NSM as a business?

[DonValentino]

Sorry, vacations until February 18th

But still!   

[Shadoninja]

I think maestro is right. It's true that, as a hobby and runned by us, students, this place will never be in the order we want, but if we run this place as bussiness men, and see this as a job oportunity (we could get jobs as official arrangers, composers, pianists, etc), damn, we would be unstoppable! I mean, we have the biggest videogame arrangements website in the whole world, we have great arrangers, great musicians, full of talent and will for doing good things, with two common interests: Video Games and music.
If we could put a little more effort, and find some way to disclose this place, I think that very good things would happen!

The only way we could run this as a business is if people get paid.

[Bubbles]

Maestro, I understand what you mean by having dedidacted arrangers and updaters and running this like a business, but I feel that would take all of the fun out of it. Think about it: why are we here? We didnt come here to make a business of arranging sheets (at least I hope so ) we came here so that we could arrange songs for instruments that we cant find anywhere else. Now why do we play instruments? If you're not getting paid to do it, then why spend hours a day practicing? It's because its FUN. Being able to create music from a piece of carved wood with strings or some other object is amazing in itself, and thats why its so popular as a hobby or even a job. Starting with a blank sheet of virtual paper and turning it into a lengthy piano solo is accomplishing, especially when you can then share your creation to the rest of the internet. Think of a wiki style website. Why do people edit the wiki when there's plenty of other things they could be doing? When they sit down and write a well thought out article or page, suddenly everyone on the internet can read it. Its a sense of accomplishment. Why do we put our names on the sheets that we arrange? You can give any reason you want, whether it be someone stealing it, a need for people to recognize us, etc., but in the end its all for credit. I'm not saying everyone who puts their name on a sheet is greedy for recognition, but we could just as easily NOT put our names on every sheet we arrange and submit, but that would definitely drop the number of arrangers we have here.

Hm. I think I started straying from the topic XD. Basically what I'm saying is that NSM starts to become more like a business, those who come here for fun will be pushed away and it will lose its purpose of being a place where people come to create and enjoy music

And also I honeslty dont think we should pay anyone to do this. Where would the money come from anyway?

[Shadoninja]

If I could get paid for this I would.

[Bubbles]

But who would pay you? Actually, I have no idea how websites work I thought you had to pay money for them

[SlowPokemon]

I don't think turning it into more of a business (nonprofit of course) is a problem. It would make the site more accessible and professional and would not in the least detract from any sort of enjoyment gained from being a member on the forums.

[Cobraroll]

We'd also possibly get a gaming company or two knocking on our proverbial door. I think they're fine with hobbyists doing this, but if we register ourselves as a business whose main work is copying of others'... not so much.

[DonValentino]

We'd also possibly get a gaming company or two knocking on our proverbial door. I think they're fine with hobbyists doing this, but if we register ourselves as a business whose main work is copying of others'... not so much.

Well, we always put copyright in our sheets, so I think that wouldn't be a serious problem. We never claim that the songs we arrange are ours.

[ALPRAS]

The only way we could run this as a business is if people get paid.

When I said that we should run this as a bussiness, I meant to say to run this site more professionaly... We could make it a nonprofit bussiness

Am I the only one who thinks that we should take this conversation into another topic?

[Olimar12345]

Alpras is right, guys. Quit spamming this place up. -__-

[The Deku Trombonist]

Alright, topic splitting here we come!

[Jamaha]

Well, if we actually had some paid staff things would definitely be more active. But the thing is, there's no way we're going to be able to do that.

First of all, the site would actually have to generate revenue to even consider that. I'm a student and although I have a part-time job I don't really have any money to throw around. Plus there's probably some fun bureaucracy involved if I actually paid salary to someone.

Of course there's always the option of advertisements on the site. That's how many websites earn money. However, I'm strongly against ads on NSM, as that would be just me profiting from others' work. I'm also not sure where exactly we stand on the copyright-spectrum and prefer to keep things non-profit just in case.

[The Deku Trombonist]

What about donations? Heaps of places have them ranging from VgMusic to speedrun streamers.

[ALPRAS]

What about donations? Heaps of places have them ranging from VgMusic to speedrun streamers.

That's.... a great ideia!
I approve! (Who needs my approval anyway xD)

[DonValentino]

What about donations? Heaps of places have them ranging from VgMusic to speedrun streamers.

Excellent idea!

Ok, now crazy idea I just had, how about charging like 0,05 cents for each download on site too? Of course, all would be free for NSM arrangers. We could also make a private zone in the forums only for arrangers where songs could be discussed and corrected before uploading. Obviously, that zone wouldn't be open to newbies at arranging who just arrange 3 or 4 arrangements before they leave, instead, it would be open for moderators and staff (of course) and arrangers who had already done a good amount of work and are more less constant with their work.

That way we could provide even more professional sheets and for example, the more times a arrangement is bought, the more money the arranger of that arrangement earns, so it could also be an incentive to the arrangers to make their arrangements as perfect as possible. With that and with donations, I think NSM could be a nice little business. We could always try for some time to see if it really works though.

EDIT: Oh yes, almost forgot. The sheets on site could have a preview page. You know, too check it before purchasing. It could be the first page if it has more than 1 pages, or just half a page if it only has 1 page. Oh! And the more difficult and long the song arranged, the more expensive it is. It would be unfair to charge 5 cents for both a 1 page arrangement and a 6 page arrangement.

EDIT 2: Aaaand... to become an official NSM arranger you would have to present a sample of your work to the staff.

Whatcha think?