I think the problem is in the nature of the AP's past in comparison to it's present and future. The AP was created to give CC licensed music for flash games and videos and thus to curb Flash artists from using copywritten music sources. But, for that to truly happen and for the AP to have held onto that ideal would've taken actually upholding the line and banning Flash artists who do use copywritten music. Same goes for the Art Portal, which as I've seen it appears to be for Flash artists to find visual artists to draw for their flash releases rather than using copywritten images, sprites, etc. Yet again, though, there will be absolutely no follow-through on the "upholding the laws laid out" end of the deal and thus, like the Audio Portal, the Art portal will evolve into something different. Which is where we are now.
The Audio portal is no longer truly a place where artists release music for Flash usage. Just take 45 seconds in the Hip-Hop portal to see that, or the Goth portal, or the Miscellaneous portal, or any portal where 75% or more of the music therein could not be used in a Flash short of some form of Surrealist interpretation. The Audio Portal now is a place to release music, get fans, get reviews, get votes, and/or make an ass of oneself. We have only to look as far as ParagonX9 to see most (or all, depending on whether you know Paragon is a hot asian woman or not) of those things in action.
I think we spend too much time imagining the AP as what it once was meant to be rather than looking forward and trying to develop it into what it should be: a place to fine-tune your skills as a musician, producer, and/or artist. Frankly, even the Flash portal has become nothing more than a stopover for flash artists until they a) are picked up for sponsorship, b) are picked up by a game development company, or c) are picked up for flash design of websites or other media. Why should the AP be any different?
I think what the AP needs is to be on even footing with the Flash portal as far as promotion, revenue, and administration goes. That means all the BS "updates" we've been expecting since '05 should have been done. That means giving mods the ability to ban/unban users, giving our Front Page the same care and updates that the Flash FP has gotten, updating the look of the AP, and last, but not least, going after the few Flash artists who have used Audio from our portal in their flash pieces and been PAID for said pieces but have never entered into any agreement with the audio provider to share the revenue. That's a sticking point that I have because if you're going to claim the audio portal was created to rid the flash portal of copywritten, and thus NOT PAID FOR music, then how can you totally overlook and do nothing about flash artists who are sponsored by any of the big-name sponsoring websites and development companies who are knowingly breaking CC licensing and not negotiating with audio artists?
But I digress, yes there are alot of inequalities on the AP, but I have to agree that the voting and top 5 really are the least of our worries. Top 5 only means your song will draw 0's for the next 7 straight days and end up being on the bottom 5 by the end of that time. Top 30 means pretty much the same, except sometimes worse even because haters truly despise anyone getting top 30. And there are no audio development companies looking at NG's audio portal for new talent like flash developers do the flash portal, which is actually interesting considering how important sound is to giving a game emotional and psychological weight. And we have alot of talented composers, artists and producers here who actually could score games and movies quite easily. Too bad they aren't being scouted on NG so they could produce more revenue for the owners of the site when they say "I was discovered on NewGrounds.com by XXXXXX gaming company! You should check it out....and click alot of ads while you're there!" I wonder if anyone in power at NG has ever even thought clearly about that kind of power?
