This is a neat hack! We (Medium) have been playing around with the right way to do music + stories, and it's super cool to see someone take matters into their own hands.
(For now, authors can also embed Soundcloud directly into their posts: https://medium.com/@Medium/embed... Downsides are that the author has to do it, and it won't auto-play the music, but the upside is that it won't mess up the fonts and other embedded media. Seems like the big win here is that anyone can "annotate" someone else's post, with a song.)
@Medium@_tessr oh cool, I didn't even know about this. If you could only add some form of auto-play when reaching a scroll position, then we're talking DRAMA!! Sound effects, fairy tales, dramatic reporting ... (but I get it, the focus is on the writing, which I love, and which is why I only use Medium)
This is clearly experimental and unpolished[1], but I like the concept. Music has the ability to insight emotions and change the context of something entirely. Here’s my recent essay, Product Hunt’s Year in Review, In Numbers appropriately mashed up with Mos Def’s Mathematics.
[1] As noted on the site’s help FAQ, you have to provide the Wordpress embed code of the Soundcloud sound, not the direct URL.
@rrhoover This makes so much sense. I always am way more engaged with apps today that have great sounds, so why not apply that to content? Now we just really need someone to solve the multiple music issue. I already have Rdio playing most of the time in the background, then I hit one of these articles and things get messy.
@rrhoover@ianmikutel On this note, would love a Mac plug-in / browser extension that works basically how music/sound does on iOS (for the most part): whenever something new starts playing, the old one pauses/mutes.
Would have to tinker with it to avoid random pop ups hijacking your music, but would be cool to have.
@eriktorenberg Yep, that sort of thing helps the nudge away from "magazine on the internet" and into "online magazine". And, of course, should be a good match for music writing.
@eriktorenberg@tzhongg you have a good point. I experimented a little with it yesterday and noticed, for some articles (with the right music), it becomes a beautiful experience. Other articles, especially those with a complex narrative, don't mix well with lyrically heavy music.
So, if someone goes through all the work to craft music specifically for an article, or vice versa, then it becomes really interesting. Or, to take it even further, to tie certain scroll positions of a post to certain songs or cue positions in a song. Like a musically interactive fairy tale type of thing.
@eriktorenberg@tzhongg@mittermayr Came in here to make that point, about tying segments of songs to portions of an article -- how cool would a "best music of the year" post be with the best track from the album you're reading about playing in the background, and changing once you scroll to the next one?
YES! I love this idea. I think there are so many cool things you can do with audio and I don't know why more publishers/publishing platforms don't incorporate it more.
@taylorlorenz@rrhoover Yes! Instant-dramatization of content! "The Swiss Franc is Bankrupting People" .... apply Walter Mitty soundtrack. Tears and emotion :)
@lylemckeany will check it out. if only @alexisohanian would narrate (and comment) randomly interesting medium posts, now that's where my money would be going.
@eliotpeper neat idea. generally, I think there should also be a pre-selected library of songs that match well with reading (not everything is suitable, often too distracting). so you pick one of the recommended songs, but you can also go and find your own.
@rrhoover is abolutely right, this is super-experimental. I wanted to demonstrate to my Twitter followers yesterday, that making a simple MVP sometimes only takes an hour or two. I video-casted the whole thing live, from buying the domain to releasing it. There's a LOT of things one could build on top of this. If anything, this hopefully inspires the right person to get down and dirty implementing a proper service. I am happy to share the code. Someone notified people at @medium about this, so hopefully they consider music an option in the future.
I believe the photos enrich the story, but when you add music, you make it an experience. As a tribute, I'm changing the default article to Ryan's PH post. Other suggestions welcome, maybe I'll start rotating ;)
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