Promoting JackTrip

General Discussion
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I see great merit in making music together online and it is not in this forum that I have to convince anyone of this.
The people I know in person, however, are rather difficult to convince and even if they are interested, the technical requirements of playing in a virtual studio with fast internet are beyond their capabilities.

How can I find people to play with on JackTrip?

Finding people willing and capable and not too far away is a real challenge. Finding JackTrip users in Europe is, for the moment, next to impossible. Other platforms allow meeting new people, but chances are limited, as most of the time nothing is happening on these platforms.

To change this, I have designed several strategies.

In JamKazam I program recurring sessions with certain musical genres I like. In each session there are 6 complete arrangements of emblematic tunes. The tunes are played by Band-in-a-Box, the melody being replaced by a BiaB soloist for copyright reasons. As soon as someone joins the session, the track corresponding to the instrument in question can be muted in BiaB while the rest of the backing continues playing. The advantage is that there is never a boring or empty session, and one gets into the groove instantly (or not if it is really not your genre). Those who wish can leave me their address for future sessions in JackTrip.

A second strategy consists in raising awareness of the possibility of JackTrip among professional musicians who have a greater reach than I and eventually spread the good news. Their example would be invaluable for a wider adoption of this technology. If they give lessons, they can do so on JackTrip and play together with their students. There is a possible multiplier effect. And, of course, they can broadcast live concerts on FB and YT.

A third strategy concerns social media, but I still lack compelling video content. More videos of ordinary people making music together as if they were in the same room but remotely would help a lot. Occasionally someone shows interest in the topic and there may be a possibility for making music together.

You wonder why I am doing all this not having any financial interest in JackTrip?

I am a musician, but I do not want to spend my time on the road. I want to meet other musicians and stay musically in touch with friends who are hundreds of km away. I am a longstanding believer in working remotely. I like more fluid means of making music together. I do not want to wait until the next pandemic for online music technology to prosper.

I hope that there will be an increasing number of people who push in this direction.

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Thank you @wollethom for this important discussion topic. I was especially drawn to your description of social features on other platforms. I believe @rebholland and others have asked about development of JackTrip’s social features. @miked @nwang

here’s some content: let’s build on this energy towards accessibility! I would love to see members here connecting for tech sessions. I believe that is what @rnordin and I are considering. He has never done JackTrip and has a spark to do it for the first time. He might cry. Let’s broadcast a first-timers experience. Preparation is everything for a successful 1st time experience. I think we’ll need a sponsored plan for it.

I’m just brainstorming out loud ya’all.

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Promoting JackTrip, and online music making platforms in general, is not a one off event but rather a process that takes time.
In addition to my different strategies outlined earlier I have created a dedicated YT channel where I intend to showcase what comes out of online sessions and also how this works and why it is of interest.
I record myself most of the time with JackTrip. The impact of this remains to be seen. Perhaps it could at least inspire some people. Have a look to this channel:
MakingMusicTogetherOnline

Have fun watching and let me know your thoughts.

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Check it out everyone! Thomas has a great sound and his videos are fun to watch. What would you like for Thomas to show you?
Making Music Together Online

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It takes time finding musical collaborations that permit to showcase what can be done with JackTrip.
Not everyone is comfortable posting content that is far from perfect.
My intuition is that we will soon be drowning in AI generated or AI assisted content that may push perfection to otherworldly levels.
As a reaction, we may be embracing imperfection which gives me the courage to post work in progress with “ordinary” people at work who have a different power of persuasion than any supra human production.
I am proud to share with you this little European experiment beyond frontiers and even beyond the channel.
Session 20 March 2024 St Ghislain

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@Synthia asked me to make a video about my setup as part of my endeavor to promote JackTrip.
I kept it deliberately unpolished because I have the intuition that we might prefer “real people” talking to real people.
Here it is Thomas’ Setup

Let me know what you think or any questions you might have.

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Thank you Thomas! I enjoyed this very much - classic old-timey music. I would like to hear it without the band-in-a-box drums. IMHO the sound of the canned drums was a bit low quality and was not in sync with the human musicians. Anyway, thank you for sharing this!

Listening to your setup video as I write and it is very clear and good information. Thank you!

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Thank you very much @Synthia , for your feedback. You are absolutely right the BiaB sound is not optimal. I can make it much better but that is not the aim, as BiaB is essentially a place holder to get started. The aim is, of course, to do everything with real musicians and I’m getting there but it takes time.
It was not the drums that were out of sync, as this track was uploaded to the server, but without a count-in the start was a bit compromised and it was the first time we were playing together. This is definitely not a flaw of JackTrip.

What I find somewhat funny is the appeal of this technology for people of my age. Perhaps this has to do with a greater tolerance to imperfection. There is this shared joy of doing something together however imperfect it may be. This is particularly an aspect of improvisation.

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Just wanted to mention that this is a big theme we’ve been working on, and the next big piece of the puzzle launched yesterday with Private Messaging. Check it out and let us know what you think. Search will be coming next.

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Thanks Mike, maybe do a topic on it - or start a new category - “Coming
Soon” or “Developer’s Bench”. That would probably get some clicks.

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Along the lines of an idea Thomas mentioned earlier in this thread about
an appreciation for real people interactions and that some folks are
endeared through human imperfections, I find that to be true for many
young and old.

And yet, I also find that many musicians, regardless of their ages, want
less real human interaction. They want to jam anonymously, no
commitments, no strings, no messages, no recordings, no broadcasts.

What if JackTrip thought more about ways to engage the anonymous
JackTripper? Free from worry about being ready for recording and
broadcasting, or making mistakes.

The anonymous JackTripper could be a major gateway to increased
engagement and adoption. One studio where the anonymous can go and see
who is there to play with.

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In theory, @Synthia, I agree with you. Some people prefer anonymity. The question remains whether this should be on JackTrip. There are already platforms that do just that. On these, video is a possibility but rarely used and those who need to hide behind avatars and fancy names are free to do so.
What I observe is that most of the time there are people who play more or less regularly together playing tunes they like. Then, occasionally, someone may enter a session with no respect for the people nor the music, makes a mess, gets ejected or retracts finally by himself.
Personally, what I find most attractive with JackTrip is precisely the possibility of playing together as if in the same room. It is important to see each other to be able to fully interact and to play as an ensemble. Unless there is some sort of visibility it is very difficult to convince others to embrace this technology.

This being said, I suppose technically it would not be difficult to arrange an event with no video and no recording. Anybody with a link can access, do his stuff, no traces left. Would this further JackTrip? I doubt, as those invited do not pay. Wanting to stay anonymous they are unlikely to subscribe to a paid plan. Not leaving a trace, their outreach would at best be zero.

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Video is optional on JackTrip, as is divulging who you are. We offer free accounts and don’t even ask for any personal information. Of course, using the studio as a public face enables it to represent groups of people (bands, choirs, etc). But as an individual, it also enables you to have multiple personna without having to create and juggle a bunch of different login/user accounts. It makes it low risk to try something out and discard it the next day. Perhaps you’re a jazz musician by day, but like to play metal at night?

We value privacy above all, and that is why everything is private by default. A lot of people are using JackTrip today that have no interest in finding other people, or having other people know anything about them. That is why people can’t currently discover anything about you on JackTrip unless you explicitly post something publicly, and why no one can barge in unwelcome on your sessions. But that leaning towards privacy (and security) makes it harder to find people who want to be found.

I am believer that content enhances the “matchmaking” experience. It’s one thing to read an online profile, and a completely different thing to watch or listen to someone play music. With or without video, this provides a much more vivid picture of what you can expect as part of a live session with someone. Time will tell, but I believe this element will help make JackTrip very unique and enable better and more fulfilling connections versus alternatives.

We do currently lack the ability to be found without having to post recorded content. That’s new functionality that we’re building out now, and it will be launched as part of other search capabilities in the not-too-distant future. It will still be an entirely opt-in system, but one that no longer requires posting public recordings to participate.

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@miked, what you mention in your last paragraph would indeed be a major improvement.
If well conceived it would allow me to identify JackTrip users in my geographical reach according to certain criteria, provided, of course, they consent to be found.

As an illustration: if I want to find jazz drummers not too far from Paris for a project I suppose I could ask them directly whether they are interested.
The same question in this user forum is probably unlikely to draw a lot of attention.