I hope this isn’t too long, but thanks for reading if you make the distance!
Firstly, I think the Pirate team is doing a great job and it’s a great platform. The competitions for one are a great feature. This creates projects/deadlines for us learning the DJ/production ropes.
I would suggest thinking about rewarding highly engaged community members. The reward itself is up to you Pirate. I think studio credit is always a good one as that’s why we are all here ay (the studios).
But rewards should be offered to members that regularly post and reply to other members. I’ve seen many members actually offer a solution to a support query for example. Essentially, a contribution that has a positive impact within the community should qualify. Other examples may include referring another member for a guest spot on a radio show, a collaboration with another artist, providing constructive and actionable feedback on a DJ or production mix etc you get the jist. Introducing a system like this obviously has its complexities, and introduces rules, as simply a reply on a thread shouldn’t qualify, for example, maybe it’s voted up or down or if the original poster likes a response then that qualifies/ranks the response. I hope that does makes sense…
Alongside rewards, the status would also be welcomed I would think. A similar model to a community-driven site like Stack Overflow. Highly engaged members e.g “super users” are offered an optional status with a badge avatar. This will indicate to other members that they are trusted and open to giving advice etc but maybe you would still need additional labels like “tech support” or “production tips” so it’s a bit more defined and easier for people to reach out to others.
The feedback itself is tricky, maybe I speak for myself here but for people still learning, you are eager to give constructive feedback to other members but are worried you might give the wrong advice whether technical or more abstract but something to think about. Are there some members with a lot of experience that are easily able to contribute and this maybe ties into the above statuses etc?
Lastly, (I promise…) echoing @Pirate_Gareth feedback regarding A&R, are there any members that work in this space that can offer advice or help with reaching out to labels etc. Maybe that is a dedicated thread or a directory/resource which lists some opted-in contacts?
Cheers and hope this helps.