Studioworkers

Introduction

You may be asking yourself “why am I here?”. Studioworkers is a social project aimed at tackling two areas:

1. Social networking within the studio & music industry.
2. User generated group-based discussion on “tools of the trade”.

Essentially Studioworkers is the place to come to discuss among like-minded music producers and engineers on the everyday use of equipment, and generally network with other individuals working in the industry.

Studioworkers?

One member of Kraftwerk described themselves as “Studio Workers”. Cold logic, but direct and to the point.

Why?

I’ve always been fascinated with the way in which people can network remotely and swap thoughts or ideas on-line. Whilst Facebook itself takes a grand approach, I’ve longed for more tailored environments where music producers and engineers can get together to create their own groups based specifically on the equipment they use. Existing sites do an excellent job encouraging discussion, however they lack the ability to empower the user in a social environment. Studioworkers gives individuals the opportunity to join groups in a “cloud networking” environment – so if a user owns a specific piece of equipment in their studio, they can search for that group on our website and join in to that social group, or (if it doesn’t exist) create it.

The site is certainly not limited to studio gear – users can create groups for their studio, for their record label, in fact practically anyone or anything within the industry can have its own group, along with followers who can join in to the discussion. These groups can be hidden, invite only, or public. Each group can also have discussion forums attached in a modular format. Finally, whoever creates the group automatically becomes the group admin – please note that any abuse to the system will result in the group being removed, or the admin role being designated to someone else.

Open Beta

The site is is very much in beta, and uses adapted open-source software – the hope is to create an organic site that grows in time. if interest gathers pace then we will look at developing the open-framework to allow embedded media from other sites, and invest in richer content. Its all about time, and resources I’m afraid. For now I encourage users to join in the action and see what they think. Simplicity is key, so at this stage the following features apply:

1. The site is based on wordpress, so each user can contribute to the blog with any article they wish by going to My Dashboard. These articles must be approved by site admins before being published to the front page.

2. As with other social networks – you can maintain your own profile with details on your organisation, job title etc. You can also befriend other individuals on the system, or post updates to your profile.

3. Create your own groups related to the “music industry”. For instance studio equipment, record labels, studios, publishers.

4. Join in with other groups and form discussions. Members joining a group will get notified of any updates made by the group admins. So if a new synthesizer is being developed, the company can create the group and let people know its current development status.

Any problems encountered, then please feel free to contact me using the support form linked in the floating menu at the top. I welcome any feedback both good or bad.

Kindest regards,
Lawrence Eldridge