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 Re: Forum withdrawal symptoms
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Joined: May 2017
Posts: 686
500 Post Club Member
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500 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 686 |
Nothing new or profound to say, but since I haven't posted in the thread yet, I'll give my two cents to add to the weight of opinion:-
1. There's nothing wrong with Frank making money if he wants to. That doesn't mean people are obliged to pay, of course.
2. If the forum moves to a subscription model where the content producers pay, it will greatly diminish. That will hit advertising revenue (which I presume is intended to continue), and might drive subscription prices up higher, and eventually the forum will fail. That's not guaranteed, though; there are examples of content producers creating content for free and paying to publish it in a reputable location (this is the predominant model in current academic publishing, for example). The reputable location is key, though, and it needs a critical mass.
3. It is not clear how much running the forum costs, or why advertising revenue cannot support it. The clientele here is a substantially above average in terms of socio-economic demographic, known to spend money, and highly targeted and in that sense should be great for advertising.
4. Piano manufacturers are missing a major trick by not sponsoring the forum. Kawai in particular has done extremely well out of the digital forum without question; there are clear cases of people buying Kawai products after seeing good reviews there and for every documented case there are hundreds of others. This is the kind of advertising combined with good reviews and put in front of the ideal demographic that marketing departments dream about. It would be a serious error of judgment for Kawai to let the forum close; they would be much better off (including financially) to fully sponsor the forum and keep it free to use, if Frank were amenable to that.
5. This is clearly the number one piano forum on the internet, with a solid user base. It takes time to develop something like that, and it's a valuable commodity.
I'm not yet convinced that the subscription will happen. The above points must be obvious to Frank as well as to many other members here, and I doubt he wants to risk the health of the forum in such a dangerous experiment. Once people leave, they won't come back.
Broadwood, Yamaha U1; Kawai CA67; Pianoteq Std (D4, K2, Blüthner, Grotrian), Garritan CFX Full, Galaxy Vintage D, The Grandeur, Ravenscroft 275, Ivory II ACD, TrueKeys Italian, AS C7, Production Grand Compact, AK Studio Grand, AK Upright, Waves Grand Rhapsody; Sennheiser HD-600 and HD-650, O2 amp
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Re: Forum withdrawal symptoms
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 12,925
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
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OP
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 12,925 |
Jethro just got finished saying that he left ... and he did come back. Once people leave, they won't come back.
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Re: Forum withdrawal symptoms
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Joined: May 2015
Posts: 7,266
7000 Post Club Member
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7000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 7,266 |
It's not my place to tell Frank how to run his website but if I could make a suggestion it would be to better leverage the exposure those in the piano industry have with targeted audience. For a few years I stopped posting on Pianoworld because I was tired of some posts by a few piano dealers who were more or less just giving veiled sales pitches for the instruments they sold. I wouldn't mind it if it was clear that that was what they were trying to do but I thought it was misleading when it appears in a forum that usually are supposed to be about free exchanges of ideas. That said I wholly support the piano industry and I want all piano dealers to succeed and I'm really worried for them and the state of the piano industry as a whole. Many of them offer valuable and experienced advice on the piano forum and I wouldn't want that to disappear but at the same time I think it would be good to offer them a platform in Pianoworld where they can sell their products without fear of being criticized. I say open up a dealer section where piano dealers from all 50 states can sell their pianos and/or piano related products. More importantly a place where they can openly interact with people who may be interested in buying a piano their state and/or region. This interaction I think would be more valuable as a marketing tool over at static ad that a forum member may or may click or notice. Frank should leverage the exposure dealers or vendors would have to the hundreds of people who flood Pianoworld daily. Of course Frank would have to charge the dealer a subscription fee. Say he charged $1000 a year. One piano sale would easily cover the cost of that subscription price. Imagine if you have at least 1 piano dealer in each state that's $50,000 in Franks pocket right off the bat. Same could be for service side exposure: piano tuners, technicians, teachers.
I think he should keep the forums free and approach dealers in each state the opportunity to use certain sections of Pianoworld as a marketplace in forum-like atmosphere. The main forums are off limits for dealers other than to offer unbiased piano advice as they do now. Forums should exist for the free exchange of ideas but he can offer better exposure to dealers or those in the piano industry (digital/acoustic/ accessories) in another subforum for those who are actively seeking their services or products - but the forum like atmosphere could be more inviting for dealers who want more than just an ad.
I do agree however that maybe there should be a small subscription price for recitals because of storage space that involves. This is the best suggestion I have heard ðŸ‘🻠And would suggest the new forum be divided into geographical areas as sub-forums. I believe there is an option to be notified with all replies, which would be a useful dealer function so they would not need to check if there a response needed by them.
"Music, rich, full of feeling, not soulless, is like a crystal on which the sun falls and brings forth from it a whole rainbow" - F. Chopin
"I never dreamt with my own two hands I could touch the sky" - Sappho
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