Thread: Starting a music website?

I know this part of the forum is kind of dead but hopefully I'll get some help.

I'm a computer science major transferring to a university this fall. I thought that over this summer I should do something that'll keep me busy. Since I love almost all types of music, I decided I want to start either a blog or some sort of website based around posting music. I plan to personally contribute music from EDM/house and hiphop along with old school songs that were sampled into newer music. Hopefully after I have a structure, people will be able to 'suggest' or add onto the website. Similar to thissongissick.com or thekollection.com, I want to build one for myself.

Is there anything I should be worried about, in terms of ANYTHING?

For example, will I run into problems if I put up streaming videos of songs? (nothing downloadable unless given free by the artist)

I don't know all the technical aspects of doing anything like this...but judging from what we have seen in the past with Napster, MegaUpload, etc... It seems that treading down this road is rocky. Unless you have the backing of some REALLLLLLY good attorneys I personally wouldn't even venture into it. There seems to be too much of a risk with copyrights, license fees, etc that could come back to haunt you. There is also a plethora of sites out there to get music from for free or with a subscription cost and to try and pull people away from these sites would take a lot of marketing as well as offering something different than you get from Spotify or Pandora. Again, this is something that I would never even bother with unless you have some sort of new, fresh spin to put on it somehow. Best of luck dude.

Originally Posted by TheEngineer

I don't know all the technical aspects of doing anything like this...but judging from what we have seen in the past with Napster, MegaUpload, etc... It seems that treading down this road is rocky. Unless you have the backing of some REALLLLLLY good attorneys I personally wouldn't even venture into it. There seems to be too much of a risk with copyrights, license fees, etc that could come back to haunt you. There is also a plethora of sites out there to get music from for free or with a subscription cost and to try and pull people away from these sites would take a lot of marketing as well as offering something different than you get from Spotify or Pandora. Again, this is something that I would never even bother with unless you have some sort of new, fresh spin to put on it somehow. Best of luck dude.

Great response. Thank you. I forgot to mention that it's not a paid service or anything. It would just be a music blog that posts 'new' music. Would I still have this sort of problem, copyright wise?

I would say you would only run into legal ramifications if you were to offer music up without permission from the owner. Like YouTube does.....if it catches music in a video without permission it will suspend it. Like I said, I am by no means an expert or lawyer so take what I say with a grain of salt. I am just going off what I imagine would be some difficulties in starting such a project. I am sure there is someone out there who could offer a more educated response.

Derp.

Feel free to PM me. I just launched Main Stage with a good friend of mine. I'd be more than happy to get you past all the initial hiccups.

If your planing to put music by big name artists, you will get sued or the record companies will threaten to sue you unless you take the content down. Sites like, youtube, mega, and other big names have money for the lawyers. I don't wanna get into the whole legal loop hole since i'm no lawyer or know much about the law system.

Guy's I think you should take a step back and re-read the original post. OP doesn't want to start a music sharing site, simply a blog which promotes music.

Examples would be;

ThisSongIsSick.com 2.0
ThisSongSlaps.com | Dubstep, Trap, Hip Hop, Electro House, & EDM Music Blog.
Dancing Astronaut | Electronic Music, News, and Reviews

They're all just media outlets.

I think he is just trying to post up music to listen to whenever new stuff comes out and linking to a purchase, not offering them for free download. I dont think there are any legal issues with that, but I could be wrong.

Originally Posted by HialeahPony

Feel free to PM me. I just launched Main Stage with a good friend of mine. I'd be more than happy to get you past all the initial hiccups.

Awesome. It looks like your website is very identical to what I want to start. I will PM you once I decide to get the ball rolling on it!

Originally Posted by deuce818

I think he is just trying to post up music to listen to whenever new stuff comes out and linking to a purchase, not offering them for free download. I dont think there are any legal issues with that, but I could be wrong.

This. I just want to make sure I'm not putting myself in a bad position.

I am not giving away music, just presenting it for people to check out and listen.