First Bump!

[Ryan]

Now that I know how to "First Bump" (thanks, Greg!), I love watching for and "finding" new tracks. Though I'm being pretty picky, and have passed over a lot of stuff that's just plain bad. (Reliably, any zero bump song gets its first bump within a few minutes anyway.) Of course, "First Bumps" are expensive, but they pay off if the song does well.

So, in that vein, I'd like to know when y'all get to "First Bump," and I'll chip in a bump of my own. If the song takes off, it'll be great for everyone!


Neuriel just joined thesixtyone.com. A techno outfit. "Leaps from Remains" won me over immediately with the brassy intro. Of course, with "First Bumps," you have to decide within seconds if you like a track... but I think this one's a winner.

[scrivener]

This was my first first-bump, an alt-poppy guitar-driven number with a very late-nineties sound. It's raw, but it's fun and quite listenable. Check out "Making Out" by thecitylights*.



Late last night, I first-bumped this folky, acoustic guitar number by the Maurice Dean Experance [sic]. The tune's simple and not especially memorable, but I dig the low, almost Leonard-Cohen-like delivery. The melody reminds me of Cohen, too, really. Maurice Dean and his Experance have only 3 points so far as a new T61 artist.

[Mel]

To make that kind of investment the song has definitely got to have "hit" potential. Which means popular genres like pop-rock, pop, alt-rock, hip-hop and maybe dance have the best chances of being hits. Less popular genres like "instrumental" and "jazz" don't have that much of "hit" and "run up the points quickly" potential.

[Ryan]

Another key seems to be the artist's participation. People rush to first bump any song that turns up, but if the musician dumps some tracks and never comes back, it probably won't go far. I've seen thesixtyone regulars give artists early tips like, make sure to change your avatar to something other than the 61 logo, change your bio to something other than the default line about the van, add songs slowly, and thank bumpers and subscribers.

My other first bump is this track from a NY singer songwriter. I don't think he's been back since his upload, and he still has the generic icon... but on the other hand, this track has over 80 bumps (compared to 16 to my other "first bump"), so maybe the music speaks for itself!

[scrivener]

Dang, that's a good one. Bumped it twice.

[scrivener]

I finally got to first-bump a song I really, really like. I'm not sure why, but I favor instrumentals on T61; I just find musicians in that genre a little more creative, I think, than in most of the others. This one's by Bird Song Alley and is called "Bird Song Alley." Fusiony instrumental, very GRP-like.

[Ryan]

Very nice. Bumped! I saw a huge flood of zero bump songs popping up over the weekend, but didn't like any of the ones I was fast enough to check out. Finding one worth 60 points is rare indeed!

[Ling]

I've tried to first bump about a dozen songs so far, only going through with two. I haven't really found any outstanding tracks that I can justify shelling out over fifty points for. Have you noticed a trend as to when the better tracks make their way online?

[scrivener]

I think you should just bite the bullet and first-bump one you can live with, just to get that first one out of the way. But yeah: I'd like to know if there are times riper than others for finding the gold.

[Ryan]

I feel so dirty. I just first bumped a song purely for the points. I was cruising around, looking for "zero bump" tunes, and found this rap track. It was terrible. But I decided to give it that full minute of consideration. After a minute, it was still terrible, but I also saw that the band's other tracks all had over 2,000 bumps. So... I bumped it. I'm not proud. But I'm looking forward to a point-a-palooza!

[Greg]

@Ryan - That was the second biggest band on t61, lol, level 26 with 33,894 pts and 2,508 listeners. You're all but guaranteed sensei and several hundred points of profit. Most people bump for a mixture of profit and pleasure. Tastes vary so much and the 61's population still so small that not everyone can just bump what they like and expect to turn a point profit. There are artists that can put up whatever they like no matter the quality and it'll get bumped like mad on the name alone. Other artists put up fantastic tracks and would seemingly have to pay people to get it bumped. C'est la vie.

[modsuperstar]

How do you embed a song link you guys have? I have a song that I first bumped and wanted to drop it on here. It's already at 145 bumps, so I'm hoping to push it over the top

Edit: okay, I figured out how to embed it, but not the right way, I just copied the code from previous posts, then added the song ID I wanted instead, which I highly doubt is the proper way to go about it.

[scrivener]

To embed a song, click on the "____ comments" part of the song's listing. You'll get a drop-down menu. Click the "share this" tab, and copy the code. Easy, and you don't have to interrupt your mini-player to do it. :)