“Muddy Waters rode the 61. So did Bob Dylan, Ike Turner, and B.B. King. Elvis grew up in the housing projects along it.”
I have blogged previously about websites mixing music and social networking, and this week I bring you another: The Sixtyone. The site runs like YouTube – anyone can upload music that they’ve created and then users decide what makes the front page by “hearting” songs they’ve listened to. Users are then rewarded for participating in this democratic experience with reputation and achievements, also gained by completing ‘quests.’ Users can also level up their influence by being the first to recognize music that will achieve popularity.
“Highway 61 was the road by which people left to find better opportunities. And by leaving they took their music to the world.”
But of course, money has to be involved somewhere. Credits are available for purchase and can then be spent to purchase songs or albums from artists, or even simply to “tip” artists, similar to the tip jar function on Kongregate.
It’s like its own music industry. It gives striving artists a great opportunity to find success among music lovers and lets listeners be at the core of the process of success.