Web developers wanted!
Published Thu, 18 Aug 2011. Comments »
Hi all!
is Music is looking for web developers! Currently, the complete website is built by only one individual: Mark. Our entire team consists of only two people, which includes Oscar of course. Because we're doing more and more things over time, and still have many ideas in our heads, we're looking for a second developer to help us with this.
About is Music
As mentioned earlier, is Music consists of a team of only two people but has the potential to be bigger. A young team as well, as Oscar and Mark are both still attending university. We're driven by two things. One: We love music! Two: We love to make your music globally available!
Let's begin with that formal list of things :)
Qualifications, required skills:
- You should be located in the Netherlands and Dutch should be your native tongue.
- Know object oriented programming!
- Know what the MVC model is
- PHP5, (My)SQL, ORMs, HTML4/5, CSS3, JavaScript
- Know how to use SVN
- A passion for music!
Nice to have:
- Knowledge of the Zend Framework
- Knowledge about Doctrine or Propel (we use Propel)
- Knowledge of design patterns such as the decorator pattern, observer
- Experience with jQuery
- Experience with Linux and/or server management
- Experience with installing and configuring the Apache webserver
- Experience with manually compiling and configuring PHP
- Experience building Adobe Flash applications
What you get
Now that's a tricky one. Unfortunately, we can't offer a big salary. We're making just enough money to pay for our services every month. But this may not be a bad thing, we still have a start-up mentality and the code is ruling. New features are implemented quickly. So if you like to code, love music and are interested in combining those two, is Music could be the place for you!
Furthermore, we also meet with each other on a regular basis, that's why also you should be located in the Netherlands :) These meetings are both formal and casual. Usually we start discussing stuff concerning is Music and once done, we grab a beer or two, enjoy a movie, go downtown and hit some bars or clubs, or go to other parties. No need to emphasize that we have a lot of fun doing what we do!
Interested? E-mail us!
So if you are interested in helping is Music out (or know someone who may be, that's also fine) and the above sounds like fun, send me an e-mail at . It is greatly appreciated.
Hope to hear from you guys!
Link your is Music and Facebook accounts (updated Jun 14)
Published Sat, 11 Jun 2011. Comments »
As an experimental new feature, you can now connect your is Music and Facebook accounts! This allows you to share your mixtapes on Facebook even easier than already was possible. When uploading, you're used to the fact that you can select 'publish immediately', which immediately publishes the mixtape on is Music. Now, there's an additional check box that allows you to immediately publish your mixtape on Facebook!
To connect your is Music and Facebook accounts, simply edit your profile via the dashboard, or directly go to http://www.is-music.net/user/profile
Update June 14: We had some issues that had to with your is Music and Facebook account connections being lost. We've added a fix for this, let's see if it works.
Furthermore, if you have a subscription and are allowed direct download, your mixtape is now embedded on Facebook when your link is liked! That means people can immediately listen to your mixtape on Facebook.
Meet the team: Mark
Published Thu, 21 Apr 2011. Comments »
Another interview in the 'Meet the team' series. is Music is a small team, but just to let you know who the people are behind it we've set up some small interviews with each other.
So Mark, we finally got a small interview with you. Give us an introduction.
So yeah, I'm Mark and I'm from the Netherlands as well as Oscar. I live in Enschede and have been studying for seven years now. First I studied software engineering and now I'm busy to obtain a double master degree at the University of Twente. One in Computer Science and the other one in Human Media Interaction.
Why two masters, was one not enough?
Well, I started with Computer Science since that was the obvious choice at the moment. But when I got to know the University a bit I noticed other masters that also seemed really interesting, and are more about what I want to do with my knowledge. With Computer Science the chances are big that you work on some backend system, while with Human Media Interaction you… well, the name says it all doesn't it :)
Interesting! Now, let's get to is Music. How did you join the team?
In the beginning of 2009, Oscar was looking for someone who could help him maintain is Music. Through Kris Redding we got in touch. Oscar explained the idea of is Music and the fact that he wanted to create a place on the internet where people can easily share music with each other for free (or a fair amount of money) allured me. So here I am!
What are your responsibilities for is Music?
Basically I'm responsible for every technical piece. That includes maintaining the server, but also developing the website, setting up backups, implementing new features. And I can tell you, that's a lot of work and takes up a lot of time, so if you know someone who is a skilled developer and lives in the Netherlands, do let me know. It's currently a one man job, but to get rewarded by the appreciation from our DJ's is great.
Can you provide us with some technical technical details for those who are interested?
Sure! is Music runs on a single dedicated web server in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It is equipped with two Intel Xeon 3.2 GHz dual-core processors and 2 gigs of memory. It runs CentOS Linux, which is very much like RedHat or Fedora systems. We run Apache as our web server, MySQL is our database backend and we develop the website entirely in PHP. There are some bash scripts involved, but mostly it's PHP that does the job for us. The website is as much possible written in object-oriented PHP. The Zend Framework is used as our engine and provides the Model-View-Controller pattern. For database interaction we use Propel, which is an object-relational mapper and allows us to communicate with our database in an object-oriented manner.
Well that's indeed a very technical talk. Where do you see is Music in one year?
Haha, yeah, I know, but some people will find it interesting. It's difficult to talk about where I see is Music a year from now. A lot of things can happen in a year. We still have the idea to organize an is Music Live party where our DJ's provide the music of course. But there are also lots of things that can happen to the website. We still have some things and leads that we want to realize as some of you may know already from other postings we made. In a year I at least hope that we've found a second developer that can help in building and maintaining is Music.
Thanks Mark, nice to get to know some things to know about the persons behind is Music!
You're very much welcome, I hope people enjoyed it too!
is Music v4. What's new?
Published Thu, 21 Apr 2011. Comments »
So here it is. The new look and feel, as well as a complete new backend for is Music. Not everything is working yet, but we had to make a decision between releasing it now and gradually introduce the missing features, or have you guys wait for another few weeks. We decided the first option.
This version of is Music is code named Windshield and introduces a complete new engine for our website. This new engine lets us introduce new features faster and easier, which is a major advantage for you guys, as well as ourselves. Over the couple of weeks we will introduce the missing features that you are used to have. This most importantly includes statistics and events. After that, it's time to optimize the entire system and speed up some things to optimize the browsing experience.
Your dashboard
We hope that this new layout provides a better interface for you, our DJ's, and you'll like it. In the previous version of is Music we already introduced the dashboard. We've now elaborated on that and your dashboard is now the portal to everything you as a DJ can do on this website.
Socialize more
Much like Twitter, we've introduced followers. You can follow other DJ's and you'll receive their updates in your dashboard timeline. For example when a new mixtape has been posted, or someone posts a message in a group. This will hopefully bring more interaction and social aspects to is Music.
Much more..
More is to come, and more is already here. Just check back with us every once in a while and we'll keep you guys updated about new features that we will introduce as soon as possible, starting with the statistics and events.
Comments?
Let us know in the comments or head over to the forums and let us know!
