Young Composers Site Name

Do you feel Young Composers as a site name is too limiting, and scares away older members from joining? What are your thoughts about a change in the name of our site (hypothetical question). I just want to gather viewpoints of this matter.

change to what?

what other people would listen, critique, talk about stuff here, that hasn't the hope to get response of their own work. At least, thats how it works for me. :D

It's an extremely hard decision for me. I don't know what we would change it to, I haven't thought about that yet. But I am a little concerned that the site name will push away older members from joining. The whole idea of this website is to share musical compositions and spread the word about your works. The site only suggests we host services for younger composers. This really isn't the case.

There are a million reasons to not change the name, but there is one really good reason for it. This is why this decision is so hard, and I would love to hear feedback.

Some interesting stats, taken from our facebook fan page (the below data is taken from 255 users):

Sex

Male: 76%

Female: 22%

Age

13-17: 28%

18-24: 41%

25-34: 17%

35-44: 5%

45-54: 5%

55+: 3%

I don't know, chopin. Are you looking to broaden this website into a general forum where composers of all walks of life are invited (not that you're excluding older composers)? Perhaps the reason that some composers in their prime join here is to help the younger ones along.

Ultimately it depends on what you want to focus on.

I think I know the answer to this, I just don't want to admit it. This is why I am asking for feedback. My goal is to not isolate older members, my goal is to connect composers of all ages, and to increase visibility to your music. I think the name of this site alone is a turn off for older more renowned musicians.

If I do decide to change the name of the site, I then have to think about what I do with Young Composers. I can potentially use this site for just an off topic, invite only perhaps.

I don't believe that a site name change will actually bring older people by itself. It'll require considerable efforts to start decreasing the dominance of the younger crowd.

I think it should be something clever, not like an annoying pun, but something cool and clever if you know what I mean.

Of course, I'm just thinking about me. If we did choose something I want, older people would think it was an immature site and leave.

I think youngcomposers does get less older people, as the believe its for amateurs who aren't as skilled as they are, which is for the most part true, but we shouldn't let them think that, because if they join they'll stay because of the good people and nice community.

I don't know what we could change it to though.

I don't believe that a site name change will actually bring older people by itself. It'll require considerable efforts to start decreasing the dominance of the younger crowd.

I don't think he wants to diminish anything... just add.

For that, I say a change is NEVER a bad thing. We can always go back if it doesn't work, eh?

Personally, the name almost stopped me from joining this site. I didn't feel I was young enough, in age, to consider myself a "young composer" but I certainly wasn't experienced enough in the classical arena to really offer any knowledge (and I wasn't really looking to teach anyway). I just wanted a place where I could talk about composition and share ideas with other people and, initially, the impression I got from the title suggested that I should look elsewhere for that. Then I realized there weren't any forums just like that, or they're well hidden, so I gave this a shot.

Given this, I think a name change would be fine, maybe even helpful, as long as you could make the switch without breaking tons of links and connections to the site.

Morivou is right, I don't want to diminish our current community, not at all. I really admire this younger group we have, they helped grow the very first stages of this community. But my concerns are that we will stay stagnant despite my efforts to increase our composer/musician member base (such as the added network, and different tools to connect on this site). It would be nice to have more professionals on this site. The few professionals we did have, left out of aggravation, and isolation.

For that, I say a change is NEVER a bad thing. We can always go back if it doesn't work, eh?

This isn't necessarily true, brand name can be incredibly important. People get used to a company, service, or web site having a specific name and, when it suddenly changes, they get confused. You can't necessarily change it right back either, because then you're throwing off anyone who was attracted to it after the initial change. You start going back and forth and people start thinking that this isn't a stable place that's worth putting time into and they disappear.

That also doesn't get into the technical side of web site traffic. For instance, getting partners to link to your site or getting a good rank on Google, that can be very difficult to maintain when your domain name changes.

Given this, I think a name change would be fine, maybe even helpful, as long as you could make the switch without breaking tons of links and connections to the site.

A name change is very easy. No links would be broken. The hardest part of a name change, is starting from 0 again, and building reputation. I am willing to do this, if this is in the best interest of the community....our community being, composers who want to share music, get their music exposed, learn, write reviews, and connect with other composers.

It seems that although changing the name would get more people to join the site it would be a big change and possibly a hit to the young composers who make up the majority of the site.

This isn't necessarily true, brand name can be incredibly important. People get used to a company, service, or web site having a specific name and, when it suddenly changes, they get confused. You can't necessarily change it right back either, because then you're throwing off anyone who was attracted to it after the initial change. You start going back and forth and people start thinking that this isn't a stable place that's worth putting time into and they disappear.

While I agree with you on brand, Young Composers is so small right now, that changing the brand name now would be the best time to do it. For example, if I were to change the brand, I would want to change the brand before the network launches. Otherwise, paying all this money for brand awareness on a name that I may change eventually would be a waste. Do I want to spend my money on advertising Young Composers, or advertising another brand that appeals to a larger target audience?

That also doesn't get into the technical side of web site traffic. For instance, getting partners to link to your site or getting a good rank on Google, that can be very difficult to maintain when your domain name changes.

I am not concerned about web traffic or link exchanges. I will take the hit, no problem. I am more concerned about the community's future.

Anyway, I think it really just depends on what you change it too and how effective that name might be on attracting your target audience. So until I know what ideas you are considering, I can't say if it's a good idea or not.

I cant speak for anyone but myself here, but as an older member, I was very reluctant to join here. My age shows as well as there are very, very few older members (i.e. 30 - 50+) here that I have seen. I am also new however, so I also take that into consideration when mentioning how many people in that age group I haven't seen yet.

Another thing that made me almost as reluctant to join was the reputation this site has among other composing websites. The reputation is one of disrespect and constant flame wars. This reputation does not ring true for the most part however. It seems to be just a general way to explain something in text when describing this site to others. YoungComposers.com has a membership that reviews drafts and works alike with an often innocent direct bluntness that will improve as the younger generation matures (with exceptions to the rule in both directions of politeness of course).

It stands to reason that this "reputation" as it were, along with the name of the site is a possible reason that more people don't join. So IMO, a change in the name while the site is still relatively small in active members is a pretty good idea. It could very possibly kill 2 of the negative implications that are associated with this site and name.

This site has a reputation? lol... I didn't know.

I think Young Composers is a good name, but we do have older composers..

Since there is a world composers, a composers forum, and some others... maybe we best just stick with Young Composers?

I think Young Composers is a good name, but we do have older composers..

Since there is a world composers, a composers forum, and some others... maybe we best just stick with Young Composers?

WHERE ARE ALL OF THESE... I see NOOO composers forums... ANYWHERE.

So until I know what ideas you are considering, I can't say if it's a good idea or not.

• The capability to expand beyond Classical music....with our current name, this may be tough. I want the focus of the site to remain being the analysis of music, and primarily focus on art music. Commercial music will be the "addon" in the future. Again, this may be tough given our current name.
  
• Encourage professional composers/performers to join in given time.
  
• Connect creators and performers of music into their own networks, and help them publish/sell their music/performances.
  
• Continue to be a "review focused" site for the arts.
  
• Create an intelligent, unique, and meaningful network for the musical arts, whether performance, or composition.

That pretty much sums up some of my goals for this community for the long term.

WHERE ARE ALL OF THESE... I see NOOO composers forums... ANYWHERE.

Hmm.... One of our members is on one that's called that lol.

I think changing the name is good idea. I don't know a good alternative. I'll throw some words together and see what happens.

*starts cutting out words and putting them into a hat...*

I think changing the name is good idea. I don't know a good alternative. I'll throw some words together and see what happens.

*starts cutting out words and putting them into a hat...*

Lol. It could end up being:

Cat ring hats fuzz police

[*]The capability to expand beyond Classical music....with our current name, this may be tough. I want the focus of the site to remain being the analysis of music, and primarily focus on art music. Commercial music will be the "addon" in the future. Again, this may be tough given our current name.

I think this is something that the community is closed off from, name or not. There just really isn't a good place for intelligent discussion for composers of commercial (or any kind of non-art music). I think a "re-branding" would be key in encouraging this development.

Connect creators and performers of music into their own networks, and help them publish/sell their music/performances.

I think good progress is being made on this. The setup of this site has tremendous potential for realizing this even further.

Create an intelligent, unique, and meaningful network for the musical arts, whether performance, or composition.

The key. The level of discourse here is what brings me back and reading. It's the strength of our senior, experienced members on which this depends.

I'm for rebranding.