Former USC student's music website a hit
Website allows listeners to promote music in an online community.
Taren Fujimoto
Issue date: 1/30/08 Section: News
As a senior in the School of Cinematic Arts with one semester left until graduation, James Miao decided to take a leave of absence - to develop a music website.
The website, called thesixtyone, is a music discovery game that launched this December.
"I knew if I continued on, I would have to take a job that I didn't want," said Miao, a former Interactive Media Division student. "If I do something, I need to do it really well."
Miao created thesixtyone with the help of California Institute of Technology graduate and friend Samuel Hsiung. They named it after Highway 61, the road Elvis, B.B. King and Bob Dylan traveled on to play and share their music with the world.
The website, which he called a "collaborative filter based on user taste," rewards members of the online community who help others listen to good music.
Musicians from different genres add their music to the site, and listeners can choose to bump up a song's popularity. Users are not able to bump down a song because a song that does not get bumped up by listeners speaks for itself, Miao said.
Each time a person bumps a song, it costs them points, but if other listeners bump the same songs, the person earns points. Collecting more points increases a person's skill level. Points drive interaction and are like virtual currency, Miao said.
Miao, who was a residential advisor at the time, he took a break from college. He said his decision to leave school shocked his friends and residents.
"It was really awkward at the time," he said. "While people were moving in, I was sitting there packing all my stuff."
Miao said he wrote a letter explaining why he left school to stop rumors circulating about his disappearance, which included everything from academic trouble to death.
But Miao said he had been thinking about leaving school since his sophomore year of college. After working production and marketing jobs for Electronic Arts, Activision and ATARI in the gaming industry since high school, he said he had seen enough of his future might be like after graduation.
The website, called thesixtyone, is a music discovery game that launched this December.
"I knew if I continued on, I would have to take a job that I didn't want," said Miao, a former Interactive Media Division student. "If I do something, I need to do it really well."
Miao created thesixtyone with the help of California Institute of Technology graduate and friend Samuel Hsiung. They named it after Highway 61, the road Elvis, B.B. King and Bob Dylan traveled on to play and share their music with the world.
The website, which he called a "collaborative filter based on user taste," rewards members of the online community who help others listen to good music.
Musicians from different genres add their music to the site, and listeners can choose to bump up a song's popularity. Users are not able to bump down a song because a song that does not get bumped up by listeners speaks for itself, Miao said.
Each time a person bumps a song, it costs them points, but if other listeners bump the same songs, the person earns points. Collecting more points increases a person's skill level. Points drive interaction and are like virtual currency, Miao said.
Miao, who was a residential advisor at the time, he took a break from college. He said his decision to leave school shocked his friends and residents.
"It was really awkward at the time," he said. "While people were moving in, I was sitting there packing all my stuff."
Miao said he wrote a letter explaining why he left school to stop rumors circulating about his disappearance, which included everything from academic trouble to death.
But Miao said he had been thinking about leaving school since his sophomore year of college. After working production and marketing jobs for Electronic Arts, Activision and ATARI in the gaming industry since high school, he said he had seen enough of his future might be like after graduation.
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