Kompoz.com: Music collaboration at its finest
Jul 5th, 2007 by Derrick Fung
When Raf, the owner of Kompoz, approached me to write a review of his website, I was happy to do it no questions asked. Why? After taking sifting through his website, I see it as a project with a lot of potential.
What is Kompoz?
Simply put, it is a website which allows musicians to compose music, share it with others, and allow others to add tracks on top of theirs. It is a social workspace which leverages the new web 2.0 epidemic in its core purpose. On the site, it reads:
Kompoz is a social workspace for musicians. Use it to compose new music with other artists around the world. Got an idea for a song? Record a track. Upload it. Then invite others to add drums, bass, vocals or anything else!
My Thoughts
Overall, the website is very appealing. The interface of the website yields a very professional and sleek look, but at the same time, like many social networking sites out there, the interface of the site also brings a casual appeal which entices users to share their content. The website leverages a form of technology I havn’t seen before - it has its own customized playlist where users can sample different tracks of the song. In addition to the music recording area, the site houses a section titled “Buzz” which is the home of a blog authored by Raf (the owner) where he writes about industry news and topics related to music.
How does this site help musicians? Well, think about it. Here’s a scenario: you’re in your project studio, trying to compose a song. Suddenly, you have a mind block. What kind of bass line should I use? Should I use a distorted electric guitar, or lead with an acoustic rhythm? Have no fear, Kompoz is here. I see this site aiding musicians in many ways. One can fully take advantage of the large global musician base and trade ’skills’ with others.
This website definately has great potential. I will definately be playing around with the functions of the site in the near future. The concept is very fresh and innovative - a “Kool” start to an idea which will hopefully spread like wild fire.
I also interviewed Raf in regards to this website. To read the interview, simply click the link below.
1) How was this idea developed? Was it one of those instant ‘light- bulb’ moments, or did it take time?
The idea for online music collaboration is not new. There have been other sites before Kompoz, which built up small communities of musicians. Sites like MVB (MyVirtualBand, which is now defunct), used off-the-shelf ftp and bulletin board software to create forum-based threaded discussions with linked MP3 files. The problem with this approach was that it became very difficult to manage a “project”. Individual track files were spread across many (sometimes hundreds) for forum messages. That was “light-bulb” moment that resulted in Kompoz — providing a true “project” approach and the tools necessary to make collaboration efficient. For Kompoz, we built the entire Web site from scratch specifically designed for music collaboration, and gave it both a true project-centric model, and built an entire social network around that. Each project (”song”) on Kompoz has a project manager (the founder), an organized “tracks” area, unlimited disk space, a member-driven rating system, member commenting and feedback, easy upload and download features (with one-click downloading of all or selected tracks), and more. Around that, we built a social networking platform to help musicians connect, collaborate, and share their music.
2) What is your member base like?
The member base is truly multinational. It’s actually pretty amazing to be a part of a collaboration and see guitar tracks added from someone in Spain, a bass track from someone in Brazil, drum tracks from someone in Kansas, and vocals from Australia. We have members collaborating from 62 countries. The top 5 participating countries are USA, Spain, Italy, UK, and Canada,
3) What is your long term vision for the site?
Our members are defining the next generation of the music business. “Open source music” — music free of DRM and restrictive licensing models — will be (and to some extent, already is) the way music is produced and consumed. Projects on Kompoz are created under the Creative Commons licensing models, which means the music can be downloaded and shared freely. So Kompoz is not only a platform for creating new music, but it’s also a distribution channel for that music. Our mission statement for Kompoz includes directives to create the world’s best collaboration platform, and to help our members promote themselves and their music through new distribution channels.
4) How big is your company/team?
Like the post? Buy me a Coffee!The Kompoz team includes the three original founders. We’re currently in discussions with investors to grow the team and the business.
This site definately has lots of potential. Great review Derrick.
Thank you Thien!
We need to talk soon about setting up your blog!
Great review Derrick! I also tried kompoz for my musical stuff. As easy as it is, there’re no social arguments. It’s hard to find other people joining projects and everything is much too anonymous.
I even tested a few other sites, such as v-band.com, it’s more complicated but fits more for a social music collaboration.
Hey Steve. Thanks for the input. Havn’t tried v-band.com, but will definately take a look!