Rushmore.fm launches artist accounts and live video broadcasts for its Wikipedia-style music service
Artists can now sign-up and claim their channel on Rushmore.fm, a Wikipedia-style music service that allows fans to post news, concert dates and other information about their favorite bands, singers and DJs.
Before now, Rushmore.fm relied upon its community of passionate music fans to maintain and update its artist database. Now, the artists themselves can jump in, update their channel and share what they’ve been up to.
To mark the occasion, Rushmore.fm is launching a new feature on the site: video broadcasts. Available both live and on-demand, artists can quickly host a stream on their channel and begin sharing some exclusive moments with their fans. Rushmore.fm suggests it could be used for rehearsals, sharing a new song, or tour bus antics – anything that might appeal to their followers.
Unfortunately, video broadcasts aren’t available to everyone just yet. Rushmore.fm is offering the feature to a select number of groups, solo acts, producers, DJs and musicians to begin with, although it didn’t specify who they are or the total number that have been selected.
It’s also worth noting that at this stage, Rushmore.fm isn’t giving artists full control over their channels. The site has two tiers for members – fans and editors – and the latter will be able to continue editing an artist’s profile page, regardless of whether it’s been claimed or not.
A Rushmore.fm spokesperson told TNW: “We think that it’s a great and unique experience that the artists are coexisting with the fans and that it’ll be very useful for the artists to have fans producing content for them.” They added that giving artists the ability to set custom editing permissions is a “possibility”.
The firm has also revealed that it’s working on an iPhone and iPad app. There’s no official word on when these might hit the App Store, but it would be a welcome addition for fans who want to make edits, check their news feed or watch live video broadcasts on the move.
Rushmore.fm, which opened its doors to the public last December, is an intriguing proposition. The service will thrive or die based on its community, because aside from some early data taken by a third-party API, all of its edits and submissions are user-created. It uses a slick leaderboard system called The 300 to encourage users to make regular contributions, but the jury is out on whether that’ll be enough to keep its artist information up to date.
Read Next: This is Rushmore.fm, a Wikipedia-style music platform to help you follow your favorite artists
Image Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images
