Goodbye Electrogarden?

**Efreak** · December 30th, 2003, 09:09 PM

When were they selling EGN T-shirts? I woulda been first in line.
Jamie

**cliffwalk** · December 31st, 2003, 12:21 AM

Originally posted by Efreak
When were they selling EGN T-shirts? I woulda been first in line.
Jamie

yeah, they were,
and they tried to increase ad revenue,
and they cut corners to try and save themselves into breaking even,
and they did this and they did that...

listen, the only way to "save" this site would be for another person willing to take on the financial burden because it will never make money.

the solution needs to be SUSTAINABLE. not one quick infusion of cash that may cover a month of bills only to worry about the next months bills ... let's be reasonable...

the owners of this site tried... hard....

it didn't work out...

time for the next person willing to bleed money

dave

**KissTheStar** · December 31st, 2003, 12:39 AM

Well the KMA website and Electro Culture forums will be up in 24 hrs ... hold on for the ride.

**Old Admin** · December 31st, 2003, 12:53 AM

Yes.

Only a bare few purchased EGN shirts even when we tried to advertise it hard and ask for members to buy the shirts to help support the site.
When we polled the members early on, only a bare few responded that they were interested in paying to be members of the site while the majority voted no.
Only a bare few subscribed to the paid artist features.
Only a bare few took on paid banner ads for this site. The majority were affiliate banners or partner banners that ran free of charge.
When we offered the EGN Exclusive track preview slot at a small fee to allow artists to present tracks to the entire community, artists were not interested in that option unless it was free.
And so on...

Almost zero revenue.

Meanwhile, EGN gave away free CD's in contests (like the 20 copies of De/Vision "Two") and for the EGN Awards and gave away alot of free CD's and free shipping (like De/Vision, Mesh, etc.) to members worldwide from our Item Shop for most of the tenure.

And then there are hundreds of EGN shirts made for the community that are still on sale as they have been for over a year in the STORE link under THE GARDEN menu.

**Bornslippy** · December 31st, 2003, 01:00 AM

Originally posted by KissTheStar
Well the KMA website and Electro Culture forums wil lbe up in 24 hrs ... hold on for the ride.

I'm sure it's going to be cool...

**Synthpopalooza** · December 31st, 2003, 01:06 AM

Originally posted by Admin

Only a bare few purchased EGN shirts even when we tried to advertise it hard and ask for members to buy the shirts to help support the site.
When we polled the members early on, only a bare few responded that they were interested in paying to be members of the site while the majority voted no.
Only a bare few subscribed to the paid artist features.
Only a bare few took on paid banner ads for this site. The majority were affiliate banners or partner banners that ran free of charge.
When we offered the EGN Exclusive track preview slot at a small fee to allow artists to present tracks to the entire community, artists were not interested in that option unless it was free.
And so on...

Almost zero revenue.

Meanwhile, EGN gave away free CD's in contests (like the 20 copies of De/Vision "Two") and for the EGN Awards and gave away alot of free CD's and free shipping (like De/Vision, Mesh, etc.) to members worldwide from our Item Shop for most of the tenure.

And then there are hundreds of EGN shirts made for the community that are still on sale as they have been for over a year in the STORE link under THE GARDEN menu.

Lesson in this: Support the scene. Buy the shirts, buy the CD's, don't just take the freebies. Otherwise, it's the scene which suffers. If it's to grow, we need to speak with our wallets.

Thanks, EGN, it's been real. The scene lives on.

**Bornslippy** · December 31st, 2003, 01:30 AM

speaking of those EGN shirts, mine? after a year, it's still hasnt lost it's color.... But you know whats funny, one time I was ironing it and I accidentally ironed the freaking front logo l.o.l,and it smeared a little bit..

note to self:

never iron stoned...

uhmm I was just kidding....

not...

**Ni�os_Del_Brasi** · December 31st, 2003, 06:56 AM

Hopefully the KMA forums will work like egn. :-)

**stark427** · December 31st, 2003, 09:10 AM

It is sad that such a great pure electro community will shut down

Let's hope there will be a way for EGN to come back online soon...

**NJOberheim** · December 31st, 2003, 10:07 AM

I know it's a moot point but I just bought an EGN t-shirt over the weekend. I wanted a souvenir of all the great times i had on this site. I know it's too late to save the site, but if we all buy a shirt, maybe we can give back a little. A sort of thank you.

I think a lot of people (myself included) don't think of the expense that running a site like this entails. Most of us just take it for granted. When asked for membership fees or to purchase products, many tend to think that it's the owner trying to make a profit at our expense. Maybe what happened to EGN will open all our eyes to be more generous and support not only the artists by buying their CD's but sites like EGN for brining us all together in the name of great music.

test · December 31st, 2003, 11:00 AM

thank you for this beautiful Garden, and for keeping it alive all this time..
it will be missed..

m

**Sneaky** · December 31st, 2003, 11:25 AM

Do you still have any of those EGN shirts? I'd BUy one. Had I been around when they first came out, I'd have a huge box of them!

**digitalia** · December 31st, 2003, 11:46 AM

okay, i've been coming to this site for over a year and not once did i hear of any revenue problems. i was thinking of taking advantage of the Artist's promotion dealy by offering an exclusive track that would only be available for download at this site, but i guess it's abit late for that.

i know another site that deals with audio software and tech stuff, www.osxaudio.com that put out a call for help to all visitors when they needed to purchase a new server. it was in big flashy letters on the main page. many members contributed and the site admin ultimately got their new system. people got stars next to their name in the forums with the title "site supporter". today that site is still going strong and is a great community for help on technical issues.

in hindsight i guess it's easy for me to say to the EGN Admin "don't be so proud as to not ask BLATANTLY for support from the community." i can't help but think that the disappearance of EGN could of been avoided withsome more effort on the part of the site creators. but maybe the situation compounded too quickly to do anything about it. i dont know, no one seems to know, and maybe it's none of our business....

for what it's worth, i'll gladly buy a shirt if their still available.

cheers,
d

**cephalopod** · January 2nd, 2004, 11:07 AM

So I read the email announcement regarding the demise of EGN, but still dont see why the site should go offline.

If I understand correctly the site was intended as a moneymaking venture and since it's not making money it's to die, yes?

What I mean is, how big of a money drain could it really be?
Hosting is fairly cheap, domain name registration is fairly cheap, etc.

The Thirdwave Collective portal site costs next to nothing to run, just hosting and domain.

Anything else, other projects/promo, is self financed through a yearly member donation or artist financed on a project by project basis.

The real killer is, of course, time administering the site.

Couldnt we just figure out how much $ it would take to keep EGN online and everyone make a small donation?

Seriously.

That would allow one to keep seeking $ generators without killing the all important momentum.

Gimme a shirt, I'm in!

**Jim Clark** · January 2nd, 2004, 11:30 AM

Yes siree, big time bummer to see the best site dedicated to electronic music going down the tubes. I've enjoyed the tips on newer music more than anything. As always some panned out, some didn't but for me it's the thrill of the hunt and the joy of discovery that keeps me going. The hunt will be a little more difficult now but that's never deterred me in the past.

This not being my main board I never really got to "know" anyone around here but despite my MO of lurking for the most part I've enjoyed reading your posts and generally speaking have the impression that most of you are top shelf kind of folks. I wish you the best for the future and maybe I'll see you all somewhere down the line. I'll be easy to spot since I use the moniker my mama gave me. Not too cool or flashy but appropriate for a music geek like myself.

Regards,
jc

**Jupiter 4** · January 2nd, 2004, 12:05 PM

Feel like we should be playing "Nearer my God to Thee" as the bulkheads burst and souls are returned to the sea. Thank you, EGN, thank you all. May God bless and keep you! I shall remain your most humble and obedient servant.

**cephalopod** · January 2nd, 2004, 08:26 PM

We're posting the EGN demise email as a news item at the Thirdwave portal; hopefully if you DO decide to make some kind of last ditch outreach effort it will help.

--

That said, I guess I should jump into the 'here's an alternative to EGN's sinking ship' pool by stating that the Thirdwave Collective forums are here for you.

Most of them are public, ie, you dont have to be a member band just to use them.

Should one determine that more direct involvement in TWC is for you, great, follow the instructions. Otherwise, our forums are totally open to the hard electronic music community.

We're not going anywhere but up, as we're completely self sustaining.

Hosting is on a private server on multi-homed T-1's.

No profit motives to derail us.

Just good ole fashioned gabbing in a nice modern forum environment.

Site lives here:
http://thirdwavecollective.com

Thanks,