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October 15, 2007

Help Hype Machine Make a Myriad

The Hype Machine needs you. They built a cool new version of the site, but it won't launch until 10,000 people are viewing it at once -- how cool is that? The problem is, less than 4,000 people are viewing it right now, as of this writing -- how lame is that? Click here now and just let your browser sit on that. If you're leaving work, just leave it open over night, or if everyone else is gone and they don't lock their computers down, point 'em all thereabouts. Over the top!

PS: Bla bla Natalie Merchant joke bla!

Posted at 5:44 PM




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22 Comments

or just type "hype" as a login and password. They really are up their own arse...

Posted by: x at 10/15/07 6:00 PM | Reply
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CLick on "beta version" to get the login/password field

Posted by: x at 10/15/07 6:01 PM | Reply
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How obnoxious. I hope this site never launches, its down to 3600 now.

-DwD

Posted by: DwD Murphy at 10/15/07 6:10 PM | Reply
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Would someone please explain what the fuck is going with The Hype Machine...Does this mean that 10,000 people have to be viewing at all times for it to work?
Shit like this makes my head hurt.

Posted by: JLoco at 10/15/07 6:20 PM | Reply
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Uh, just launch the fuckin' site jackasses. Do your publicity on your own time.

Posted by: zik at 10/15/07 6:39 PM | Reply
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yup, 10k people have to hit the page at once.

Posted by: jim at 10/15/07 6:39 PM | Reply
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something tells me this isn't going to happen. they'll probably release it tomorrow and never mention this horrible 10k hits idea again.

Posted by: nick at 10/15/07 6:45 PM | Reply
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This stupid stunt is going to end up being pretty embarrassing for Hype Machine. I'm sure they are eager to launch it and thought they'd have 10k by midday. I feel bad for them actually. I'm sure they've put a lot of work into the redesign and then they shoot themselves in the foot with great expectations.

Posted by: Beans at 10/15/07 6:47 PM | Reply
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How cool is that? Not very.
It's a nice site, but this is a pretty lame ploy.

Posted by: pastandpending at 10/15/07 6:47 PM | Reply
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It has been in the 3,000 range all day today. 10,000 is never gonna happen.

Posted by: Jonk at 10/15/07 7:02 PM | Reply
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Oh wow, people bitching about a FREE service. This reminds me of the hilariously pissed off comments on the itunes "free single of the week" page.

Posted by: marge at 10/15/07 7:05 PM | Reply
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marge, it's like you've never even heard of john gabriel's greater internet fuckwad theory

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19

Posted by: clams at 10/15/07 7:08 PM | Reply
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Being free doesn't make it any less stupid. It's only free because no one in their right mind would pay for this shit.

Posted by: zik at 10/15/07 7:15 PM | Reply
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And sure enough, one way or the other, Hype Machine has managed to get itself Dugg, Technocratied and De.Li.cioused all over the place. And we're contributing to it.

I mean, it seemed like a cool thing to blog about (and I did), but I now realize getting 10K ALL AT ONCE is ... next to impossible. People are on and off the web all day. I've seen the number hit its highest at about 2 p.m. with 3,600 or so, but now it's been hovering around 3,400.

Ugh, yes, cheap marketing ploy. Or maybe they're just not ready yet. Hmm.

Posted by: Pzilla at 10/15/07 8:24 PM | Reply
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I'm just glad that stereogum called it "The Hype Machine" and not "Hypem" again. Pet peeve of mine.

Posted by: Brian at 10/15/07 8:39 PM | Reply
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3,239! We're almost there!

Posted by: Jonk at 10/15/07 11:39 PM | Reply
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Looks like they realized that 10,000 was a bit unrealistic.

The new site's open, and they've got..... a new stylesheet. And no more playlists.

I like The Hype Machine, but I don't really like this one any more or less than the old one.

Posted by: andrew at 10/16/07 6:14 AM | Reply
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Apparently the experiment was short lived. I just visited the site and it went straight to the new homepage, minus the 10k counter or any need for a beta login.

After visiting it a few times yesterday and seeing it stuck in the 3000's, I too thought they were overreaching perhaps. I suppose they had the same feeling.

Posted by: Jeff at 10/16/07 10:22 AM | Reply
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"Long story short: we wanted to punctuate the release of the New Hype Machine with something unusual. Inviting 10,000 strangers to watch that moment together fit the bill. We spent lots of long nights looking over all the details and getting the service ready for you. And so we wanted everyone to know about it and see it. So that’s what we were thinking.

To those who joined us and waited - THANK YOU. At 5:23PM EST we had a whopping 3888 people watching. Thank you for putting up with us, even while the service was not available.

Looking over the data now, we’d hit 10,000 if we keep the site closed for 39 more hours. That, however, is simply too long to wait. And so:

Welcome to the New Hype Machine."

Posted by: Jonk at 10/16/07 9:35 PM | Reply
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i.e. WE OVER ESTIMATED OUR IMPORTANCE!

Posted by: adrienne at 10/16/07 10:05 PM | Reply
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rofl "looking over the data". Isn't it awesome when made-up facts save your ass?

Whatever, though. It's an awesome service. Kudos to them, even if their marketing was horrible.

Posted by: Elliot at 10/17/07 12:30 AM | Reply
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Someone big, like Stereogum, should select a date and a time and instruct everyone to go on at once to help out with the numbers. It'll take a long time until 10,000 people are on at once.

Posted by: Morgan at 10/17/07 10:24 AM | Reply
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