
Ask HN: Review my startup, iwantmyvinyl.com - iwantmyvinyl
I&#x27;m looking for feedback from indie artist and from people that buy vinyl from them. How should I improve the website?<p>I need artists that want to sign up Start a New Vinyl project, upload the album cover and some samples.<p>I need fans that sign up to the service and add records to the wantlist.<p>http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.iwantmyvinyl.com&#x2F;
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JeffreyKaine
Designer/Product Person here.

Product: As others here have said, you are a two sided marketplace, but you
have a really strong value prop to indie artists. I'd make the homepage about
building crowdfunding campaigns for indie bands rather than the consumer side
of your marketplace. You really need to fill up your supply, and that will
increase the demand side. This happens because your artists likely already
have a following who would want your product.

UX: Your primary CTAs (call to actions) compete slightly with your secondary
CTAs. I'd consider using color for your primary and something greyscale for
your secondary actions. Also, try to have only one primary CTA on the page.

I'd ditch the categories for now as well, you don't have the stock to divide
it up like that. the result will be that your catalogue will feel empty.

Visual Design: overall a decent direction. I'd try really hard to keep
everything gridded up though. At 1280px wide, you don't have things aligned
down the left and the right, this makes the user's eye jump around the screen
instead of moving smoothly down the page. Try using a grid system and sticking
to it.

Logo: It feels a little off balance, if you found a way to make the dot of the
I the hole of the record I think the logo would lay out nicely and better
reflect your company.

Overall I think this is an awesome start!

~~~
iwantmyvinyl
Thanks a lot for your comments. I will do the changes you mentioned. Thanks
again!!

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flashman
I think you're wrongly focusing on the fans instead of the bands - you are
Kickstarter for vinyl.

Here are some potential competitors whose service you could beat or
streamline:

* [http://www.mobineko.com/](http://www.mobineko.com/)

* [https://www.onecutvinyl.com/](https://www.onecutvinyl.com/)

* [http://www.palominorecordspressing.com/](http://www.palominorecordspressing.com/)

* [http://www.urpressing.com/](http://www.urpressing.com/)

Direct your homepage messaging towards artists: "Crowdfund your band's vinyl
release. You upload your songs and artwork and tell your fans. We take their
orders and ship them the finished product."

Drop the messaging to listeners. Once you become known for vinyl pressing and
fulfilment, you can focus on getting fans to suggest you to bands.

~~~
iwantmyvinyl
I have another landing page for artists
[http://www.iwantmyvinyl.com/artists](http://www.iwantmyvinyl.com/artists),
but it's not the main landing page. Is that what you are referring to? maybe I
should put that one as the main page.

~~~
flashman
Yes, I think that should be the message you build your site around. Your
homepage looks good though, it just needs to be aimed at artists.

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siquick
Sounds like some crossover with [https://qrates.com/](https://qrates.com/)

As someone who has been buying vinyl from independent/underground artists and
labels for nearly 20 years, and buys 4-5 records a month, I can't say that
I've ever once thought that I could be bothered to 'force' artists to release
on vinyl if they don't want to.

The sales numbers would likely be so low, and the margins so tight that you
would need to get insane volume to generate revenue. Are you working with
pressing plants directly? If not, forget about it.

You're also presuming that fans are going to want to upload stuff for you,
you'd be better off seeding the site with content yourself to get things
going. There's nothing more offputting than an empty two-sided marketplace
(which is essentially what you are building).

I think it's a fun idea but you really need to get some product market fit
before you take this further. Good luck.

Disclaimer - I have a lot of contact with independent artists and labels from
running [https://www.soundshelter.net/](https://www.soundshelter.net/)

------
dyeje
I'm an artist probably in your target demographic.

Here's some feedback

1\. Include some info about how it works for artists on the page. I didn't
realize there was a video with an explanation. Also, fix the popup for the
video.

2\. Cleanup the links in the bottom section. They don't work right now. Also,
the 'Sign Up Now' goes off the edge.

3\. Provide some details about the process of actually pressing the record.
Getting a vinyl record pressed is quite a bit of work. There are a lot of
details that go into one. Bands are going to want to know what their final
product will be and what they need to provide. Or are you not involved with
the pressing at all and this is just a crowd funding site? If so, why should I
pick you over an established platform like Kickstarter??

~~~
iwantmyvinyl
Hi I have a page www.iwantmyvinyl.com/artists that tells how it works for
artists, but based on your comment and another one it seems it is not easily
accessible. I'm going to add more details regarding the pressing and what do
the artists need to provide.

thank you for taking the time to write!! and please let me know if you have
any other comments.

------
wingerlang
Maybe add some projects.

~~~
iwantmyvinyl
I'm looking for indie bands that would like to try the platform.

