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#606628 - 04/13/08 11:03 PM
So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Brian Austin Whitney
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Top 10 Poster

Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Indianapolis, IN USA
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Hi Folks,
We have more and more JPF members on Ourstage every day. In the Newport Folk Festival Channel, our members are dominating the top of the charts. So I thought it might be interesting for folks to post how they are doing here and we can track.
Please tell us what category you are in, your song title and where it ranks currently.
Let the success stories (and the not so successful yet stories) begin!
Brian
Brian Austin Whitney Founder Just Plain Folks jpfolkspro@gmail.com Skype: Brian Austin Whitney Facebook: www.facebook.com/justplainfolks"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney "It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..."
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#606674 - 04/14/08 12:52 AM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: Mark Kaufman]
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Brian Austin Whitney
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Top 10 Poster

Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Indianapolis, IN USA
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Kevin,
Do you get the Just Plain Folks Newsletter? (If you don't then you're not officially a member as that's the official member list). We covered the Newport Folk Festival channel in it last week. You can read the full issue in my blog.
Brian
Brian Austin Whitney Founder Just Plain Folks jpfolkspro@gmail.com Skype: Brian Austin Whitney Facebook: www.facebook.com/justplainfolks"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney "It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..."
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#606678 - 04/14/08 01:12 AM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: Andrew Aversa]
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Brian Austin Whitney
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Top 10 Poster

Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Indianapolis, IN USA
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Different judges and different head to head competitors should produce different results... if the results were the same every time, those folks who won would never lose. It should serve as an educational experience really. It shows how you can get rejected over and over and then suddenly someone "discovers" you and you're a big hit. And in the end, you are the same person and writer/artist you were before the success after it.
Brian
Brian Austin Whitney Founder Just Plain Folks jpfolkspro@gmail.com Skype: Brian Austin Whitney Facebook: www.facebook.com/justplainfolks"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney "It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..."
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#606679 - 04/14/08 01:16 AM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: Brian Austin Whitney]
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 4,297
Michael Borges (D)
Top 100 Poster
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Top 100 Poster

Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 4,297
Lake Elsinore, California
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Some of my best recent enteries:
Indy - 18 in New Age/World, April 18, 2008 (still in progress) Lion & The Lamb - 78 in Christian/Spiritual, February 2008 He Once For Me Did Bleed - 102 in Christian/Spiritual, March 2008
My "problem" is that I have other tracks that are just as good or better, but there's no suitable channel to enter them yet. For example, I have an instrumental pop/jazz fusion (Cafe Gourmet) which wouldn't do well in mainstream Jazz or Pop, but would do better in a Sub genre like Smooth/Pop jazz.
Another example is "Tower Of Bable" which is composed and arranged in a film soundtrack style. Other channels such as New Age/World, Instrumental and Experimental might work, but still not close enough to contemporary classical with a strong leaning towards Film score or maybe video game.
I also have some classic style hymns which are instrumentals, so they won't fit in the Christian/Spiritual channel which requires lyrics and vocals; and these won't do so well in Instrumental because everything gets tossed in there from folk, rock and jazz to bluegrass and hip-hop. There's a bit too much variety there now.
News Flash Update! I just found out that now Covers are supported on OurStage. That's great news for me. I've got a few like: Adagio For Strings, Unchained Melody, White Bird, Be Thou My Vision, Carol Of The Bells, Claire De Lune, Good Tidings To Zion, etc. Technically, only the first 3 qualify as legal (current day) cover tunes while the rest are already in the public domain.
If OurStage had these additional channels: Contemporary Classical, Children's Music, Film and maybe Instrumental Hymns, it would open more opportunities for much of my material.
There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself. -- Johann Sebastian Bach MichaelBorges.comLicenseQuote.com
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#606688 - 04/14/08 01:40 AM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: Michael Borges (D)]
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,072
Scott Campbell
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Top 10 Poster

Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,072
Lakeland, FL, USA
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I put up one to get the lay of the land. "Arizona" is currently 32nd in Folk. It was at 130ish for ages, then jumped to 70ish. A few days ago it was 50ish. Since most things naturally tend to oscillate, I expect it will start moving the other direction soon  Maybe I should probably put up a picture for it  Scott
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#606745 - 04/14/08 10:40 AM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: Jody Whitesides]
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Brian Austin Whitney
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Top 10 Poster

Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Indianapolis, IN USA
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Jody,
How come you don't have any of your songs entered?
Micheal,
You should enter those 2 songs into Jazz and Instrumental. They fit there and there's no reason not to. We have film soundtrack music in our instrumental each year and before we had Inst. Jazz, we had instrumental jazz songs in our Jazz category. If there's not a sub category yet, they won't add one if there's no evidence of people entering enough of that type of music to need a channel. So you're making a self fulfilled prophecy by not participating.
Brian
Brian Austin Whitney Founder Just Plain Folks jpfolkspro@gmail.com Skype: Brian Austin Whitney Facebook: www.facebook.com/justplainfolks"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney "It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..."
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#606747 - 04/14/08 10:41 AM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: Brian Austin Whitney]
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Brian Austin Whitney
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Top 10 Poster

Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Indianapolis, IN USA
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Definitely put up one of your cool photos Scott. It makes a difference... those generic Ourstage photos can confuse repeat voters into thinking they're voting for a different song (or against it).
Brian
Brian Austin Whitney Founder Just Plain Folks jpfolkspro@gmail.com Skype: Brian Austin Whitney Facebook: www.facebook.com/justplainfolks"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney "It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..."
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#606748 - 04/14/08 10:48 AM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: Brian Austin Whitney]
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Brian Austin Whitney
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Top 10 Poster

Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Indianapolis, IN USA
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One of our members is currently #1, 5, 6, 7, 11, 23 & 28 in the Newport Folk Festival channel meaning it's pretty likely one of our folks is going to get submitted for consideration to play there.
Brian
Brian Austin Whitney Founder Just Plain Folks jpfolkspro@gmail.com Skype: Brian Austin Whitney Facebook: www.facebook.com/justplainfolks"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney "It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..."
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#606842 - 04/14/08 07:09 PM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: Juliana Finch]
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Brian Austin Whitney
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Top 10 Poster

Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Indianapolis, IN USA
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Jack,
I meant that "one" of our members were ranked that each. Actually Seth Horan was both 6 & 7 at the time.. but they change a lot.
Brian
Brian Austin Whitney Founder Just Plain Folks jpfolkspro@gmail.com Skype: Brian Austin Whitney Facebook: www.facebook.com/justplainfolks"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney "It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..."
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#606843 - 04/14/08 07:10 PM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: Brian Austin Whitney]
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Brian Austin Whitney
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Top 10 Poster

Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Indianapolis, IN USA
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Darn Juliana! But I bet you'll make it to the semi finals and that's all that matters.. being number one in the early round isn't as important as being number one at the end!
Brian
Brian Austin Whitney Founder Just Plain Folks jpfolkspro@gmail.com Skype: Brian Austin Whitney Facebook: www.facebook.com/justplainfolks"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney "It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..."
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#606847 - 04/14/08 07:31 PM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: Brian Austin Whitney]
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 4,297
Michael Borges (D)
Top 100 Poster
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Top 100 Poster

Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 4,297
Lake Elsinore, California
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Thanks Brian! Ok, so Cafe Gourmet is now in Jazz channel (for all of April) but since it doesn't have vocals, it can't compete as well in this category. So if I understand you correctly you're suggesting I try it in the Instrumental channel, right? Probably I should also try "Tower Of Bable" in Instrumental channel. I think I'll wait till May 1st to do all my channel switching at the same time, or maybe I should do it now and get a little head start! Michael
There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself. -- Johann Sebastian Bach MichaelBorges.comLicenseQuote.com
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#606848 - 04/14/08 07:36 PM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: Michele Howlett]
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 4,297
Michael Borges (D)
Top 100 Poster
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Top 100 Poster

Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 4,297
Lake Elsinore, California
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I am a bit confused by it all, but I will see how it goes. One question I do have is I ticked a box that said do I want Ourstage to sell my song, and I ticked yes, should I have done that cause I don't understand it. Do I get money, or is that just if I win the competition? Michele Hi Michele, No need to be confused... look, it's simple: When you elect to make your songs available for sale it has nothing to do with the monthly song contents. Selling your songs to "fans" for downloads is just like selling your music at SoundClick or any other place around the internet. It's just a .99 cent song sale which enables your customers to download a copy of your song, that's all. This works regardless of whether or not you enter your songs into the contest or whether you win or lose, etc. Doesn't matter, they're two seperate things. Obviously it's in most artist's interest to win as many contests as possible and sell as many songs as possible. Why limit yourself? Hope this clears things up a bit for you! Please let us know how it goes. Cheers, Michael
There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself. -- Johann Sebastian Bach MichaelBorges.comLicenseQuote.com
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#606972 - 04/15/08 04:51 AM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: Brian Austin Whitney]
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 4,035
Joanne Lurgio
Top 100 Poster
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Top 100 Poster

Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 4,035
RI, USA
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OK .. well I just joined .. I just put on my first song to the Newport Folk Festival channel. Now I better go back and learn my way around the site!  Lots of good music to listen too!!! Joanne
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#607039 - 04/15/08 02:17 PM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: Juliana Finch]
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 6,588
Mark Kaufman
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Top 40 Poster

Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 6,588
Minneapolis
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Hi Juliana, and congrats. I love your song. I've been monitoring this process with interest...it had 140 or so votes yesterday when it still hung in the 40's...now it's had 158. I think that has a lot to do with which songs it goes against at which time. Are you changing strings in your avatar?  Good luck to you, Juliana!
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#607041 - 04/15/08 02:25 PM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: Mark Kaufman]
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 29
Juliana Finch
Casual Observer
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Casual Observer

Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 29
Atlanta, GA
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Are you changing strings in your avatar?  Good luck to you, Juliana! Yeah, that's a picture my boyfriend got of me preparing to play at the Bele Chere festival. I'm bad about changing strings at (nearly) the last minute, so I figured this avatar would remind me to do it. Come to think of it, I have a show tomorrow... 
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#607583 - 04/17/08 01:40 PM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: niteshift]
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Brian Austin Whitney
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Top 10 Poster

Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,351
Indianapolis, IN USA
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Andy,
I am sure if you ask to be removed from their site, they'll remove you completely. If you do and they don't, let me know and I will call them directly.
Brian
Brian Austin Whitney Founder Just Plain Folks jpfolkspro@gmail.com Skype: Brian Austin Whitney Facebook: www.facebook.com/justplainfolks"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney "It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..."
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#607586 - 04/17/08 01:45 PM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: Andy K]
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 8,463
BIG JIM MERRILEES
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Top 20 Poster

Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 8,463
Edinburgh, Scotland. UK
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I personally find OurStage to be one of the clumsiest and most user unfriendly sites around.
The doesn't appear to be any way to delete a song or video once it has been uploaded. The first time I loaded my video, it didn't play too well on their player. So I saved the video with a different codec and this new one played OK in OurStage. But I can't delete the old one. I've also remixed some songs previously submitted but can't delete the old mixes. Does this mean that our songs and videos become their property forever? I don't like that.
I wanted to have some of my songs available for free download but can't figure out how to do it. It is apparently possible as they have free song advertisements on my OurStage page all the time.
I'm getting spammed (like 2 to three emails a day by one jerk) by some "friends" from this site but can't seem to remove them as "friends."
These are just some of the many problems I've had with this site. There are some probs for sure and I do not like the idea of having songs up there forever. I think we should have an option for editing our profile and removing songs. All songs should be removed from the boards after a month and it is up to individuals to re enter in the next months battle if they wish. Otherwise categories are going to be unmanageable and voting will not work properly due to high numbers of entries. I do not get the whole friends thing either. It is creeping into every site. I am getting Soundclick and Ourstage requests from folk who want to be my friend. Some of these folk judging by their profile have very little in common and I have never even heard of them. It's some form of networking idea that they are using to publicise themselves.
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#607614 - 04/17/08 03:35 PM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: BIG JIM MERRILEES]
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 6,343
Bill Robinson
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Top 30 Poster

Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 6,343
Curmudgeonville, Tn
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I do not get the whole friends thing either. It is creeping into every site. I am getting Soundclick and Ourstage requests from folk who want to be my friend. Some of these folk judging by their profile have very little in common and I have never even heard of them. It's some form of networking idea that they are using to publicise themselves. AWWWW! C'mon Big Jim Don't be such a prude. They heard you was a Scot and Scot's don't wear anything under them Kilts. The want to be your friiieeend.
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#607669 - 04/17/08 09:06 PM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: BIG JIM MERRILEES]
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 6,588
Mark Kaufman
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Top 40 Poster

Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 6,588
Minneapolis
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About removing songs... Your song will only be entered in the month and competition that YOU chose...it will not be entered in any other month unless you do so yourself. The issue with "removal" is that your song does remain on the site, searchable and playable, and there does not yet appear to be a function to take it down. I say YET. Danny Palmer has been very interactive and appears to be keenly interested in bettering the site in any way possible. Hey, "The Graveyard of Songs", #10 and holding for two days now. This close to the quarterfinals I am starting to think about maybe getting a little excited. Not for winning, but for being in that smaller group of songs that gets so much play. Fingers crossed for a week. 
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#607676 - 04/17/08 09:29 PM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: Andy K]
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 772
Andrew Aversa
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Top 500 Poster

Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 772
Philadelphia, PA, USA
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I personally find OurStage to be one of the clumsiest and most user unfriendly sites around.
The doesn't appear to be any way to delete a song or video once it has been uploaded. The first time I loaded my video, it didn't play too well on their player. So I saved the video with a different codec and this new one played OK in OurStage. But I can't delete the old one. I've also remixed some songs previously submitted but can't delete the old mixes. Does this mean that our songs and videos become their property forever? I don't like that.
I wanted to have some of my songs available for free download but can't figure out how to do it. It is apparently possible as they have free song advertisements on my OurStage page all the time.
I'm getting spammed (like 2 to three emails a day by one jerk) by some "friends" from this site but can't seem to remove them as "friends."
These are just some of the many problems I've had with this site. First of all, read the terms of service of any website before uploading your music. You can't complain about them after the fact. Second of all, if you DID read the TOS, you'd see OurStage doesn't own anything of yours. Your music and videos don't become "their property". Don't be so paranoid. It makes you look bad. Third, how are you being spammed by anyone? They removed the "mass mail to friends" option. You can only mass mail your FANS now. So if you are that person's fan, you should remove yourself from their fan club (takes one click.) If they are actually messaging you repeatedly and you're NOT their fan, then you need to report them to OurStage - simple as that.
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#607688 - 04/17/08 10:08 PM
Re: So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?
[Re: Brian Austin Whitney]
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 4,297
Michael Borges (D)
Top 100 Poster
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Top 100 Poster

Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 4,297
Lake Elsinore, California
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Andy, I am sure if you ask to be removed from their site, they'll remove you completely. If you do and they don't, let me know and I will call them directly. Brian Brian & Andy, Actually, it's NO problem to request to remove any song or video at any time. I did a little customer service (tech support) test and they got back with me very quickly. Actually, I just wanted to "weed out" a few songs and a video that I didn't need displayed anymore, so it was also based on a real need. They removed my requested files and then sent me an email to confirm deletion. I had one song which was still entered into a contest (which I'd overlooked) so they even reminded me to first remove it from the contest so they could then delete the file for me. So there's really NO need to remove your whole profile and completely leave the site. Each month just upload the few songs you want to enter into a contest. Then, after the contest is over (or even before), you can request to have those files removed. It would be nice if in the future they would allow us to do this ourselves, just like at other sites like SoundClick. It's very easy there to overwrite new recordings over existing song files and also remove them (completely) at any time. With OurStage, they have to be careful about "overwriting" existing song files if they've already been entered into a contest and are being actively voted on. It wouldn't be fair to change the recording in the middle of the contest, so they don't allow that, though you could remove it from the contest, ask them to delete it and then upload a new file with same or similar song title, and re-enter into a contest. So that's what I've learned there in the last month or so!  Michael
There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself. -- Johann Sebastian Bach MichaelBorges.comLicenseQuote.com
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"A lot of people will tell you that preparation is what will make you successful. But I think that people misunderstand exactly what that means sometimes. The type of preparation you need most is the kind that allows you to instantly seize an opportunity, change your course based on a momentary circumstance, and grab hold of the totally unexpected when it happens, and allow it to take you for the ride of your life! That is the kind of preparation that can lead to the most enjoyable type of success." -Brian Austin Whitney
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