I rarely rave about a website. I frequent many, but quite honestly few ever blow me away. However, today my
sister sent me an invite to
thesixtyone and I absolutely love it! If you want to discover new music, this site is for you!
The interface is really simple and clean. First of all, you can listen to all the songs on the site - the entire song! Plus, the player allows you to browse other pages without interrupting the current song you are listening to - genius! While you navigate, you can still see the current song playing on the upper right hand corner.
Any artist can add their music to thesixtyone and there's plenty for your listening pleasure. The goal is to get the song onto the homepage. Once you're a user you can "bump" your favorite songs up the list, but it'll cost you. Just so that it's not just a popularity contest, each user is given points. You earn points by bumping songs, listening to music that hasn't made the homepage (called "The Rack"), inviting friends to join, and for sharing music.
Each time you "bump" a song, points are deducted from your user account. Songs on the homepage are typically 5 points. Off the homepage, it'll be higher. One song I bumped on the "The Rack" cost me 49 points! Bumping a song helps the artist too. As the artist levels up, they can add more songs to the site.
I also like the little pop-ups on the bottom right hand page that sometimes give factoids about the song, or comments from the artist. It kinda feels like VH1's pop-up videos, but not as obnoxious.
Some songs are free for download (courtesy of the artist), others are available through Amazon.com.
If you're like me, finding good music is not that easy. There are a few other features on the site that make it interactive, but basically its a site to share a lot of good music. That's what it's all about, right?
Thanks again Kerotab!
E
Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 09:46PM 
