Comment from Jay
Date: May 29, 2008, 7:53 pm

Some more:
- Your usernames and everything will be the same, so you won’t have to create new accounts or anything.
- This is a merger, NOT an acquisition. It is based on our mutual desire to work together, and not even a dime is changing hands.

We want to hear everybody’s opinion on this, whether it’s good or bad. If you have any questions or concerns, just post them and we’ll answer them here.

Comment from Lucas
Date: May 29, 2008, 8:03 pm

Jay, you know my thoughts. I’m all for it and feel it’s a great move. Viva la Cage Rattle!

Comment from Meagan
Date: May 29, 2008, 8:04 pm

I support whatever… as long as nothing content wise is changing. I had feeling this would probably happen though. Sounds like a good thing, can’t wait to see what is in store for TL!

Comment from Lucas
Date: May 29, 2008, 8:21 pm

Just for the sake of everyone that will probably ask, will submitting news be similar to how it is now? Just email it in like news@cagerattle.com or something? I know it’s still a work in progress and all, so just trying to think ahead.

Comment from Jay
Date: May 29, 2008, 8:25 pm

for now, just use the old addresses. we’ll continue to monitor them for quite a while, and we’ll have a new address in place when traffic actually starts re-routing there

Comment from airtas
Date: May 29, 2008, 8:36 pm

how does content not change if both sites are different?

wouldnt there be a clash?

Comment from Jay
Date: May 29, 2008, 8:48 pm

airtas, we’re working on integrating our stuff into theirs. the layout you see on their page will slightly change. for instance, their news page will be longer to include more news instead of just three.

there is a clash now, but we’re fixing that, hence why we haven’t announced the exact date yet

Comment from bigcurt
Date: May 29, 2008, 8:48 pm

Hmm, this decision happened fairly quick I would guess. Considering a few months ago I didn’t even see posts linking CageRattle to any of the news posts. We even had to request it haha. However, great decision for everyone I think..I am a regular with CageRattle and I am sure you both will do incredibly well together. Hope nothing changes though as this site is great.

Comment from airtas
Date: May 29, 2008, 8:53 pm

are you free to go back if it doesnt work out?

Comment from Jay
Date: May 29, 2008, 8:55 pm

absolutely. but we don’t see that happening

Comment from Jason
Date: May 29, 2008, 9:01 pm

Chris knows how I feel about it, I’m all for it. Anything to benefit the bands and the music, as well as the TuneLab staff.

Comment from Nick
Date: May 29, 2008, 9:04 pm

just so everyone knows, the only reason we’re moving is because of a huge cash buyout that included fineass bitches, fancy geo metros, houses in myanmar, and a cute, cuddly penguin from Antarctica named Larry

god we love selling out to the man!!!

Comment from Cfw828
Date: May 29, 2008, 9:05 pm

Not like I haven’t been surfing between the two anyway :P

THIS IS AWESOME clapclap clapclapclap…

Comment from Kyle
Date: May 29, 2008, 9:06 pm

I guess some of us should have seen it coming since you had those rock at the range interviews directly from cage rattle. I’m glad i dont have to make a new user name. It’s going to be strange for a while though. I kind of like the small community of users here that post even though im sure tons more look every day. I hope it works out for the best. Good luck

Comment from Mike
Date: May 29, 2008, 9:07 pm

I’m having mixed feelings. I like the name and look of this site better and I’m hoping their site doesn’t have a bunch of YouTube-like spamming in the comments.

But Jay said their site offers new media stuff so that’s good I guess.

Was this the same thing that was discussed that feel through last month?

Comment from Mike
Date: May 29, 2008, 9:09 pm

Jay also said we’ve had record setting hits on this site for 3 straight months so I just hope this merger doesn’t hurt things in the long run.

Comment from Kyle
Date: May 29, 2008, 9:10 pm

so will you guys at tunelab be eventually responsible for the “News” tab section of the site and that will be yours while the guys there do the same thing they have always done… and at the same time increase traffic to both parties?

Comment from Kyle
Date: May 29, 2008, 9:15 pm

I didn’t realize cage rattle used to be shallowbay radio thats interesting also and i like most of the bands they represent might be good after all

Comment from Cfw828
Date: May 29, 2008, 9:17 pm

I can see this doing a lot of great things for both parties…I think this would help extend the shows that Cage Rattle does…they could probably extend their shows, they could have a news part of their shows, play more artists (both established and small) and more music…hopefully Cage Rattle can still do the album previews and tracks that Tunelab does.

It’ll lead to (hopefully) a lot more user interaction. I would assume that there would still be reviews from you guys.

This could be the start of something big…*sings*

Comment from Cfw828
Date: May 29, 2008, 9:24 pm

By the way, for those who haven’t gone to Cage Rattle or even really know who they are, check out the Seether interview. Very emotional interview.

Comment from Shameson
Date: May 29, 2008, 9:27 pm

I would really like to see this format transfer over in terms of how things are displayed, it’s a lot easier to see different colors on a white background. I also hope that you guys keep reviewing albums, as I have come to trust your tastes. I must say for the time that I have used this website I really have come to like the way things have been set up with displaying all the news stories up front and all, I hope that this will transfer over. I know that you guys will do all that you can. Keep up the great work!

Comment from Kyle
Date: May 29, 2008, 9:33 pm

I also have to comment on one of Shameson’s points… TuneLab is MUCH easier to read because of black on white instead of white on black.. As much as I look at this site every day I would prefer not to have to work at it.

Comment from Nate
Date: May 29, 2008, 9:35 pm

this should work out well

Comment from ohgreat
Date: May 29, 2008, 9:39 pm

I can say that things are agreeable. With mergers everywhere, this had to be it. No questions asked.

Comment from lateralus
Date: May 29, 2008, 9:45 pm

Tunelab is much easier to read, and I checked out the other site and saw one news item on the page, and it’s not exciting to have to click thru each page to see one news piece. Please transfer it to this style…

Comment from TheSteve
Date: May 29, 2008, 11:23 pm

I think this is great, truly a mutually beneficial relationship.

Comment from kash
Date: May 30, 2008, 1:06 am

Checking out cagerattle for the first time, it appears these two sites are compliments to each other. Tunlab has the upper hand in reviews and news and other stuff too. Cagerattle has well expanded media I guess. more broadcasting?

There are similarities too.

The merger will only work if things don’t clash and u bring out the best of both and present it well. It needs to be a good blend, which may take time to feel out. Time I certainly have no qualms waiting out because of the potential. I have confidence it will be awesome because everyone around here knows what they are doing.

My only concern, (because it’s like the most important thing when it comes to websites) is new design, layout, and organization. I like tunelab’s adequate simplicity. Cage rattle seems a little overboard . It seems too fond of images and graphics which seem to be too large individually. There really isn’t that much material on that site.

Tunelab > cage rattle.

Anyhow, should be interesting and exciting.

Comment from bigcurt
Date: May 30, 2008, 2:56 am

They are both amazing sites and more than anything they have amazing people. The guys over at CageRattle are great guys, with quite a bit of experience and inside influence. I do hope the whole layout things works out though as that will be important.

Comment from drastic8
Date: May 30, 2008, 7:06 am

Looking forward to some good stuff! All you had to say was that the content wouldn’t change and I was good to go. Keep on truckin TL/CR!

Comment from thedonkeypunch
Date: May 30, 2008, 7:11 am

I think its more about the bands. Cage Rattle and Tunelab have always done everything without asking questions, without recieving a paycheck, and without forgetting about the fans needs.

With the two sites combining, the possibilities are endless. If you can’t see that now, trust me, you will. The days, months, and years to come are going to set the par for any media based, fan driven website to come in the future.

Comment from bigcurt
Date: May 30, 2008, 7:44 am

Speaking of the devil himself! Everyone say hello to Mike!

Comment from thedonkeypunch
Date: May 30, 2008, 7:49 am

lol….im always creeping around these parts of town. But that Jay kid scares me. So I try not to show my face to often.

Comment from Vic
Date: May 30, 2008, 8:07 am

Never been to Cage Rattle before. I agree that TL definitely has the superior layout, and hope that what results is an accessible, readable page. As long as the news and reviews keep coming and they get augmented with more media, this could be great.

Comment from Marissa
Date: May 30, 2008, 8:55 am

I know I haven’t logged on in forever (life’s been crazy) but hey it all sounds good to me, espcailly the live podcasts that sounds awesome. So long as we still get the news and reviews I’m all for it.

Comment from Sox5452
Date: May 30, 2008, 10:15 am

I agree with most that this has potential to be great, and I’m all for it. Just make sure the news aspect still plays a prominent role, and make the graphics on the cagerattle site a little simpler and easier to navigate. This could really bring the sites to the next level as the Ultimate Rock source.

How often does cagerattle broadcast radio?

Comment from thedonkeypunch
Date: May 30, 2008, 10:40 am

^ahh, good question. Right now it is two nights a week. Tuesdays and Thursdays. But I believe there might be another show on the rise with some of your top dogs over here at TuneLab. Stay tuned for more details.

Like Jay was saying earlier. Theres alot of stuff that will be happening. We will both be bringing major contributions to the table and continue to do what we both did seperately, but now as one.

And yes Sox, I believe that is the vision that both of us have. A website that is every rock fans Ultimate One Source for everything in the rock genre.

Comment from cage dave
Date: May 30, 2008, 11:21 am

I’d like to extend my sincerest thanks for all the positive comments from the Tunelab community. As I have stated to the TL team on numerous occasions, we have been fans of this site and its staff for many moons and felt a combined effort would yield something the industry and all of our fans simply would find outstanding and proud to be a part of.

To answer and address some of the concerns about content, layout, teamwork, and community:

Yes Cage Rattle is overboard on graphics. We know it doesnt scale well, and is a bitch to maintain as is. We intend on combining the “best of” both sites and revamp layout and color scheme to provide a more fluid and easy on the eyes feel.

We look forward to the future with great anticipation and urge everyone who desires to get involved or at minimum make suggestions for improvements. We would appreciate your valuable feedback and welcome constructive criticism. Please be patient as we integrate assets as we know we have our work cut out for us. Ultimately YOU are the final word as we intend and want want to exceed expectations.

All my best,
Dave

Comment from Lucas
Date: May 30, 2008, 12:40 pm

I’m another for the layout change. As a designer I’ve learned the hard way that white text on black is simply harder to read for most people. Black text on white is the best way to go for any website where a lot of reading is required and with news, reviews, etc. it is a big part of it.

I can’t to see how this goes and I am glad our group here on TL is joining forces with another group of nice guys at Cage Rattle.

Comment from thedonkeypunch
Date: May 30, 2008, 12:47 pm

Also, Jays first post talks about how there wasn’t any money involved, not even a dime. There was a horrible loss however during the pre-merger. Jays cooler is still very much missed, and will always remain in our thoughts and prayers. Good luck to that little box of joy, wherever it may be.

;)

Comment from twistedriffster
Date: May 30, 2008, 12:59 pm

i thought the state of the economy had a put a damper on m&a’s, lol.

i guess this could be a good thing, not really familiar w/ cage rattle, other than their recent ROTR interviews(but i did like ‘em). hope all goes well.

I also agree that TuneLab has a much better feel to it. It loads faster, it’s easy on the eyes, and it’s simple. A Myspace-type website, I hope, would be avoided at all costs. Less is more. That’s a big attraction for me for TL, it’s easy-to-read, loads fast, and no pop-ups or spam. Additionally, I also hope the news remains the main focus of the new site. It’s much more difficult to find music news compared to interviews and other media.

as for the TL staff, thanks for your continued work that keeps us abreast of the latest news in the rock world. i appreciate it and keep up the good work. and I also think it’s cool of you guys to immediately solicit feedback on the situation, very cool, with an emphasis on immediately. I think too often these situations tend to develop problems and user feedback is requested too late in the process. I think this is very critical to a successful operation and I think your seeking our thoughts says not just a lot about the project that you run, but also about the people in charge. Just that element alone provides cause for optimism on the merger. Good luck!

Comment from Juggernaut 573
Date: May 30, 2008, 3:37 pm

Adding on to what Mike and Dave have said.

I think that the biggest reason that this merger is happening is because both have a similar interest and level of success, but have achieved it through different ways.

Cage Rattle has reached its peak through outstanding and numerous interview, dozens of concert giveaways and exclusive backstage content. Tunelab on the other hand thrives because of its comprehensive news, groundbreaking podcasts and in depth reviews.

I think both have been trying to achieve what the other is doing but instead of trying to be all encompassing and at the same time do a quality job as individual entities, they have decided to team up and play of each others strengths. I sincerely think that this merger can only lead to a power house site that will be high quality and all encompassing in its true object, providing the fans with a one stop source for all things rock.

Comment from Shameson
Date: May 30, 2008, 6:09 pm

Just want to ditto everyone’s thoughts about soliciting consumer feedback early in the process, thanks again, I sincerely hope that this works out for the best.

Comment from ohgreat
Date: May 30, 2008, 6:44 pm

I must’ve read over backgrounds in many colors. A merger is like a coat of many colors. What Cage Rattle shares is similar like Tunelab. All the best on how it goes in the meantime.

Comment from Venomblue22
Date: May 30, 2008, 6:47 pm

Will the release dates section still be as thourough

Comment from Mikel
Date: May 30, 2008, 7:02 pm

most definetely venom

Comment from Lucas
Date: May 31, 2008, 7:44 pm

I think this topic is now hidden amongst the other news lol. And the news post on the left side of the page isn’t that noticeable! =)

Comment from harty3113
Date: June 1, 2008, 10:30 am

does this mean their might finally be a forum

Comment from ohgreat
Date: June 1, 2008, 12:58 pm

A forum would be nice. Blogs, too. Time for a brainstorm!

Comment from Lucas
Date: June 1, 2008, 1:05 pm

There are blogs. Though not very often.

Comment from thedonkeypunch
Date: June 2, 2008, 7:18 am

Yes, a forum will be available. The forum will include postings from some of your favorite bands. Its all part of the process to bring every rock fan closer to the bands. We’re always looking for ways to improve, and a forum will put us in alot more direct contact with our viewers.

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