ThreadStarter: Music

[batarjal]

ThreadStarter: Music allows users to easily create topics about artists and music and fill them with content automatically.

Features

• Users can add artists or albums to topics. After attaching content, which can be done easily using a search with auto complete, the thread will show various information about it above the post.
• The topic will display YouTube videos, photos, description text, track list and various other information about the artist or album.
• Discussed artists can be shown in adjustable widgets which allow random, recently posted, most discussed and much more...
• Posting artists and albums can be restricted to certain forums.
• Music forums can show music content with photos above the topic list.
• Access rights to edit and post artists and albums.

How to Install

• Go to ACP > applications and upload the downloaded tar file.
   

Demo

• noexcept.de
   

Buy it now

Edited September 26, 2018 by batarjal

[batarjal]

Quote

Hello - how would the Music app function on a new album? Do we need to register somewhere to get it working? I'm thinking abot this app to my guitarforum, but users often post albums that are new and rare..

 

Hello - The plugin uses theaudiodb.com as data source:
https://www.theaudiodb.com/
To get the plugin working you do not need to register anywhere
 

If the artist you want to add is not available on theaudiodb.com it can be imported simply by using the add button (you need to be registered there) and it can be imported from MusicBrainz and it will be available in the plugin instantly as long as a cover art or artist photo is available.
The cover art / photo requirement could be removed from the plugin in future versions if it helps with less known artists.

[Chris Anderson]

Great idea for an app, I liked it so much I purchased it.  It's nice that you have a demo site but it doesn't really help sell all of the ways it could be used to engage a community.  It would be cool if you invited some diehard music lovers to drop by and ask them to engage each other in conversations around various music artists, their albums or individual songs.  Their feedback will likely provide you insights into how your product might best evolve from and end user perspective and how best to setup the forums and utilize the app to best engage everyone.  If this app could somehow be used to help sell music and concerts (think affiliate marketing) that would increase this products value to perspective customers.

Edited September 21, 2018 by Christopher Anderson

[Chris Anderson]

I really like a feature you included in your ThreadStarter: Movies app.  In that app you listed all of the movies that an actor starred in.  It would be nice if you listed all of the albums a recording artist has released as well.

One thing I was surprised to see missing in the About section for albums is the track listing.

[batarjal]

Hello - Thanks for the feedback, I'll consider your suggestions for future updates.
The track listing is already planned for the next version.

[Chris Anderson]

What exactly gets cached, where does the data get stored?

Edited September 23, 2018 by Christopher Anderson

[batarjal]

The responses from the API requests, they're stored in the database. It's to reduce API usage since the requests are usually limited.

[batarjal]

I just uploaded a new version:

Quote

• albums will now show the track list and YouTube videos
• prettier design (bigger images, no longer using 'spoiler' for long texts)
• added support for Italian language
• note: some changes only apply to new topics, existing topics need to be edited and saved again to apply these changes

 

[Chris Anderson]

When you click on the Homepage link the browser shows "File not found (404 error)

The underlying link is incorrectly formatted:  https://www.forum-address.com/www.maroon5.com

[batarjal]

Thank you, this will be fixed in the next version.

[Chris Anderson]

Including "Tracks" is a nice addition to the app, unfortunately the space allotted to the YouTube player is too small.  As you can see below, the right side of the window isn't wide enough to see the "X" to disable the ad or to maximize the viewer to fill the entire screen.

It would be nice if the first track was chosen by default upon viewing page.  Then if you added two new buttons "Random" and "Next" the user could choose between viewing videos in random order or watching them in sequential order or advancing to a particular track.

You could follow through with the same idea on the Artist Page by including a "Next" button.  This would negate a user from having to refresh their browser to get the page to reload with a new random video.

Edited September 29, 2018 by Christopher Anderson

[Chris Anderson]

Another thing I'm wondering is if you could figure out how to eliminate the suggested videos screen that appears at the end of each embedded video.  "If" there are to be any suggestions shown it should be for the next "random" video or the next track.  If a user clicks on one of the YouTube suggestions it will take them directly to YouTube.  We want to do everything in our power to keep our members "glued" to our sites.  Anytime a user gets redirected to some other site there is a big chance they won't return.

[Chris Anderson]

It is pretty easy to figure out how to add a new artist as shown below:

It isn't very apparent how to be able to choose their albums or singles if present.  Having to type a space and a dash (as shown below) probably won't be intuitive to some people.  Having some kind of visual cue could prove useful to folks. 

[batarjal]

The YouTube size issue will be fixed in the next version.

I'll also improve the search. When there is only one result for artists left the albums of that artist will be shown too. This way you no longer have to type an "-".

About the YouTube suggestions  - I don't think the YouTube player can be adjusted in that way.

[batarjal]

I uploaded a new version:

Quote

changes:

• some design improvements
• added loading message while obtaining data
• boxes now show smaller icons on mobile devices
• fixed some issues with non-English letters in search results
• improved album search

notes:

• some design changes are only visible after editing existing topics and reattaching the data
• if you use more than one ThreadStarter plugin you should update all of them at the same time

 

[Unlucky]

Hi,

I am trying to add this -

Baddiel & Skinner & Lightning Seeds – ‘Three Lions’ (1998)
 

I have gone to https://www.theaudiodb.com but it doesn't recognise the above when I try to add them - any ideas?

Thanks

[Unlucky]

I have found it on the site but can't add it:

https://www.theaudiodb.com/track/32919634

[Chris Anderson]

https://www.theaudiodb.com site is populated with content entered by volunteers.  Some content is very accurate and complete and some is missing entirely. If all the users add new content or update existing records on a continuous basis the repository will become more robust over time.  

If a record does exist there may not be enough of the required data present to work with this app.  You will have to wait for someone else to jump in and continue to populate the record or take on the task for yourself.  The more popular the artist, album, or song the better the chance it will have been added to the site.

Edited November 29, 2018 by Christopher Anderson

[Davyc]

Having no luck with this at all - it doesn't matter what I type into the music field all I get is this:

There isn't a choice of albums just the band name, yet when I go to the audioDB site this is what I find (11 albums):

I get the same results for Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and a whole load more:

Any help you can give would be appreciated as I'd like to get this working.

[batarjal]

Both your examples work fine for me:

 

If you have several ThreadStarter plugins installed make sure you have the latest version for each of them.
Do you get a error message in the ACP? If so send it to me via PM please.
If updating does not help and you have no errors in the ACP you can also give me a link to your forum with an test account so I can have a closer look.

[batarjal]

A new version is available in the marketplace:

Quote

• It is now possible to change the position of the ThreadStarter bar
• Links in the description text are now clickable in the preview
• Fixed issue with special characters in search requests
• Better search results

It fixes the above issues and should lead to better search results overall.

[bosss]

On 12/28/2018 at 8:47 PM, Davyc said:

Having no luck with this at all - it doesn't matter what I type into the music field all I get is this:

There isn't a choice of albums just the band name, yet when I go to the audioDB site this is what I find (11 albums):

I get the same results for Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and a whole load more:

Any help you can give would be appreciated as I'd like to get this working.

 

Have same problem - no data available for this album

with a lot searching - mean artists

some tips?

have your latest version

regards

bosss

thread starter - movies works perfect - please make some improvements for starter - music

[batarjal]

I uploaded a new version:

• Showing more information in mobile view
• Better behaviour of widgets on very big and very small screens
• Added API to search, add and remove content programmatically

[PaulKet]

Could the option to add an album URL directly from The Audio Database be added in the future? 

This is a great app, BTW.

[batarjal]

Hi, thank you!

That's not a problem, in the next version you can just paste album or artist URLs into the search box.