Reply To: Humble Bundle: Aria Sounds London Symphonic Strings Bundle $20

[LinkedMusicians]

I realize that this may not mean anything to anyone here, but I again want to state something that’s being done at LinkedMusicians that isn’t being done at any of the legacy forum, and why it matters.

LinkedMusicians has an affiliate relationship with Audio Plugin Deals. Those relationships have been my only real chance to get help with funding this site. We take contributions, but in the year since I’ve put up the contribution page, we’ve seen less than $100 in contributions and hosting this site alone costs more than $100 per month and that was a promotional price for the first 12 months, after which it will shoot up to more than $300 per month. That doesn’t include the costs for developing site, for the scripts/plugins, updates and maintenance costs for the site, which are also very costly.

Consequently, those affiliate marketing relationships are vital to funding this site, as the contributions simply aren’t even close to funding a month’s worth of costs. So, Aria is handled by APD, which is a key affiliate partner for LinkedMusicians, and yet, I’ve clearly recommended against people buying this sample library. Most affiliate partners would never do that. Why? Because it can very easily end the affiliate relationship. And there is absolutely a serious possibility that it will. This is the way business works.

Now that everyone knows my real name and can look up and see that I’ve managed and led digital marketing at major brands and founded a publication on marketing strategy recommended by Ivy League schools and business magazine, given guest lectures at top b-schools, and spoke on digital marketing around the world; it may also hint at the fact that I didn’t create this passion project thinking it could be some kind of big money maker. I did it out of my passion for making music and my values about how things could be done more ethically, and with more decency and kindness than is currently the norm not only at the big legacy forums, but it’s the antithesis of what is the norm in social media today.  The radical transparency of LinkedMusicians reflects my values and ideals, but if I’m going to be perfectly candid, I realize that it may fail due to things like being an advocate for consumers is difficult to pull of when you need to fund a project. This why there’s so much bias in this industry. This is why real feedback — in particular, the bad experiences — because no one is censoring good experiences — is getting suppressed and why developers are increasingly engaged in compensating people in forums and social media to hawk their products and services, not just the big influencers and not just their contractors, but frequent deal posters.

I’m writing this, because I do suspect there’s a serious chance it could end a relationship that helps fund this site and I want our members to understand that reality.

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