Yes, you read the title correctly.
I am an album listener. 90%+ of my music listening is albums, rather than individual songs. I've done roulettes in the past (quite a while ago) and got a lot out of them, but so often a song I really liked didn't transpire into a good album, or I later discovered that a song I wasn't hot on turned out to be from a great album. As a roulette participant back in the day, I also often struggled with which song to send by a band, or from an album, when the album as a whole was what I loved. If you've ever felt the same way then this is the roulette for you.
"ARE YOU MAD?" I hear you ask. No, I'm not. But then I would say that whether I was or wasn't. Hmm. But ultimately, the reason I think this is doable is that I normally get a lot of time to listen to music. I have an hour-long commute each way to and from work, and I get to do quite a lot of listening while at work too. My last.fm tells me that I've listened to 20 hours of music in the last week, which feels about average, but I can often listen to a fair bit more than that even.
RULES:- Submissions will be whole albums (which can include EPs), and should be sent to me by PM.
- Maximum length equivalent to a single CD (79 minutes ish) and there is no minimum length. Albums that come on 2 discs but would fit on 1 are therefore allowed. TIP: I have no particular preference for longer or shorter albums, though albums that don't have much variety of tone or style tend to be better if they're not too long IMO.
- Do not submit any albums I've rated in my RYM profile: https://rateyourmusic.com/~ariich (scroll down to the "music" section and you can use the "ratings" tab to see what I've rated, or use the "Search ariich's music for" bar to see if something you're thinking of is already in my list). In addition, don't send anything by a band that I've rated 3 times or more, even if I haven't rated that particular album. Basically, If it's an album that I haven't rated, by a band or artist I've rated only 1 or 2 other albums by (or none, obviously), it's cool.
- Not a rule as such, but a guideline: Albums submitted should ideally be available on a legal streaming platform of some kind. I have a Spotify subscription, so that's best as I can sync for offline listening, but other places such as bandcamp are also acceptable. You can always just tell me what the album is, and I'll see if I can stream it from somewhere - better to have your preferred submission than whatever happens to be on Spotify.
- One participant will be eliminated each round. The first round will be simple, lowest score (rating/10) loses. After this, previous scores will be factored in. I appreciate form and consistency.
PARTICIPANTS:- jingle
- lonestar
- Parama
- Elite
- Nekov
- Evermind
- Stadler
Thanks to those who expressed interest but didn't make it in - if I do one again in future (dependent entirely on the success of this one) you'll get first dibs if you want.
REST OF ORIGINAL POST:So, here are my thoughts on how I plan to run this:
- I will have 5-6 participants only (come on, I want to occasionally listen to some of my own music too).
- Submissions will be whole albums, with a time limit equivalent to a single CD (79 minutes ish). I'm doing it that way so that albums that come on 2-discs but would fit on 1 are allowed.
- The 2,500 albums I've listened to enough at some point to rate can be seen in my RYM profile: https://rateyourmusic.com/~ariich (scroll down to the "music" section and you can use the "ratings" tab to see what I've rated, or use the "Search ariich's music for" bar to see if something you're thinking of is already in my list). Anything I've rated is not allowed. Anything by a band that I've rated three times or more is not allowed. If it's an album that I haven't rated, by a band or artist I've rated only one or two other albums by (or none, obviously), that's allowed.
- Albums submitted should ideally be available on a legal streaming platform of some kind. I have a Spotify subscription, so that's best as I can sync for offline listening, but other places such as bandcamp are also acceptable. You can always just tell me what the album is, and I'll see if I can stream it from somewhere.
- I will commit to listening to every album an absolute minimum of twice, though I should normally be able to listen three or more times. If I'm really not finding myself at all interested after two listens, then even I have time I reserve the right to give up on it. The ease of streaming platform may also affect the number of listens.
- Rounds should last roughly a week, and there won't be loads of them. As participants are eliminated, we may get through rounds quicker.
I think those are the key points. What I need from you lovely people now are:
1. Expressions of interest! I've had two already from the main roulette thread (jingle and lonestar), so I'm looking for 3-4 more. If loads of people are keen, I might do a mix of selection and lottery.
EDIT: Actually sod it, I don't want to turn people down by random luck so I've done first-come-first-serve instead, and places are now full!2. Thoughts on the above processes, rules, etc. and whether you think there's anything I've missed that would help this work smoothly. Once we're good to go, I'll turn that into a more coherent set of rules.