SectionZ

Infobox Website
name = SectionZ



caption = SectionZ Listener website
url = http://www.sectionz.com/
commercial = No
type = Electronic Musicians Community + Listener's Portal
registration = E-mail address required for listener downloading of songs, full registration required for artist membership
owner = Community Owned
author = Joshua 'Z' Hernandez
launch date = 1997
current status = Active

SectionZ (http://sectionz.com) is a community that has existed for nine years (its roots going back to 1997). In its current iteration, SectionZ is a collaborative effort between thousands of registered independent artists that post music daily for peer-review.

One SectionZ artist, deadmau5, has released an album on SectionZ Records as a paid download on iTunes. More SectionZ artists are planned to be signed to the label, and several compilation CDs and mix-CDs (in addition to the single compilation CD already up for sale) are in the works.

About SectionZ

"From http://www.sectionz.com/about.asp"

"Since 1997 SectionZ.com has been an artist-only electronica community. The community strives to provide a platform for people who are interested in learning about the construction and philosophies of electronic music.

We feel that peer interaction, along with informative content, is the best vehicle for understanding the ins and outs of this fast progressing medium, and hope to change according to the needs of our members.

In 2005, Joshua 'Z' Hernandez, the founder of SectionZ gave the community the official label of "The True Electronic Music Underground", asserting its roots and affirming its niche in the world of online musicians communities."

The current version of Section Z is called "Onyx". It is being released in a series of "waves". This includes a new codebase, interface, and file system, amongst other things.

Network Sites

http://www.sectionz.com - flagship website where community members upload, download and review music as well as interact in a social network
http://www.sectionzmusic.com - this website was created specifically for non-artists or fans of SectionZ community members to easily browse and listen to music on the fly without the hassle of complicated interfaces and signups
http://www.sectionzrecords.com - startup label that mostly produces and publishes compilations of community music
http://www.analoguesamples.com - purchased in 2004 from Bjorn Fogelberg the site was slightly redesigned but kept intact with a library of over 20GB of analog based synth samples and tons of old synth manuals

Exposure and Press

• SectionZ was the official community for FL Studio - Becomes a separate entity in 2002
• Joshua 'Z' Hernandez, the founder of SectionZ has been featured on a Chicago radio station ( [http://wnur.org WNUR 89.3FM Chicago] ) on the [http://streetbeat.wnur.org Streetbeat] program regarding the growing success and expansion of the community. Music by SectionZ artists was played amongst other commercial tracks as a part of the regular radio show. Audio can be found [http://www.sectionzmusic.com/detail.asp?SZID=17145 here] .
• Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org) lists SectionZ amongst SoundClick, ccMixter, and The Freesound Project as a 'featured audio site' that is compatible with CC licenses. (http://creativecommons.org/audio).
• SectionZ Music is featured on Fox News Chicago AM show as a destination for underground electronic music, citing Chicago's history with electronic music as one of the reasons for the sites importance - (http://www.foxchicago.com/_ezpost/data/36324.shtml)
• SectionZ is home to the Summer Electronic Music Games - In 2004 this major electronic music competition drew over 218 entries and awarded over $15,000 in prizes. All awards shows were broadcast via shoutcast live. The next SEMG will be held in 2008
• Future plc's Computer Music Magazine runs a blurb about the Summer Electronic Music Games in 2004 (http://www.computermusic.co.uk/news/news.asp)
• April, 1st 2006 - SectionZ.com's prank makes Wiki April 1 list under Fake News & Announcements - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_1,_2006)

History

SectionZ as a community began in 1997 under the name Project_Z when a group of artists banded together to create what they considered to be the 1st online only band. Although this claim was never proven nor disproved they created a series of tracks that topped the Illbient charts at MP3.com for some time. The members were Joshua 'Z' Hernandez, Vangelis, RubyRax(ROTOR), Eric ‘Sheba‘ Jones, ManzTrax and Duke Leto.

Project_Z continued to grow as people emailed MP3s daily, Joshua 'Z' Hernandez painstakingly posting them to his static Web site. In 2000 all of that changed when the first database driven version of SectionZ was developed. This Web site pioneered a linking shout outbox, communal music reviewing and for the first time uploading of project files to collaborate with other users online. A horrible Pepto-bismol colored website grew rapidly with a new version of the site released mid 2001, at which point Z crossed paths with Alec 'Unit' Miller whose expertise catapulted SectionZ into a new era. Along with Dan 'Aerolith' Lasky and Todd 'Izerian' McMullen SectionZ 5.0 was launched in September 2003.

2003 also saw the launch of the 1st SectionZ Compilation CD with music by SectionZ artists including Deadmau5, Substanze, Ionic, EvikOne, DJ Snowball, Miggs, DJ Caster, Vangelis, Toby Emerson, IgorZ and Ecstatic Frog. Although many compilations have been planned since then, this remained SectionZ's only release until March 2005. That's when it released a demo album by Deadmau5 titled "Get Scraped".

"From http://www.sectionz.com/semg.asp" - The summer of 2004 introduced the Summer Electronic Music Games (SEMG) with 12 weeks of events and competitions with over $15,000 in prizes, the largest Electronic Music competition of its kind. The competitions produced over 120 original tracks for all the challenges! The SEMG is held in parallel to the summer Olympiad. This means that the SEMG will be celebrated in 2008, 2012 etc. Rumors of a Winter Electronic Music Games have surfaced but not confirmed.

"From http://www.sectionzmusic.com" - On December 25, 2004 SectionZ launched SectionZMusic.com, a much requested portal for people who simply wanted to download and listen to music. Incorporating an integrated flash player that shows actual EQ data using SwiftMP3, the player allows users to listen and look at music.

In 2005 SectionZ underwent a series of upgrades but most noticeable was the establishment of social networking and other Web 2.0-like features that keep the site running strong. Among those, one of the most useful and practical features is the inclusion of RSS feeds for several aspects of the site, such as news, Top20 charts, and the Zhout communication system. Today SectionZ has over 12,000 members and half a million downloads between both of its main Web sites.

Future

On October 10th 2007 "Z" announced that he will be handing over the site to a suitable suitor and that appears to have become longtime member "eman8ions" [Aug 2007] . eman8ions and a handful of core members are in planning phases for the rebirth of this once and future vibrant community.

Features

• SectionZ is broken up into two web sites, one for artists, with a bunch of tools for content administration and one for listeners, which provides a simple interface for the browsing and listening of music
• Registered users can post music tracks that they have composed/produced for download by others
• Besides MP3 files SectionZ allows its members to upload specific project files for FL Studio, Reason, Project 5, Trackers and more
• Downloaders of tracks, if registered, can leave reviews and ratings which determine the site's Top20 charts
• Registered users can use the 'Zhout'-box to communicate quickly and easily with other site members
• There are forums for discussing topics such as music production and other related subjects
• Registered users can form 'networks' with other members by becoming 'friend's with them, also allowing them to subscribe to those friends and receive e-mails when they upload tracks
• Groups can be formed where members of the group can post 'group-projects' and post discussion topics related to the group
• SectionZ features support for Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org) licenses to be applied to tracks upon upload
• News, updates, and industry press releases are regularly announced on the site's [http://sectionz.com homepage]
• SectionZ features a podcast which can be found at http://blog.sectionz.com, which features episodes by Z (the founder), Buddha, Mightymarg, and Draconum. The podcasts typically feature music, SectionZ news, and member interviews.
• SectionZ has an IRC channel at irc.nitrousnet.net #sectionz. There is a Java applet on the website at http://sectionz.com/chat.asp for those without an IRC client.
• Profile: After registering for an account, the user can edit his or her profile. Profiles include such information as name, interests, bios, etc.
• Help: This section of the website contains a very in-depth coverage of various questions, concerns, and problems.
• Contact Us: Allows a user to contact the manager of the site
• Networks: Being an online community, SectionZ naturally has a MySpaceesque friends/contact system. Users can count other users of their choice as contacts, or as friends.
• Upload: This feature allows users to upload almost their file to the SectionZ server. Users can upload .mp3 format audio files, DJ mixes, FL Studio projects, Project5 files, trackers, Reason files, Reaktor files, Orion files, or goodies, which can range from samples to images.

Podcasts

Since September 2005, SectionZ has featured a podcast which can be obtained via:

• [http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=80564928&s=143441 iTunes Subscribe]
• [http://feeds.feedburner.com/SectionzElectronicMusiciansCommunityPodcast FeedBurner]
• [http://www.podcastalley.com/podcast_details.php?pod_id=10631 Podcast Alley]

There are currently six different podcasts which are produced by different members of SectionZ, all available at the above links:

• The ZCast, the original SectionZ podcast, is produced by Z, but in recent months it usually only appears to announce contest winners or other special events; other podcasts such as SideTracked or Mightymix have since taken responsibility for producing general music podcasts recently.
• The Mightycast (also known as the Mightymix, depending on who you ask) is produced by Mightymarg
• SideTracked is produced by Draconum
• The Budpod is produced by Buddha, and continues the tradition of the long-missed chart shows that he produced about two years prior to the introduction of the ZCast.
• From the Collective is produced by Azrane, focusing on music by artists that haven't had a lot of exposure (low downloads) or that have been inactive for a long time.
• The Codcast is produced by codstar.

References