
Members can crop uploaded photos to optimize them for placement on the Stereofame website.

Toolbar:
A fixed-placed toolbar has been added to the website that offers shortcuts to the interactive features on the site. The toolbar includes:

Music Player:
New music player offers more control over when and how songs are played and stopped. Visitors can now browse the site without their music being interrupted.

Search:
Find members on Stereofame using keyword searches in the quick search toolbar.

Chat:
Public and Private chat rooms are available to communicate with other Stereofame members.

Who's Online:
Quick access to Stereofame members that are online.

Points:
Ongoing tally of points accumulated while playing Stereofame.

Online Now Status:
When a member is online, an "online now" icon will appear next to the member name on their profile page and throughout the website where their profile photo appears. Members can elect to hide their online status in the Member Information section of their Account page.

Stereofame Group Chat:
Members have access to Stereofame public chat rooms. Current chat room topics include Stereofame General Chat and Stereofame Point Store chat.

Stereofame Private Messaging:
Chat one on one with any Stereofame member that is online. To send a chat request, visit a member page and click the "Chat with this member" link in the Actions area.

Browse by Genre:
Find Stereofame members by musical genre. This feature applies to Artists, Labels and Listeners.

Browse by Location:
Find Stereofame members near you by using the Location filter option.

Block Members:
Stereofame members can block unwanted contact by other members. Look for the "Block this user" link in the Actions section of the member profile page. Once a member is blocked neither party will be able to view the other's profile page or contact them via messaging or chat.

More rewards for artists:
New rewards have been added to the Point Store for Artists including Sennheiser headphones, Sennheiser microphone, a song mix by Grammy award winning Mix Engineer Ken Lewis, a Custom 50th Anniversary 1958 Gibson Electric Guitar and pre-paid recording studio time at Avatar Recording Studios in New York City.

Artist of the Month Contest:
The Stereofame Artist of the Month Contest is a great opportunity for musicians to get exposure. Get real, written reviews of your material and enter for a chance to win $1000.00 cash every month! Enter your songs now!

More Helpful Information:
Rules of the Game
FAQ
About Stereofame

Thanks to everyone who wrote in with questions and comments about Stereofame! Keep hitting that feedback button and telling us what's up.

Labels: release.notes, Stereofame.News, sterofame, updates

Stereofame is the Social Music Game where artists and fans gain points playing the game and cash them in on great rewards.

These Release Notes cover what's new, game rules, known issues and frequently asked questions about Stereofame.

Give us your feedback through this feedback form.

What's New in Stereofame v0.4

Release Date:
June 23, 2008

Messaging:
Usability and design enhancements have been implemented on the Messages page of member profiles.

Notifications:
Each Stereofame action has its own message notification settings. Members can change the settings for each action for both Stereofame internal messaging and Email Notifications.

Mobile:
Activate Stereofame Mobile by adding your mobile phone number to your member account. Text messages will be sent to your phone based on your preferences.

Censor Content:
Members have the option to automatically filter objectionable text-based content on the website. Preferences for this feature are located in the Member Information section of the member Account page.

Pagination of Charts:
Improved pagination has been implemented on the Browse section of the website.

Data Upload:
Upgrade to the music and photo upload process to eliminate problems with incomplete file transfers.

Forward to Friend:
Each member page contains a "Forward to a Friend" link. Click this link to send the selected page to an email address.

Voting Restriction:
Track must play for 15 seconds before a vote can be submitted.

More Helpful Information:
Rules of the Game
FAQ
About Stereofame

Thanks to everyone who wrote in with questions and comments about Stereofame! Keep hitting that feedback button and telling us what's up.

Labels: release.notes, Stereofame.News, updates

Stereofame is the Social Music Game where artists and fans gain points playing the game and cash them in on great rewards.

These Release Notes cover what's new, login instructions, game rules, known issues and frequently asked questions about Stereofame.

Give us your feedback through this feedback form.

What's New in Stereofame v0.3

Release Date:
May 16, 2008

Listener Login Update:
User login usernames will change for all members that signed up as Listeners on Stereofame before 5/17/08. Login usernames for this member type have been migrated to the label name.

So, if previously, your Listener username was "Jonny-B-Listener" and your Label was "Jonny-B-Label", your new login username is "Jonny-B-Label".

Passwords are unchanged.
Usernames are always lowercase.

Scoring:
A dynamic scorecard is now keeping track of your points and rewarding you on the spot for gaming actions. The Rules of the Game have changed dramatically that allow new ways to gain points, so be sure to read them. What's cool is that certain actions count for points immediately while other actions pay off for you over and over again... like a good investment. Bookmark this page: All the ways to rack up points.

Rules:
Game rules have been rewritten to answer a lot of questions. To get the most out of Stereofame, read them. You'll thank us later.

Labels and Listeners Become One:
To improve the game, we have combined the Listener and Label profiles into one member. Current members that had Listener and Label profiles will now have just one Label page to manage. New members to Stereofame will enter the game at a Listener level and can upgrade to a Label after they have earned 250 points.

Drop an artist from your Label:
Labels can now remove an artist from their label to open up slots for newly discovered talent. Removing an artist from a label will cost to 200 points (the earlier the artist was signed by the label, relative to other labels, the more points it takes to remove an artist).

Bands can play too:
Artists can now play the game and earn more points just for working their profile and playing the game. If you're an artist on Stereofame, definitely check out the Rules... you'll be impressed.

Some of the new ways for artists to gain points: Listen and vote on music, update your Billboard, add tags to the site, upload a new song.

Stereofame Auction House:
Artists and Listeners may bid on rewards at the Auction House with their points. There are a fixed number of rewards that are available to the highest bidder. There may or may not be a minimum bid required. Like eBay, the auction ends at the time designated for the item being bid upon.

Points and Rewards History:
You can view your total points earned, point balance, rewards redeemed, and how and when you obtained these points and rewards by going to the Points tab on your profile page.

Contests:
In addition to the ongoing Stereofame game, artists and listeners may participate in various contests. While the game in continuous, a contest is for a fixed period of time and usually 30 – 90 days in length. Check out our current Stereofame Contests!

Terms:
Terms and Conditions for Stereofame.com have been updated.

More Helpful Information:
Rules of the Game
FAQ
About Stereofame

Thanks to everyone who wrote in with questions and comments about Stereofame! Keep hitting that feedback button and telling us what's up.

Labels: release.notes, Stereofame.News, updates

STEREOFAME listeners and artists have been giving us some great feedback, telling us what they love about the site and what we could be doing better. We're already starting to make changes based on what we hear from you, so keep it coming! If you have an idea for the site, click the feedback button and send us a message. We're listening!

Here are some of the great ideas you guys have had so far, and what we're going to do about them:

Faster Points Updates

You let us know that updating the points only once a day was boring, and we totally agree! Points will now be updated every five minutes, so you can follow your label and your favorite bands in almost-real-time. We're refreshing right now. Refresh. Refresh.

Unsigning an Artist

As more and more cool artists show up on Stereofame, that band you signed last week might not look so hot any more. Not to worry! Soon, you'll be able to drop artists from your label -- hey, real labels do it all the time.

Here's the catch. Just to make things fair, it's going to cost a few points to get rid of an artist, and more points if you've had them for a long time – as many as 250 points.

Too Many Thumbs Down

Some artists have been concerned about getting excessive thumbs down from the same one or two users. Don't panic! STEREOFAME is built to be as fair and honest as possible. Like Google, we have a secret recipe that ensures you’re not being hosed. Visit “the messy details” on the “How to Play” page to learn more. Good luck!

Thanks to everyone who wrote in with questions and comments about STEREOFAME! Keep hitting that feedback button and telling us what's up. Also, don't be surprised if you get an e-mail about your great idea. Yep, we care that much!

Labels: feedback, stereofame, updates