A couple days ago, I wrote a post to let everybody know that RV 1.0 was going bye-bye. I’m following up with this post because RV 2.0 is almost here!

Our new site will launch next Tuesday, March 24th. Until now, we’ve been somewhat cryptic when talking about it. We haven’t gone into much detail about the new features and sections, so I figured I’d take the time to do it here.

Let’s Start with the New Shop!

The first thing I should discuss is the new RV shop. Simply put, our new shop is going to blow our last shop away! For starters, we’re adding hundreds of new high-quality labels.

Our new shop will also have a radically improved search functionality. In RV 1.0, our search box only returned results that exactly matched your search term. The search feature on RV 2.0 is much smarter and faster!

In our new shop, we will also sell releases, in addition to individual tracks. You’ll finally be able to check out each EP that is on our site, and you’ll be able to browse through our full catalog more efficiently by browing through releases rather than just tracks.

We’re also going to offer WAV files in our new shop! Not all of the content will be available in WAV format from day one, but we will quickly reach a point where the vast majority of our new releases are available in WAV and MP3 format. Oh yeah, I should also mention that we’re going to be selling our WAV tracks for $1.50 each. Frankly, we don’t see any reason to charge more than that.

RV 2.0 will also allow you to save your billing information in a super secure place (with authorize.net). With RV 1.0, you had to enter your credit card information everytime you made a purchase; those days are over. By allowing you to save your billing information, we’re making things more convenient. We’re also protecting that information by not storing it on our server. We have good security checks in place, but they’re not as good as authorize.net’s. They have tremendous resources allocated to security, and they service some of the biggest companies online. Bottom line: you get convenience and security!

There are some other really cool features in our new shop, but they’re applicable to our whole new site, so I’ll discuss them below.

Now onto the New Network Section

So here’s where things start to get even more interesting…RV 2.0 will have an entirely new network section. In this section, DJs and producers will be able to upload their own mixes and tracks so that the entire Resonant Vibes community can download them for free! Why are we building this network? …because we think it’s a win-win situation. DJs and Producers win because they have a forum in which to promote their music; fans win because there’s a place for them to download quality music for free…and nobody has to worry about losing time with Megaupload, YouSendIt, or those other sorts of file sharing services. You’ll be able to upload and download your tunes in a clean, easy-to-use space.

To take things a step further, we’re going to reward the DJs and producers who are uploading quality content. If your track or mix gets the highest rating for a given period of time – more on ratings below – we’re going to show some recognition for your talent! We’ll sign your track to our own RV Digital Recordings label and put it in our store. Or, in the case of a mix, we’ll write a blog post about you as a DJ to let our whole community know who you are. Winning tracks and mixes will also earn you credits in our store.

I must say we’re super excited about this network. We know how many DJs and producers are out there with serious skills that are not getting the recognition they deserve, and it’s going to be really cool to help them get attention. On the flip side, we know how cool it will be to be able to download massive amounts of quality free electronic music. We’re fans too; we listen to electronic music all day everyday…hell, I’m going to be getting lots of new tunes off the network myself!

The "My RV" Section

RV 2.0 will have a section called "My RV." This is where you’ll be able to manage your uploads and the information in your public profile page. This is also where you will access your order history, billing information, etc. Eventually, we’ll use this section to learn all of your tastes and preferences so you won’t have to find the music you like; it will find you.

Our Blog and Featured DJs Section

Obviously, you already know about our blog if you’re reading this. You may have also noticed that’s it’s improving. We now have a search box for the blog that allows you to search quickly through all of the posts. I should mention that you can also expect the quality and quantity of our posts to increase. For the RV 2.0 website, we’ll be inviting new industry figures to write with us. We’ll also have access to interviews with top DJs and artists.

RV 2.0 is going to have a Featured DJs section that will work much like the Meet the DJs section in RV 1.0. Basically, we’ll be highlighting/featuring talented DJs from around the world. At some point, we’ll probably start featuring the DJs who have the highest rated mixes.

Other Exciting New Features

There are loads of other innovative, exciting features in RV 2.0 that I haven’t mentioned yet because they’re not specific to any particular section of the site.

The first sitewide feature that we’re excited about is ratings. That’s right, you’ll be able to give a thumbs up or thumbs down rating to any track, release, or sample pack in our shop. You’ll also be able to rate any track or mix in network. The idea is simple here. We think you’ll benefit greatly from knowing what material the RV community thinks is good or bad. This will help you make more informed purchase decisions, and it will make your searches for music in the network more efficient.

Another sitewide feature in RV 2.0 will be comments. You’ll be able to comment on all items in our store and network. The idea here is similar to the idea behind having ratings. We think the more information you have about a piece of music, the better off you’ll be.

I should also mention the intriguing feature of karma that RV 2.0 will have. Basically, there will be ways for you to increase your credibility in the RV community. While musical tastes are certainly subjective, we recognize that some people are more plugged into the scene than others. If you’re someone who’s been DJ-ing and producing on a professional level for years, we’re going to find that out, and your comments and ratings will carry more weight than a random person who stumbles upon our site.

Another feature that we’re seriously excited about is tagging! On so many occasions, we’ve gotten suggestions from people about providing a more nuanced genre classification scheme. Well, we’ve listened, and I think we’ve taken the feedback to heart. On the RV 2.0 site, all community members will be able to tag tracks, releases, and samples in the store, as well as tracks and mixes in the network. So if you think a track is "twisted progressive tech house," you’ll be able to tag it as such. This is one of the running themes for RV 2.0; we’re putting the power in the hands of our community. All together we know you’re smarter than us! …so we’re not going to tell you what music is good or tell you what genre it’s in, you’ll tell us.

The New Media Player

RV 2.0 is also going to have a new media player. We’ve tried to give you the best of all possible worlds…First off, you’ll be able to preview any item in the network or store right there on the page, without having to launch the new media player. This allows you to have quick and easy access to tracks if that’s what you want. On the other hand, you will also have the option of adding an item to a playlist. This will let you browse from one page to the next – without being stuck on a given page to check out a preview. Then, whenever you’r ready to listen to the previews in your playllist, you’ll be able to launch the new media player, and they’ll load up. You will also have the option of playing those previews in a different media player (e.g. iTunes, Windows Media Player, or whatever) if that’s your preference. Once you’ve loaded a playlist in our new player, you’ll be able to buy the items (if they’re from the store) in one fell swoop. I should also mention that the media player will work for items in the network.

Concluding Thoughts about RV 2.0

Well, there you have it. I’ve touched on some of the RV 2.0 features that have us really excited. The one thing I should also mention – and this may be the most important point in this post – is that RV 2.0 will be a constantly evolving entity! We know it’s not going to be perfect on day one; in fact, we expect it to have a number of bugs and quirks for us to work out. However, we’ve built RV 2.0 on a rock solid infrastructure and foundation that will allow us to constantly adapt and improve it. Moreover, we have an exceptional tech team that will be working around the 24-7 to improve the site and to incorporate your feedback when you share it with us.

We hope you’re as excited about what’s coming as we are!

Eddie B

Tags: Customer Support, Electronic Music, MP3, Resonant Vibes, WAV