TheNetStudio.com

Internet Music Collaboration

Think.Code.Repeat.

The Architect's Blog
January 18th, 2009

Think: Web site? Platform? Product?

I have been a technology professional for almost 30 years now. Before the Mac, before the PC, and before the Internet even permitted "commercial" traffic. In all that time, I have learned that technology has no value if it does not help people accomplish things. Technology is simply a tool. And good technology simply helps people do things that were previously too hard to do without it.

When I first started thinking about creating an Internet Music Collaboration system, I floated the idea with some musician friends of mine, both online and offline. This was before the proliferation of Social Networks, and the explosion of Internet collaboration systems of all kinds.

Universally, everyone thought it was a stupid idea.

I can't fault anyone for that, really. It was something that was just outside what most people were accustomed to. And some of my original ideas were not really well formed, and the technologies were not yet available to accomplish what I wanted to do.

Still... None of that seemed to really deter me. I did the math, and it just all added up. So on I went.

Back then, one of the recurrent arguments I heard against an Internet Music Collaboration system - and I ran into it again just recently - was that it would encourage too many people to populate the Internet with mediocre music.

Are you kidding me?!

First: When did we decide as a society that only certain people were qualified to make music? And who gets to decide what is acceptable and what is not? Is it based on sales? Maybe technical proficiency? Perhaps that immeasurable ability to move people? Should we make every kid who wants to make music do a "try out" before they can spend their paper-route money on a guitar? Should we tell parents that they can't buy a drum set or piano for their son or daughter until a qualified musicologist can verify that they won't create sub-par music?

And who is the qualified authority to decide that anyway? I would submit that the existing Gate Keepers are already responsible for quite a bit of mediocre, even terrible music, so that argument just doesn't stand up to intellectual examination.

Second: I personally know a multi-Grammy winning producer that uses Internet File Transfer to make records. He records some tracks at home, and some at his major studio. He transfers his tracks back and forth with other musicians and mixers, and only makes the long trek to his pro studio when he has to. The idea of using FTP, or message boards to share tracks is not new with VRS. A number of musicians, producers, and even studios are already doing this. All I have done is create a tool that makes that process easier, more defined, and less prone to error.

Code

I thought a lot about VRS before I typed in my first line of code. And it seemed obvious to me that Internet Music Collaboration could help all types of musicians: From the bedroom rapper, to the Grammy winning jazz producer.

In order to reach the largest number of musicians, I decided to create a multi-tiered system that could be used by both hobbyists and professionals. In order to do that, the system had to be highly portable. I wanted to build a Collaboration Website, which could also be a Collaboration "platform", and a standalone Collaboration product.

After first creating the music Collaboration web site at TheNetStudio.com, I started on the tasks of creating both a music Collaboration platform, and a standalone music Collaboration product.

To create the Collaboration platform I want to open the VRS database through APIs to allow other music web sites to tap in to VRS. Through the VRS APIs I am hoping other music web sites will be able to easily add their own collaboration capabilities. I decided to do that using JSON, REST, and XML. The VRS APIs are still in their infancy, but a few of the APIs are already available for testing. If you have a VRS UserId, you can test them HERE. If you don't have a VRS UserId yet, you can signup HERE.

To create a music Collaboration product, I had to build VRS in a way that would allow it to be easily installed and run on a producer's or recording studio's server. This idea and capability makes VRS unique among all existing music collaboration systems. It allows other people to run their own VRS Collaboration server, and to integrate VRS directly in to their existing web site - As long as their web site does not compete directly with TheNetStudio.com.

I have taken this idea of a standalone music Collaboration product to a ridiculous degree by even loading VRS on to my MP3 player. I can actually plug my MP3 player into almost any Windows computer (XP or above) and run/demo the VRS server system - FROM my MP3 player. This can be done without installing any additional software on the host computer! Coding VRS in this way allows me to provide to recording studios a web based Collaboration sofware product that can replace and improve their existing music Collaboration/File Transfer capability. And it makes the technical requirements for running a VRS server minimal.

My thought was/is to have many different vectors for musicians, mixers, and producers to use VRS.

VRS then, is:

1. A Collaboration web site (TheNetStudio.com).
2. A Collaboration platform that can be accessed, and included within other web sites (via the VRS APIs, JSON, REST, and XML).
3. A Collaboration software product than can be installed by recording studios to run their own VRS server, which can be fully integrated into their own web site.

Repeat

Human beings have been fashioning musical instruments, and making music for tens of thousands of years - possibly even more than 50,000 years (some estimates put it at over 80,000 years). We are the only species in the animal kingdom that does so. And music is an integral part of our humanity. VRS is a system dedicated to tearing down the (sometimes artificial) walls that prevent people from making music together.

If that doesn't meet someone's approval, all I can say is that music does not always require approval. Music is fundamental to our humanity, and as long as VRS continues to help anyone express their music, I will continue to improve it, and to try to help overcome any unnecessary limits on the expression of music.