This is honestly an uncomfortable thing to do but I figure I have to step out there in some sort of way. I've had a business idea for over a year now, of creating a social media website exclusively for musicians. I think I have a lot of great ideas on great content that would help grow a large membership-base, and I feel like if I have the tools at my disposal, it will be successful. However, as a college student just scraping by, I cannot afford the $600 software (phpFox) to build the website. Therefore, I have started a GoFundMe campaign, to hopefully raise some of the funds to buy this software. It's not the most comfortable thing to advertise a fundraiser for myself on a message board where I've never met most of you. And I wouldn't blame you if you didn't feel like chipping in because, hell, I don't know if I would either. But this is something I've wanted to go forward with and try to accomplish for a while, and I would be extremely thankful for any sort of donation towards helping me start this site. Here is my GoFundMe link: www.gofundme.com/musicwebsitefund Thanks for your time! -Bones
If you don't hit your goal of 600 then you might want to look at Wordpress. The basic plugins are free and yes, it may take you some paid plugins here and there to finish the site but I doubt it would add up to even close to the 600 dollar range. Just another option to consider down the line.
Honestly I expect to hit 200/300 or so. If I do I'll probably go ahead with it and toss my own money in. I've looked at WordPress but I haven't found a plugin that can implement all the features I want to put in. This software has it all and seems like it wouldn't be to difficult to master. The base of the site would act almost as a dating site would. It'd be a place where you could find other musicians in your area based on a number of features (Instruments Played, Singer/rapper, etc.). Everyone would have a profile and the ability to post songs and samples of theirs as well as instant message other people. But that'd just be the core of the site, as I have many other features that I want to implement. I hoping that the site to have enough features to make it hard for musicians to not pay $10 a month to be a member. If I'm able to do that and run the site myself to begin with, I have confidence I could go somewhere with it. 1,000 members at $10 a month is $120,000 a year. That'd be successful and attainable. It's just getting started that's really hard. The startup funds, building an attractive site and then getting the first few couple hundred members will be the hardest part.
Drupal is another open source way to go about building it. They have a s-ton of modules that may work for you.
I've never heard of it I'll check it out. Do you have any other suggestions that I should take a look at?
Wordpress, Drupal and Joomla are the three with the most market share. They are all open source, it just kind of depends on your end goal.
. I'm hoping that I can build a big community. All the features I stated are must haves. I just feel like there won't be plugins specific enough to what I'm trying to do but I need to dig a little more. What do you think @HAAK72?
http://www.wpbeginner.com/opinion/wordpress-vs-joomla-vs-drupal-which-one-is-better/ here is a good breakdown of pros/cons.
Are you currently in school? Have you checked your school's computer lab to see if the software you need is installed on their computers? Have you talked to your school's bookstore to see what they can get the software for? They may not stock it but they can order it. Or is the software on the web like Photoshop is now? See if your school can get you a student license. If they won't email the company using your school email address. Tell them it's for a school project and you can't afford the software for just one project. Have you looked for it on Pirate Bay? Like Gimp is the freeware version of photoshop have you seen if there is a freeware software that is similar to what you're looking for? Do you think you'll be starting next year on your CC hoop team? Would you be willing to shave points for money?
No kidding. As a teen I would ask my father to fund some of my ideas and experiments. He let me borrow his lawnmower and told me to go to our neighbors and earn the greenbacks. Boom!
Lol. 99% of people would do that. Just be satisfied working 8 hours a day 5 days a week working a crappy job that barely makes money just so they can try to enjoy the time that they're off of work and not just acting as a cog in the system. Me, I'm different. I don't want to make $50,000 a year sitting at a computer desk doing some more successful man's work. I want to give back to the family that has given to much to me. I wanna take care of my mother, my sister, my future wife and our kids. I know that isn't on par with the systematic majority viewpoint on how one should try and live their life, so maybe that's where your disrespect comes from. I also don't like asking for help but my family isn't in the best spot and I really want to act on my ambitions. If you want to help, great. If you don't, I don't blame you at all and I fully understand it. But telling me what I should do with my life is disrespectful and I don't appreciate it.
Yeah, it's worth a shot. Not likely that they'll be help but it's something that I should definitely check out in case they can help. Hahaha. I'm looking to transfer which means I'd have to sit out a year. I wanna play closer to home. I figured now would be a good time if I'm not playing for a year to try to go forth with this. I'm trying to cover all my bases right now. I'll check out Gimp but if it's free it probably doesn't have all the features I want. Worth a look though. I just know that the phpFox software that I've seen has everything I'm looking for.
I didn't mean for you to check out Gimp, I was just using it as an example. Gimp is a free program that is similar to Photoshop. I don't know what is, if there even is one, a free software program similar to phpFox.
