Private Band Notifications

Hi Dick,

When there's updates/adds to private band projects, I don't seem to receive notifications if I haven't added anything to the template yet. Would it be possible to receive notifications of any adds to a project in the news feed if you're band member? I keep missing stuff!

Thank you :)

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Edited by mpointon on November 15 2015 15:52

i'm working on just that lately, we'll have an option to opt-in to "follow a band", so you wont be "spammed" by activities in bands you are invited to, but not taking part in for some reason...
I have to take extra care not to expose the private tracks to the wrong people, so this is a bit tricky. We'll get there soon, now I'm also in need of translation help to spread the changed band segment across all languages... (werk)

Cool stuff! I really like working with a private band, I think this is a very cool feature that should be promoted more (and hopefully will make more people contribute financially, too).

Hey Dick, I saw that you added a "follow" button, cool!!

....and the publishing suggestion :) It's Christmas come early this year :o

When we agree to publish, will it publish just the one Mix or the whole tree?

Hey :)
As you have noticed, I have been working on this quite heavily.
I have done some test routines and believe it is working as it should now - let me know if thats not the case please!

As for publishing previously private tracks: This has to be applied on a per-Track basis, the previous mixes of the branch remain private.
An atempt to visit those leads to a "sorry you are not invited!" page if you are not part of that band.
Right now, published tracks can be Playlisted, Downloaded and Streamed - I am still wondering about the download option - shall I remove that?

As you may have also noticed, bands private tracks may not be playlisted any longer to prevent them "leaking" to the public this way - mind your playlists can be accessed by anyone via your profile.

I have also installed and tested the "new track uploaded to your band "XYZ" "-newsfeed messages. To receive those, you need to follow the named band explicitly.

If someone suggests a publishing move, there is NO newsfeed notification to the band members (that would be a little too much IMO) - and there should be enough ways to communicate such things via the private band chat or by message, suggested tracks have the "awaiting confirmation" label shown to those who shall agree.

Let me know how things are developing & feeling, I will do my best to improve the feature up to the point where it will become interesting to invite people (including non-wiki-members) to have a look at ones band page on wikiloops :)
As you have correctly pointed out, it is indeed one of those rather hidden bonus features up untill today.
Since using a private band doesn't add to the community, it has been a long ignored low priority item... quite glad I finally got around to getting this in shape :)

more things to come... you'll see :)

Yes, we will try it and post any issues. I got one more question: If we finished a song, and it is open for publishing by the band, will it be posted as one of "my tracks" and also the other band members? Or will it show to our followers?

But I guess we will have to try and see :D

Thanks Dick, great work!

double no there at this time!
since the moment of negotiated publishing is different to the upload moment, it would be quite hard to include these messages within chronology of the newsfeed. I'll think about it, tho.
I believe following the band should be different to following a user in the end... people looking to collaborate on the loops might be less interested in "done productions" coming from a band, while those interested to follow a band may not be interested in one-instrument templates posted by a single user.
Just brainstorming here :)

Brainstorming - always a good idea, and thank you for listening to our ideas and even transforming some of them into reality :)

For me, once I am following someone I would listen to every track he is publishing (although at times I am struggling to keep up, but that's another issue). So I would be happy to listen to a finished track even if I could not add to it.

So I would go the other way:

Any time someone I follow publishes a track through a private band, I would like to receive notification of it.

For those who do not want to receive notifications about finished productions, there could be an option to unfollow that perticular band.

How does sound? Probably a nightmare to code :O

all of this is possible :) I'll see what can be done.

My 2 cents..
I agree with the idea of separate things. Following bands, or looking for tracks.

1.) If I follow a band, I either want to play in it, or listen to it. And want to be informed of changes.

2.) If I want to play with tracks, I know it is open to alter-interpretations. Therefore, I want to know if someone adds something.

Both cases warrant notifications of change. But I would want to only see the band in a private mail type thing.
Haven't played with the band or private much, but plan to.

So, all that being said. I would like to see another icon in top right for bands. Like a silhouette of a band that changes for notification. Letting me go right to that. Like mail does.

Just a thought.

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Edited by MasterK on November 21 2015 21:06

I just wanted to report, our band "Inci TG Blues Band" has completed a song, we all pressed the "publish" button, that seems to work without a problem, great!!

However as it was not included in the "news" feed nobody listened to the song ...

Dick, my question is: shall I upload it again as a sequencer in my own account (and all band members can do that, too) or shall we wait until you have sorted out an "automatic" thing so it is listed as "my tracks" too?

It has been great fun working on this song, and we are already working on another one. I think it is very cool that we can have people from different continents working on a song like that. Only a few years ago only the big stars with big studio backing used to be able to do that... Thanks Dick!!:)

@TG: of course, I do understand your motivation to get your collaboration out to a wider audience - that is absolutely legitimate and should indeed be solved in a better way than it is now.
People would actually have to visit your band page "by accident" to stumble on your track, that is not really likely to happen right now.
To change this in a solid & lasting way is a major project that I wont be able to solve quickly. One day, we might have a featured box "new band releases" right on the startpage, and anyone will understand the different character of band & open collaborations on wikiloops right away. As long as that distinction is not clearly communicated, it is difficult to mix this new feature with the "normal"&expected wikiloops features.
I preferr to set this up in a good way than to risk people creating remixes they cant upload afterwards, just because they had missed the thing on their newsfeed was a band publication, not a public jam...
It will take a bit longer to code and to get people to use the feature properly, but that is worth it IMO. Also, I'd defnetly like to stick to the "user has to request notification before getting notified"-idea. Anything else is a mild kind of spam, if you know what I mean ;)

I think I'll eventually proceed by
1st: Add a "follow" button on the band page that is offered to non-band members (currently, there is none!)

2nd: Add different looking "band upload" newsfeed-notice for these non-participating followers that is triggered when a track goes "public"

3rd: If used by a few bands, one might offer a list of recently active bands or band publications on the homepage.

All of that being said, I'm absolutely unsure if there is a great need for all this among our current users, we'll have to find out :) I wouldn't look into bands final tracks if I came to wikiloops looking for backing tracks, as most of our users once did.

Now, to finally answer your question TG: Do as you wish! uploading x SEQ-templates to get the track onto each participants profile tracklist... if you really feel it is that important... you might as well wait a bit and promote your band page a little, once the guest-"follow" button is added.
Pick up some listeners for the project that way if that's what you are interested in in the long run- uploading the track individually will not solve that.



@masterK - the idea to add a special icon for band activities.... I have to think about that. Since few users have been using the feature so far, it feels like there will be little action there, it might come handy at some point tho, agreed!

Thanks for your answer, I will wait to see what you come up with :)
I know that the private band thing is not used a lot, but maybe if we work on it and get it more user friendly people will use it. If there was an extra little window showing new band releases, who knows. We all love to jam, but I guess many musicians would also like to have songs that are a little bit more organised. Me, I love it :D

i am unable to see any tracks of my private bands. Have I gone Helen Keller, or am I missing something?

Hey Anne,
could you please specify a little?
Did you try to access a track on its single page and were told you were no member of that band,
or are there simply no tracks displayed on your band page? Which one?
Did you switch to "view as guest" on that band page by accident? Questions over questions...
Or are you on mobile? Please let me know :)

Morning, Dick. When I open My Bands, I am viewing them as Visitor and don't see a way to change that. And I was wrong - can now see tracks previously uploaded except yesterday's attempt - i DID hit "Publish" but nothing there. No tracks displayed on band page. On my laptop.

i tried again, Dick - successfully uploaded the track, which i can see, but i am a Visitor....do I care?
I also do not see a way to delete Private Band projects that I did not load successfully.
I know I keep you busy......

yes, band deletion is not possible at this time, but you may send me the projects you woud like to have deleted... ideally by telling me the band-ids of those bands (see link of band page).

I have changed a little something on the band page, maybe that caused the weird behaviour... please keep bugging me if something is buggy ;)