Unfortunate Circumstances

Sequence of Events:

• Oct '07, YC hires a developer for development of custom Social Network with custom search algorithm.
  
• March '08, development begins after much planning.
  
• End of '08, first phase paid (a cost never recouped).
  
• Beginning of '09, release of second phase beta project, developer wanted a second payment, but payment was never released luckily. Project perhaps 30% complete at this point.
  
• End of Jan '09, had beta testers compare the specs versus beta project, discovers many functions have been overlooked.
  
• Submits details to developer.
  
• End of March, discovers that the developer's clients went bankrupt, developer probably went bankrupt too.
  
• Despite promises to complete the project, on April 4th '09 the developer was fired, and YC took a loss.

New Sequence of Events:

• April 8th '09, YC decides to interview another developer with better references.
  
• All planning had already been done on YC's side from before, so on April 9th the new developer makes a bid.
  
• Immediately following, YC negotiates and hires the new developer.
  
• April 11th, new payment is submitted for project.
  
• April 14th, funds clear and we officially start new development today with a hopefully more reliable and professional developer.
  
• Estimated time of completion: 6 months with 5 software phase releases.

Any questions? :thumbsup:

So is this like, a YC Facebook?

"April 14th, funds clear and we officially start new development today with a hopefully more reliable and professional developer"

hopefully more reliable and professional developer ....... isn't that what you said last time we got in a rut like this? So we're looking at public release by... Jan 2010, perhaps? :P

So is this like, a YC Facebook?

Not exactly. It will be focused on giving the user different ways to showcase his music, and offer better ways for members/guests to discover new music on this site, something that has been lacking in this forum. It also will aim to focus more attention on ease of communication and relationship building.

hopefully more reliable and professional developer ....... isn't that what you said last time we got in a rut like this? So we're looking at public release by... Jan 2010, perhaps?

The truth is, you never know. If I knew for sure, I wouldn't need an escrow to hold the money for these projects. Hang in there, this guy seems much better, and easier to communicate with (he is also much more responsive...look at how fast this was set up, it only took a week). A public release should not take until Jan 2010. There will be 5 releases, so figure that each month, YC will have the partial software "in possession" little by little until full completion, and most likely the members will be allowed to beta test each phase. I have to discuss more detail with the developer tonight.

Well chopin sorry to hear about the hassle and money loss.

I must say that though I love that at YC everything is free(well except the personal Composer notation) do you think eventually there will be some fee for access to a few of the new services coming up?

PS. Is the notation software for sale here compatible with MacOS?

Great.

Everything will remain free with the option to upgrade your account. The incentive to upgrade your account would be increased mp3 storage on the network. The incentive to upload mp3's on YC's server rather than linking to another site would be our preconceived smart categorical and ranking systems. This would mean increased exposure to your music as you become more active and contribute to YC. It would be a give and take system.

I think the reason why developers keep on bailing on me (or take longer than anticipated to get things moving along) is due to the complexity of this project. The good news is, as each year passes, the more money I have to invest in someone better :) This is why I am much more confident this time around.

PS. Is the notation software for sale here compatible with MacOS?

No only Windows. I should take that page down soon, I am building a full fledged store. I will still sell that product, but no need for a dedicated page anymore.

Glad to hear the project is back on track - sorry you had to take a hit.

...as each year passes, the more money I have.

Can I borrow $100??

Am I right to sense a direction towards a deviantart-ish style for YC? I hope that the changes won't be so radical that the forum will cease to exist.

Anyway, in any case, good luck! :)

Such a shame, was really looking forward to the new site... Hope this round works better!

Am I right to sense a direction towards a deviantart-ish style for YC? I hope that the changes won't be so radical that the forum will cease to exist.

The categories section will be similar to Deviant art. I would have loved to use the forums software for handling comments, but that would have cost me the price of a Corvette probably. Perhaps if there are enough subscribers, I could use the profits to fund a more integrated forum to network activity. For now, the only integration would be a "one login" username, and perhaps some existing vBulletin moderation features.

Such a shame, was really looking forward to the new site... Hope this round works better!

I was too! The economy contributed to this.

Everything will remain free with the option to upgrade your account. The incentive to upgrade your account would be increased mp3 storage on the network. The incentive to upload mp3's on YC's server rather than linking to another site would be our preconceived smart categorical and ranking systems.

Speaking of incentive, is it possible to make your works that you upload more secure? I mean, I'm not particularly bothered myself, but I do often wonder how many people potentially have my work and claim it as their own, it's that easy. And yes, we upload at our own risk etc, but would be nice to have an option of security somehow, just a thought.

That's as simple as having the site record every single IP that downloads each file, and storing it as an accessible page. Unless... that's not easy. That way you can prove so-and-so's IP accessed the file whatever date AFTER it was uploaded by YOUR IP.

I would need to get advice about this from an intellectual property lawyer. I don't see why the database timestamp cannot be used in court to prove ownership of copyright. The uploaded file can easily be shown it was uploaded by user x @ y time, per Young Composers database records.

Engimus, the counter to your point would be this:

"I wrote this piece, and while on yc, I downloaded a piece by x composer and it ended up being my piece! Thus the timestamp that shows me d/ling the work is consistent because how else would I have been able to find out if someone stole my music?"

If you're worried about copyright, then just go the typical normal route and keep good records.

i think that you can make your work secure just by mailing it to yourself (take it to a post office labeled to your address), somehow, having the post office stamp it proves that the work is yours in court i think...

i think that you can make your work secure just by mailing it to yourself (take it to a post office labeled to your address), somehow, having the post office stamp it proves that the work is yours in court i think...

no.

"poor man's copyright" is no longer acceptable in court.

Just run around naked on a public location with many people and hold your piece in everyone's face. People are bound to remember that and you'll have lots of witnesses!

Or just write ugly music that nobody wants to steal. That's what I do.

"I wrote this piece, and while on yc, I downloaded a piece by x composer and it ended up being my piece! Thus the timestamp that shows me d/ling the work is consistent because how else would I have been able to find out if someone stole my music?"

Well that and what if the person downloads it on a public address (any other than his own), puts it on his USB key, takes it home, and changes the file's metadata or just copies the work into a new file?

There really is no shortcut to outright copyrighting your work. Although I really like the poor man's method... :shifty:

Work is copyrighted implicitly once it is published. The only issues are burden of proof (registration is an easy one) and what you can recoup in the case of infringement (if I recall correctly, in U.S. copyright law, you can only recover direct loss of revenue, not any other form of damages. (Disclaimer: IANAL.)

Take what measures you will; it's impossible to keep someone from claiming work as their own, except by withholding it from release entirely. Through DRM, frivolous lawsuits and other such methods, many companies try but fail, and often only end up aggravating legitimate users/customers.

Big news.

We officially have a working social network on hand, that has been integrated with vbulletin (one login only). Our new developer is very good and seems like he is 100% focused just on our project, which can account for the speed at which things are being done. At this rate, we may be up and running in a few months.

I will post a new thread about progress once I have something more substantial to present, (presenting barebones right now will not impress anyone) but the integration with this forum is actually one of the most important parts of this puzzle, and very important to make this social network successful.

Excellent! I'm glad to hear that changing horses worked well for this! Can't wait to see the progress. :thumbsup:

Awesome! Glad to hear this guy is working out! It will be great to see the new program in action :)

Just to keep everyone up to date, things are going very smoothly with our development of the music management and social network, and we are on phase 4 out of 5 total phases. Things could be done in a month. But then we would have to worry about layout and design, which may take another month after that.

What has been done so far:

• Integration with the forum (we will also have a much better wiki integration in place)
  
• Streaming music and video with ways to categorize them (music can be mp3, or non mp3 with the option to attach a PDF to the file)
  
• A rating system for music/video performance
  
• Tracking of views/plays and favorited for media
  
• Textual and Video comments enabled for media
  
• your basic networking capabilities (groups are allowed as well)
  
• Browsing a composer based on certain search criteria
  • For example, if you want to search all composers works that are only piano, or orchestral, we now can do this.

What still needs to be accomplished

• Automated directory
  
• Custom textual search engine
  
• Design and Layout
  
• Bug fixes
  
• Other miscellaneous

Edit: He just finished the automated directory today, and it works great! This guy is good!

Sounds like good progress to me! :D

Keep us updated!