hang on raf - please be careful - many friends may not want to join . i think you should let the site speak for itself - not have to pay people to get others to join. whats in it for you?
(i could do with a few hundred dollars to get these monitor speakers i'm saving for: dynaudio BM5a's)

A strange twist to Kompoz. I'm all for new members, but not sure about the angle. This is quite surprising to me.

It's not uncommon to tap exiting members as a source for new members. Refer-A-Friend is probably the most common lo-fi "viral" way of growing a community. The $100 is just a little incentive to get existing members to make the effort. But hey, I'm open to other ideas if you guys have any. BTW: We've already had a few new confirmed members through this program.

Bummer. All my friends are already here.

Ben and Rick
Why don't you like this angle? I'm not for it or against it, I was just wondering where you saw the issue. I do this a lot at work with my existing client base and they get free service or discounted service. It seems to work.

I see where you're coming from, and its probably an obvious idea given that everyone could use a few quid, but my concern is that with all the empty projects already on here- which i guess would equate on the whole to usernames not in use - that it becomes a numbers game - I think it is better to concentrate on the quality of membership, not how many members there are - since this says little about the site.
If we're talking viral, then how about the old addage that quality sells itself?
This site is developing qualitywise and it'd be a shame to cheapen that.
I don't understand how numbers equals revenue for you Raf - could you fill in the gaps please?
better might be to offer that money as a monthly competition prize, or plough it into a fund to help the site get even better (kompoz records?, paying for tracks to get played on the radio?, a Kompoz music club in Miami?) - I know it sounds a bit idealistic but why not - i really think that if you concentrate on the quality of the core service itself then given time, everything else will follow.
another important point is what about encouraging existing members to think about HOW they collaborate and maybe look at doing things from a new angle - ie what they may have written -off in the past as unworkable, if they put something up that they may not have donw before the collaboration circle may grow?
i think I've got verbal diahorrea.
it'd be interesting to stratify the types of collaboration and see which areas people are drawn to. for instance - tose that come on here with a fully completed song - maybe needinga couple of vocal bits (1 part) could be given a kompoz grade 1.
those who come with a decent sketch of an idea and say get stuck in, you can change the piece and remix etc, needs lots of input could be given a grade 5 and so on. this way the projects with potential would go to the top of the pile since that's the MO of the site.

Ben, you said "I think it is better to concentrate on the quality of membership, not how many members there are".

That's exactly right, which is why I'm hoping you'll refer your friends. I'm after people you already know, trust, and jam with. Those are the types of members we want. You're also more likely to get participation (fewer empty projects) if your friends are working with you. If I wanted raw numbers, I could easily buy a mailing list. There are many ways to get raw numbers up. But I (we all) want quality members.

You also said, "I don't understand how numbers equals revenue".

The fact is, numbers do equal revenue. More numbers means more traffic. The bigger the site membership, the more interest from sponsors and partners. And that results in bigger contest, bigger prizes, and potential ad revenue. The site has to pay its bills!

Raf,

It's a legitimate (and generou$) thing for you to do, people like me are always trying to lure my musical cohorts from past & present endeavors on here ANYWAY, , not mentioning of course this place has already uncovered a few more virtual band members for me to collaborate on. Good luck with the generation of REVENUE! It's ok to make money while providing an awesome place like this where we can pioneer these incredible musical endeavors and make relationships beyond anything we have ever been able to do prior!

Viva La Kompoz!

hmmmm...... Raf you made a good point about the quality of the members. Why would I refer someone that would not contribute...... We all want more musicians on here that will actually put up stuff that we can join. I never looked at your new idea from that angle. I agree now that this is a great way to find new contributing members. After being here for awhile now I can see the size of the circles of the performers here and it would be great to grow more. As I said before nothing is more annoying then to see all those new projects created with no tracks uploaded on the front page. ( this isn't a ploy to change the subject)

UPDATE: We added a Banners and Links page to help you spread the word!