Behshad wrote:kgdjpubs wrote:Thenightbull wrote:StocktontoMalone wrote:How about a paid members only forum?
100 bucks a year
anybody else see the irony of having a thread about a paid members only forum and a thread about the free forum being "dead" going on at the same time?
Well maybe if you have 200 PAYING members instead of 12000 nonpaying members, all of a sudden all the crappy threads and posts disappear and we get some classic quality posts/fights !?
I don't think the scene is big enough to be willing to support that venture. If you can't maintain ongoing discussion on the board at the free level, I seriously doubt that restricting it to those wanting to pay will drive up post count. You can recombine all the mini boards back together into one big one (which will help some), but what then? The regular noticeboard which is more the UK contingent than the US-based board over here is doing somewhat better. I'm not sure combining everything into one board would generate enough traffic if you restrict it to paying people.
The melodic rock scene is in dire straits, and I'm not sure I see a way that it's going to get better. It should say something when you have a bunch of releases coming out written by the same writers and then everyone wonders why they all sound alike. Every year, there are fewer people in the scene making albums, and the albums that are made don't sell for much of anything save the big acts like Journey who have some amount of a built-in audience. I'll give Andrew all the credit for making a go at it (and I never figured it would last this long back in the days of the AOR Hard Rock Hot Spot), but the whole scene is in freefall, and the five-year picture doesn't look good at all.
In ten years, most of your big bands will be close to retirement age. What happens then? The US scene is totally dead, so Europe is the only chance. Who's even got a prayer of breaking through in the European scene? Gotthard has had massive success in Switzerland, but can they really break out beyond that? It's a major problem, and I don't have the answers.
Will Andrew branch out and start covering some of the pop-rock acts that have roots in melodic rock like Rob Thomas? It's where the money is (if there is any money to be made), but Andrew have the passion and willpower to go that direction? If not, where? If the current business model isn't working, then you are only stringing it out milking the last bits little by little until nothing is left. As much as I hate to say it, I think that point is coming up soon. Thoughts?
I still think the idea of paying to participate, seeing as how it DOES cost the site money for us to do that on here if I'm not mistaken, would be a good one. I mean really, look at the number of registered users= 12423. Make them all pay that $35 and there's $434,805 right there! 
