MP3SPARKS is down -- I THINK that's okay

tomhr · 02:48 PM

First of all, let me say that I don't have any under-the-table info here, I'm just spouting my own theory.

Sparks stopped accepting payments on January 6, and didn't start getting money again till May 27. That's almost five months of no income. And yet they were still buying and posting new albums (which confused many of us, at the time).

What I think is going on now is that, with revenue finally coming in, Sparks techies have gone to the computer store with cash in hand, and now are upgrading their system.

Probably such upgrades are overdue. And perhaps in January-May, Sparks couldn't afford to do such upgrades.

But I have a theory that there's another explanation. What would have happened if Sparks quit accepting payments, and then they went offline? After a few days, everyone would be saying, "They're dead, I'm outta here." And many of these people who left would never check back in with the "dead" site, to see how it was doing. So instead of doing upgrades during the Time of No Money, Sparks held off upgrades till shutting down the site wouldn't cause a panic. This is my theory, anyways.

So I think that in a few days (a few hours?), logins to MP3SPARKS will be possible again.

vikulenka · 06-17-2008, 02:55 PM

Conspiracy theories are quite welcome, but I think Sparks' down times transcend any sort of human logic

I wouldn't bother indulging in speculations about it. Maybe I've just become totally jaded.

Vice · 06-17-2008, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomhr

First of all, let me say that I don't have any under-the-table info here, I'm just spouting my own theory.

Sparks stopped accepting payments on January 6, and didn't start getting money again till May 27. That's almost five months of no income. And yet they were still buying and posting new albums (which confused many of us, at the time).

What I think is going on now is that, with revenue finally coming in, Sparks techies have gone to the computer store with cash in hand, and now are upgrading their system.

Probably such upgrades are overdue. And perhaps in January-May, Sparks couldn't afford to do such upgrades.

But I have a theory that there's another explanation. What would have happened if Sparks quit accepting payments, and then they went offline? After a few days, everyone would be saying, "They're dead, I'm outta here." And many of these people who left would never check back in with the "dead" site, to see how it was doing. So instead of doing upgrades during the Time of No Money, Sparks held off upgrades till shutting down the site wouldn't cause a panic. This is my theory, anyways.

So I think that in a few days (a few hours?), logins to MP3SPARKS will be possible again.

It seems that CMPass is down too....cannot be so coincidental??
I suspect the RIAA or some organisation must have got them.....

I just hope that this is not true....

edsmith · 06-17-2008, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomhr

Sparks held off upgrades till shutting down the site wouldn't cause a panic

oh believe me, i'm panicking!!!

I wish it would come back, maybe there could be an official comment... Has it been down like this before and come back?

vikulenka · 06-17-2008, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edsmith

oh believe me, i'm panicking!!!

I wish it would come back, maybe there could be an official comment... Has it been down like this before and come back?

Yes. A million times. There will be no official comment. You might as well stop panicking now.

jasn · 06-17-2008, 03:33 PM

I suspect the site is on the move again. Check out a great little Firefox add-on called "Flagfox", to display a country flag for a site's origin. MM today is from Denmark, which I think is new?

vikulenka · 06-17-2008, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasn

I suspect the site is on the move again. Check out a great little Firefox add-on called "Flagfox", to display a country flag for a site's origin. MM today is from Denmark, which I think is new?

I think it's been there since last October

tomhr · 06-17-2008, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edsmith

oh believe me, i'm panicking!!!

I wish it would come back, maybe there could be an official comment... Has it been down like this before and come back?

Yeah, and if they ever post an explanation afterward, it's not on a page I ever visit. Their silence is probably because Senior Management is not fluent in English. That, or they don't want the RIAA and IFPI to know too much.

So I figure it's like the weather. Sometimes you wake up to lightning and thunder; and sometimes you try to login to Sparks and you can't. After a while, the sky gets blue again; and after a while, Sparks comes back up again.