In 2005 I wrote the last prologue to the year ahead, in what proved to be the final such summary for that version of dnbscene. A year later, the site shut down permanently, consigned to history. At the dawn of 2012 I find myself residing over the anniversary of the site's first full year since its resurrection in December 2010 - a year of experimentation, trepidation and, most of all, contemplation - and the words of that 2005 entry resonate with me still. I have had a lot of time to reflect on why the site collapsed in 2006, and whilst this is not the place for a history lesson, it is important to keep sight of the main conclusions from those thoughts as the site moves forward into a critical year. But before I talk about 2012, I want to briefly go over 2011 with a view to illuminating some of the changes I will be making in the coming months.

I will start by explaining my intentions in relaunching the site in the first place. For that, I need to refer to a couple of themes from dnbscene's history which were recurrent to the end of the 2000-2006 era (which I will refer to as Version 1 from now on). The first, and most prominent, was our focus back then on building a hosting site for drum and bass producers, which would consolidate our offering to artists and fill a gap in the pre-MySpace/Soundcloud/Facebook-dominated era of the online music world. In simple terms, we wanted to create a home for drum and bass artists to represent themselves online within the niche and amongst the most relevant fans of that niche. I wanted to fulfil that vision, and the larger part of 2011 was spent coding up the site to do exactly that.
 
The second major theme of the Version 1 era was mastering the reviewing system. This has been a constant challenge from day one of the site's initial launch back in October 2000, and although the rating system itself is much improved since Version 1, the other problems associated with the whole process still exist and must be addressed. The weighted ratings system we have now was a prominent concept that never quite saw the light of day before the 2006 shutdown, so it was equally important for me to give that a runaround. 2011 saw its first real trial with some minor tweaks, but more importantly it has given me some important insights into its strengths and weaknesses. More on that later.

Growth, in terms of traffic, was slow in 2011. Two reasons for this: firstly, I haven't really pushed the marketing much because - secondly - the site's formula hasn't yet been cracked. Interestingly however, the characteristics of that traffic very closely mirror 2001, the first full year of Version 1: a small core of highly loyal visitors who visit the site regularly (over 70% of the site's visits are repeat visitors who drop in more than 20 times per month), and a strong, mature community spirit predominant. I have developed a fairly strong picture of the typical site user and his (yes, his) complaints and desires in relation to the site, thanks to a combination of a year's worth of analytics and a lot of direct feedback from members over the last 12 months. The bottom line is, it's a healthy start but not a spectacular one.

All of which leaves us at a startlingly similar crossroad to that which the site faced at the end of 2001, and where we go from here will determine whether the site succeeds on the second attempt or fizzles out like it did last time. The reason I mention the similarity is because there are, when you get to the heart of things, only two ways for the site to grow from here: go commercial or go streamlined. With Version 1 we took the first option which was phenomenally successful, but didn't last. This time around we will be taking the second option. Here are the reasons why:

• Going commercial means expanding into areas not specifically concerned with unsigned artists. For example, when we took this option in 2002 we ventured into club nights, video interviews, event reviews, and drum and bass news. In doing so the site lost its focus and started to compete directly with DOA and DNBA. We were the third largest drum and bass site in the world at one point, but the benefit to the unsigned artists on the site was minimal at best, as the reviews section was still dominated by a small core of artists, much as it is now and always was before. The community split into two and we felt ourselves constantly struggling with the dichotomy of which one we should be catering to. As a result, we didn't cater brilliantly to either. This time the site will remain 100% focused on unsigned artists, and all content and features will have direct relevance to that community.
• Because going commercial put us into direct competition with DOA and DNBA, the value of our community became diluted like it is on those sites, and we became locked into a race for visitor numbers instead of focusing on rewarding loyalty. As a result, the small group of dedicated reviewers and artists stayed small, with new members replacing old ones when the latter became bored of contributing, rather than adding to the group. Rewarding loyalty and encouraging contribution will be a very important site activity in 2012, and I will be introducing a number of changes throughout the year which will reward people for contributing to the site and encourage them to keep contributing over a longer period of time. This way, the community will grow in value rather than huge numbers, which is better for everybody concerned.
• The market is too small for another mainstream commercial site, as we found out in 2005. This is even more true now than it was then, when DNBA was only 5 years old and DOA had only just been re-christened Dogs On Acid. The internet now is a place of niches, and in order to succeed our niche has to be specific, and very very streamlined. This will also allow us to grow sensibly, as one of the problems we had in 2005 was that the site had simply become too big and cumbersome for 1 or 2 people to manage, and we had no way to really grow organically. This year, by focusing on streamlining rather than needlessly expanding in 20 different directions at once, I will be able to manage the growth sensibly and sustainably.

Our first ever mission statement, way back in October 2000, was "Showcasing the very finest music from the internet’s underground drum and bass scene". I want to recapture that philosophy, but grow it into a methodology that fully embraces the unsigned artist (not literally, you saucy beggars). I want dnbscene to be the first site you visit as a developing artist, and I want dnbscene to be the site to champion your cause when it needs championing. As such, the new mission statement for 2012 is:

"Representing the elite of underground drum and bass artists, and helping you to join them”.

Everything I do with the site in the coming 12 months will be measured against that mission statement. With that in mind, here is what I will be focusing on in 2012.

• Streamlining the reviewing/rating system. This is priority number one, as it is the very heart of the site and its sole USP at the moment. Today, writing a review is quite a time-consuming and sometimes intimidating process. As a result, comparatively few reviews are written and it takes a while for an artist to get any kind of feedback on a track. The first thing I will be doing is separating out the reviews (calling them feedback instead) and the ratings; you will be able to comment without rating and vice versa. This may well lead to a general drop in quality at first, which is why the second development will be…
• Creating incentives and rewards for people who contribute valuable content to the site. The cred point system is a useful starting point, but it doesn't really reward users except by way of influence over the rating weighting. After making the change above, I have some changes in mind that will raise the importance of a good piece of feedback, and incentivise people to not only feedback more, but also give them a direct reason to make that feedback of a high standard. These changes will hopefully open up the feedback system, encourage more people to participate in it, and make it more enjoyable to do so. There will also be more rewards and incentives for other contributions such as articles, forum comments and so on. I am still working on the finer points of all of this so expect further announcements in the next few weeks with details.
• Trimming the fat. If we're going streamlined, then let's really go for it. The forums will receive some further downsizing, and perhaps controversially I will be introducing sell-by dates for tracks which fall below the top tier, though the precise requirements for that are still under discussion. The point is that once an artist gets feedback for his tune, that track doesn't really serve a purpose on the site unless it is top-notch, in which case it should be showcased to anybody looking for the best upcoming stuff from the underground scene; if not, it should be removed totally. I know, this sounds dramatic, but fear not as I will publish more details of this once they have been finalized, and you will all be included in the final consultation before anything is implemented.
• Dramatically increasing the articles content. The two most popular pages on the site in 2011 - by quite some distance - were the two tutorials on EQ and compression. This kind of thing really is valuable to the artists on the site and I will be spending considerable time in 2012 both revamping the articles section and then increasing the number articles published. It will take a little while to ramp up the system and processes, but the hard target is 3 new articles per week, which I aim to be hitting consistently by the summer.
• Adding to the number of team members. I can longer grow the site on my own and will be bringing on other team members in 2012. I am in the process of developing various new levels of admin and moderator to facilitate this, and am also talking to potential business partners to help on the "real world" admin and strategy. More details on this will be published in the next 2 or 3 months.
• Last but not least, making the site bug-and-spam-free. Of course bugs will keep cropping up now and then and spammers will always adapt and creep through occasionally, but come January 2013 I want to be able to say that the site is technologically stable and the spam situation is completely under control. As you have seen, I have made significant progress on the latter in the last few weeks, and I will keep making improvements to both aspects of the user experience throughout the year.

There are some other developments in the pipeline for 2012 as well, such as label accounts, the introduction of revenue streams and a few other things, but I think it is vital to get the basics right first before heading off down those roads. The concept is key, and only once the formula has been perfected will the site be ready to take the next step. So let's get cooking.