Great news – The MySwar app is now available! Here are the app store links:
Android – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mavrix.myswar
iOS – https://itunes.apple.com/app/myswar/id622503117?mt=8
Download, enjoy and share!
Great news – The MySwar app is now available! Here are the app store links:
Android – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mavrix.myswar
iOS – https://itunes.apple.com/app/myswar/id622503117?mt=8
Download, enjoy and share!
We now have non-film albums listed on MySwar! We were always very clear that we wanted to include as much Indian music as we could on MySwar and after almost a year of toil, we’re extremely proud to add non-film music albums on MySwar.
Let me start though with a little summary of what we have accomplished so far. Over 2012, we have built-up what’s probably the most comprehensive database of Hindi film music from 1941 to present day. Since we’re not constrained by licensing deals and label provided meta-data, we have been able to list on MySwar detailed credits of every song from every film we have been able to get information about. Also, because our focus has been on accuracy and detail, we have structured our data in a way that lets us catalog song metadata that is a lot more meaningful than the generic Artist ID3 tag that rules the roost everywhere. This is especially significant for Indian film music which is generally attributed separately to music directors (composers), lyricists and singers.
While we’re proud of our work in cataloguing Bollywood music, we know our work is not done. We still keep finding film album releases we have missed and of course, there’s the steady stream of current releases. Also, while Bollywood was a great starting point because of its wide appeal and because it provided us a finite, manageable scope of work, we believe it’s time to broaden our horizon and go beyond Hindi film music.
From a planning perspective, cataloguing Bollywood music was quite simple – Start with each year, find out every film released in that year, determine the songs in those films and get as much information about those albums/songs as we could. Cataloguing non-film music was a lot more difficult to plan because our country has a bewildering array of labels, genres, artists and languages. Where do we start? How do we impose method on this madness? We solved the problem of defining scope by starting with the artists we already had in our database. We added to that list artists and music releases that were contemporarily significant – like Swarathma, Coke Studio, MTV Unplugged, etc. But even this was a huge list, so we had to categorize them in terms of priority. What we have published on MySwar now is just one set of artists and albums from that list.
The other problem we had to grapple with was how we showed information of film and non-film albums and songs. Do we list them separately or together? There were arguments to be made for both, so we said we would do a combination of both AND also let the users decide if they wanted to see one or the other. So here’ how you can see information organized on MySwar:
We really hope you enjoy this update. There are some minor kinks we’re working on. If you have any feedback, please do let us know.
When we put our head down to crank out work, it’s hard to get a sense of what we are actually accomplishing. That happens only when we look back and assess what we delivered. I just did that and am filled with a sense of deep satisfaction and pride at what we delivered on MySwar.in. A quick round-up:
January: We launched MySwar.in after a few weeks of private beta with albums/songs from 1971 to present day.
February: Albums/songs for 1960s, categorized search suggestions, advanced search, ability to browse award-winning films, songs and artists in once place and the trivia of the day feature.
March: Albums/songs for 1950s.
May: YouTube embeds, forgiving searches, listing of popular songs for artists.
June: Listing of popular songs by year and genre.
August: Pre-packaged playlists of all kinds. Artist listings in once place even if they have been credited under different names.
October: Ability to sort in song and album listings.
November: Filters on album and song listings.
December: 1940s albums and songs.
We’re already working on many other amazing updates, so 2013 will be just as exciting if not more. Thanks for your support and encouragement this far and stay tuned!
When we launched MySwar.in late last year, we had Hindi film music listings for four decades, from 1971 to the present. Since then we have added three more decades – the 1960s, the 1950s and yesterday, the 1940s. We now have information on seven decades of Hindi film music in one place.
1940s was a significant period in Hindi film music. The legendary singer, K.L. Saigal’s death in 1947 and India’s independence and Partition effected a change of guard of sorts in Hindi film music. With K.L. Saigal’s passing away, the tragic hero persona, that was pervasive in the music of that time, faded away and male singers, on whom Saigal had cast a long shadow, developed their own singing styles. Noor Jehan’s migration to Pakistan, following the Partition, paved the path for Lata Mangeshkar’s meteoric rise as the premier female singer in Hindi films for decades to come. There was an infusion of new talent and the decade saw the debut and rise of singers like Shamshad Begum, Lata Mangeshkar, Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhosle, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh and Manna Dey; music directors like Khemchand Prakash, Naushad, C. Ramchandra, S.D. Burman and Shankar – Jaikishan; and lyricists like Majrooh Sultanpuri, Shakeel Badayuni, Sahir Ludhianvi and Shailendra. Film music became a melting pot of a variety of musical influences. In the 40s, it absorbed folk and classical music influences and started developing the unique, multi-faceted character that defines Bollywood music today.
Back to the update – while the film/song listings for the 1940s are up on MySwar, we haven’t updated the song genres and YouTube embeds. This will take some time. Tracing the actual songs (audio and video) is more and more difficult as we go back in the past. If you have the time and inclination, you can help us by submitting high-quality (relatively speaking) YouTube URLs on MySwar (register, login, go to the song page and click Update in the Video section).
A quick note on what we shipped last month:
A quick note on what we shipped last month:
We haven’t posted a many updates in the last couple of months but that’s only because, we’re working on some big ones that should be rolled out by year-end. Stay tuned!
We have playlists on MySwar now! To save you the trouble of individually picking songs for the playlists, we’re rolling out a bunch of pre-packaged ones. You can find the Playlist button all over our website. Here is a list of the types of playlists we have for you:
Album playlist – Playlist button on the album page.
Similar songs playlist – Playlist button on the song page in “Songs like this” section
Year playlist – On the browse year page.
Popular songs of the year playlist – One the popular songs of the year page
Genre playlist – On the browse genre page
Popular songs of the genre playlist – On the popular songs of the genre page
New release playlist – Playlist button on the new release page
Popular new release playlist – Playlist button on popular new release page
Award winning playlist by award – Playlist button on Award page
Award winning playlist by year – Playlist button on award by year page
Singer playlist – Playlist button on singer listing page
Lyricist playlist – Playlist button on lyricist listing page
Music director playlist – Playlist button on music director listing page
Popular songs of artist playlist – Playlist button on popular songs of artist page
MySwar playlist (requires login) – Playlist button on discover page
Advanced playlist – Playlist button on advanced search results page
We’re kicked about this feature and we do hope you like it. Try it out and let us know what you think. And spread the word, please.
Here’s what we shipped this month on MySwar:
Here’s what we shipped this month:
Not many updates this month except that we have shipped a lot of new features. Check them out and let us know what you think: