Liverpool Acoustic 5th birthday and 2013 survey results

 

 

Happy birthday to us!

Yes, the Liverpool Acoustic website started life on 20th April 2008, making us five years old today.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years by giving us help, encouragement, and constructive feedback.

Thanks also to everyone who has shared their time and voice by contributing reviews of live music or recordings.

Survey 2013 results

Thank you to everyone who took part in our survey. It’s always good to get feedback, and from what you’ve been saying it’s nice to know we’re moving in (roughly) the right direction.

This is how the answers broke down.

Q. How do you access the News and Reviews items?

77% – receive it via email
27% – visit the website on a regular basis
23% – see them posted on facebook
14% – see them posted on twitter

Comment: If you’re in the 33% who don’t receive new items via email but would like to, click here.

 

Q. What do you think of the frequency of new news and review items?

14% – Could do with more
68% – Just right
18% – Too many

Comment: We seem to be getting this one about right for most of you.

 

Q. What would you like to see more of? (click all that apply)

41% – Happy with current mix
36% – Live reviews
27% – Music reviews
23% – Interviews
14% – Opinion pieces
9% – Competitions

Comment: in the ‘Other’ space we had ‘Gig opportunities’ and ‘Open mic night reviews’.
We’d like to cover more live music events and open mic nights, but that would need more reviewers joining the team. We’ll be writing about that in the future, but if you want to start contributing now then get in touch.

 

Q. What do you access the website on?

95% – Desktop computer or laptop
23% – Smartphone
9% – Tablet

Comment: We hope the mobile version of the website is useful to those of you using smartphones, and that you can find what you want.

 

Q. Which pages do you visit?

91% – Diary
91% – Live events
73% – Artists
45% – Links

Comment: Not surprisingly the Diary is one of our most popular pages, along with the page showing details of our future Live Events.
Q. What’s missing from the website?

“Maybe a different featured artist each month?”
A couple of people said this, and we have done it in the past. The original format for the Liverpool Acoustic Spotlight featured one artist each month, but this changed when our live events came along. Something to consider for the future?

“It might be useful to know where listed events are exclusively acoustic or open to other musicians.”
We’ll certainly bear this in mind when we’re adding new events or updating current ones.

“The difference between coming and not coming to a gig can be hearing the artists – so links to music where possible.”
Fair point. We’ve started embedding Soundcloud songs next to entries on the Artists page, and we’ll try to add more as and when we update entries or add new people.

 

Q. Anything else? – here’s a selection of responses

“It’s fine for me as it is. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”

“Very grateful for the service. Thanks.”

“Really appreciate the round up of acoustic events as it’s sometimes the only way of finding out about new ones starting up.”

“The service is great, Delighted that someone is doing it.”

“How about more Liverpool Acoustic open mics?”
We’d love to do more. If you’d like to help make our Liverpool Acoustic Afternoon a monthly event then get in touch.

“More live reviews, 2-3 a month is hardly much especially as one of those is generally an in-house show.”
Comment: Fair enough. We’d love to cover more live events, and give a flavour of the regular open mic nights across the regions. However, this needs more people willing to review events (see earlier comment).

“The Liverpool Acoustic site and the News and Reviews are an essential tool for any music fan in the Merseyside area. The content mix between View Two events and other events is suprisingly well balanced, well done Graham for being unbiased.”
Comment: <blush>

“It’s ok, but more lists of open mic nights for instance. Bristol has a list that musicians can check at a glance that is up to date , just an idea!”
Comment: Would anyone else find a separate page just listing open mic nights useful? We could make an extra diary for it, or simply add ‘OM’ in front of the name of all open mics in the current diary.

“The website (and associated social media spin-offs) generally do a good job and, as an occasional visitor to Merseyside, I find it very useful when looking for opportunities to play at local open mics and suchlike – even though I play an electronic instrument rather than an acoustic one.”

“Liverpool Acoustic claim to be championing the local “Acoustic” scene, but are happy to review albums which have very little “Acoustic” content depending on which Artist has released them. This is all well and good, but on other occasions, Liverpool Acoustic refuse to review Albums which have a predominant “Acoustic” theme because they contain too many elements which aren’t deemed “Acoustic”. I can only assume that this is also because of which Artist has released them. Liverpool Acoustic should really make their mind up, they are NOT an authority on what constitutes “Acoustic” Music but are merely self-appointed judges who pick and choose what Music they review based on their connection to the Artist in question.”
Comment: You are correct, we aren’t an authority on what constitutes ‘acoustic music’. More often than not we review music because a musician/manager/promoter has asked us directly. When this happens we do our best to find someone to review it, but we can’t always fit things in. In the past we’ve had individual reviewers decline a request to review new music because they didn’t feel it was acoustic enough. That’s not an editorial decision by the website, but a personal decision by a reviewer. If we had more people on our reviewing team with wider musical tastes then we’d be able to broaden the musical reach of the website.

 

Good news

We asked you to share some of your good news stories – thanks to those of you who did. Here’s a selection.

“I’m from Crewe and often play in Liverpool due to the information the site provides.”

“I have discovered many new musicians and wonderful venues promoting live music in Liverpool as a result of using the site. The View Two Gallery is like a ‘second home’ where we are always made to feel welcome and enjoy listening to a wide variety of musical styles in a magical setting. The site provides a fantastic resource, particularly the monthly diary which alerts me to many events I would otherwise miss. The reviews/links to musicians’ websites make it easy to discover new artists. I reguarly play CDs purchased during musical events we’ve attended, so an evening out provides endless hours of pleasure! Thank you for all the hard work you put into supporting live music and for making our time in Liverpool so rewarding and exciting.”

“Thank’s to your site we have seen so many great musicians that we would never have known about. The News section gives ideas for a cold wet Wednesday like no other site does.”

“We have been away from playing in Liverpool for a while, but are now looking for gigs in the NW. Liverpool Acoustic is the best site for any region that I have found, it is all easy to access and understand. Don’t know how you improve it (other than giving us a slot at the next View Two Gallery showcase!)

“Only last week I visited the Wirral to stay with relatives for a few days.  On my first day in the area I tweeted about possibly looking for an open mic to play at and included @LpoolAcoustic in the tweet. You then retweeted my post and it was picked up by a musician who was able to provide with the gen on several possible gigs on the Wirral and I went to one of those he suggested. Social networking in action.”

“The website was very beneficial for myself and a friend as we are from Warrington and wanted to attend open-mic scene. Your website was a God-send (particularly the diary function).”

“Got the chance to play at this year’s Threshold because of Liverpool Acoustic and in turn received some great feedback and secured another gig from someone who saw us there.”

“Keep up the good work guys, without the website and gig diary I would never have known where to start in Liverpool.”

 

Prize draw

Once again, thanks to everyone who contributed to the survey. Everyone who left their name was entered into a draw to win two tickets to any future Liverpool Acoustic Live event.

The winner is: Tony Ford

 

 

>>>>

Liverpool Acoustic 5th birthday and 2013 survey results