Ask HN: Review this startup by a coder beginner

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1789094

by mickeyben • 16 years ago

11 5 16 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

The Weezic startup is developing a website dedicated to classical musicians.

They have just released a webpage to explain the concept through a video and a demo example.

I met the two founders (Nico & Greg) a few months ago. They had the project set up but needed to code it. None of them had ever coded (both having a more business-oriented background).

As experienced web developers, me and my partner advised them to code the website by themselves and we started giving Nico a few lessons and mentoring him on a regular basis.

One month later and tons of coffee drunk, Nico is now able to code like an average web developer in html, css, rails and begins with javascript and JQuery.

We would like inputs on: 1. Is it interesting? 2. How to get traction? 3. Any feedback you could have !

Thanks

anigbrowl• 16 years ago

Technically, not too special - ISTM they're selling convenience rather than innovation per se. Going here to get your score certainly looks more pleasant than hunting for a public domain version, though I'd miss the lack of MIDI or other alternative formats.

Marketing-wise, it's pure gold. I think they could do very well, except that I wasn't too clear on what the commercial proposition is.

nico_weezic• 16 years ago

Hey,

I'm the co-founder of Weezic, Thank you very much for your feedback.

The definition of the product we are trying to explain on our landing page is actually: for each work = scores + accompaniments + your interpretations. That means on Weezic, in addition to the score you get all customizable mp3 files to play your part of music, whatever your instrument is (just like you would do with MIDI generated formats but with a much better quality). In addition to the video we have a demo on the landing page: you get access to it by clicking on the 3 right menu items (I'm not sure you've seen it, it's not particularly highlighted, which could be a mistake in our design). Convenience is a good word for our starting value offer, but "Enhanced experience", although less precise, would actually be a more exact definition of what we are offering: "You're a musician and you want to play a work? You'll find it easily on Weezic with all the ressources you need to enjoy playing it: Scores, Customizable accompaniment files in high mp3 quality and other musicians to share it with".

I hope this answers your questions about the offer.

Regarding the business model, people will have to pay to access our content (scores + accompaniments, etc.) but the user-generated part will be free of course.

If you're interested in the project you can contact me at: nicolas@weezic.com If you're in Paris, why not have a beer and discuss it in more details. Thanks again for your feedback!

ps: I hope my reply is in line with this forum's rules as I am new to this forum and new to the web dev community. Please also forgive any mistake in my english as I am French.

ollysb• 16 years ago

It took me a little while to figure out it was a practice aid. Something like - practice with a full orchestra at your own speed - would have made it clearer. The 'your interpretations' also confused me, I wasn't sure whether that referred to recordings or orchestrations.

Scott_MacGregor• 16 years ago

At first I didn't get the name, Weezic. Then when I loaded the site I realized it was a play on the name Music. I think the name is clever and catchy. Also I think that the index page looks professional enough to release to the public at this time. You guys did a good job with the looks of it.

Classical music online seem like an overly narrow a niche market, so I would say even though you guys enjoy classical, with such a catchy URL as Weezic it seems like you could expand it into other genres as you iterate.

I think your URL name right now is more valuable than the site. I think you can build a good business around it. Maybe tie the business in with Winamp somehow. Winamp /Weezic kind of works for me.

Having a musical note as part of the logo might be a positive also.

d0m• 16 years ago

I really hate the video.. to much sound, so loud and after watching 10 secs with Partition CLINGGG I stopped.

Ask HN: Review this startup by a coder beginner

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