Weekly Site Review: Arkade
To pop my cherry as a writer for The Hippodrome, I reviewed the UK based music website, Arkade.com. At first, I thought that perhaps “arcade” is just spelled with a K across the pond, like they usually spell color or favorite with a U, but I it seems that Arkade’s creators only had edginess in mind. Crazy kids. Anyway, Arkade advertises themselves as the “new ‘Online Stage,’” an independent service that enables artists to sell their music. Out of Arkade’s options, (of which there were many) I found particularly interesting the groups for Christian Gangsta Rap, Chamber Music, Euro House, Euro Techno AND Euro Dance, and Porn Groove. Later I found out that the only artist listed under Porn Groove, Dane, found his biggest hit in a song called “Bombs and Hummus.” If that’s not Porn Groove, I don’t know what is.
After I signed up for the service, it was pretty simple to figure out. The side navigation bars make it easy for you to browse, search, read artists blogs (my favorite to peruse), study the charts, and connect to the industry directory. There are some problems with searches for new artists however, as with so many genres, it may be difficult to find an artist quickly and easily. Also, discovery of a new artist is otherwise hindered by the additions of production companies and mix tapes within the collective searches. Once you find an artist you’re interested in, you may preview a clip of any song offered, like iTunes. After listening to a few artists and reading comments, I realized that the preview is often significantly different than the actual song downloaded. The preview sometimes has an extremely rough feel to it, as if the song was recorded on a TalkBoy (that portable recorder Kevin had in “Home Alone”). Undoubtedly a disservice to the artist, it should be mentioned that not all the previews suffer from lack of quality, but nearly half were seriously altered.
As an artist looking to sell some music, Arkade is a solid option, as you get to keep 100% of the money as well as set your own price for your music. There are four packages available; single pack (free), EP pack (10 pounds), Album (20 pounds), and the Distributor pack (30). Basically, the bigger package you get, the more songs you can upload and the more someone can download (unfortunately even with the biggest package only 300 of your songs can be downloaded, the free pack is a mere 50). As far as actually getting paid, Arkade credits your paypal account up to five months after the sale has been made. Not quite the best case for those struggling artists who need that money in the bank. As a buyer, purchasing music is as simple as adding something to your shopping cart and checking out (with helpful tools to convert prices to the pound, the euro, the dollar, and yes, thankfully even the Yen).
Overall, I feel that while Arkade has its benefits, including a very accommodating help and troubleshooting section, the problems in previewing music and arduous task of finding an artist take away the magic for me. As an artist, I feel that it wouldn’t hurt to be a part of the Arkade community, but the hassles with choosing a distribution package may not be worth the trouble. The site has definite potential, and it’s a source I’ll be perusing every now and then, especially when I’m looking for an addition to my growing Porn Groove collection.
