OK!

So everyone knows a bit about me, Tsujigazm and exactly what I do here on Pyontube, but our reclusive leader Kurosawa is something of an enigma.. He keeps himself locked away and only pokes out for a comment or two, but otherwise keeps himself busy playing with the dark innards of the Pyon~World.

I decided to crawl into the underbelly of Pyontube to search for him and ask him a few questions so that each and every one of you can find out just a little more about the man, the mystery, the practically transparent person (due to lack of sunlight) that is Kurosawa..

Hmmm...

It turned from finding out about Kurosawa to finding out what Pyontube is about and why it came into existance.

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Tsujigazm: HELLO

Kurosawa:  HiHi

Tsujigazm: I have decided to interview you on behalf of all the members of Pyontube so that
                 they can get a little insight into the mysterious being that is Kurosawa.

Kurosawa:  Oookay

Tsujigazm:  Social networking websites are nothing new nowadays and there are many out there
                  to compete with, what made you want to start your own social networking website?

Kurosawa:  As is pretty obvious I am a huge fan of asian music and like most of you have
                 been a member of various online communities with similar interests. However I
                 found it was difficult to gain access to a range of music as most of these sites
                 either rehashed the same few artists and bands while others didn't have a means of
                 listening to the music. I always thought 'Wouldn't it be great if there was a place
                 I could visit to listen to the music I like before I make a commitment to buy'. A
                 sort of 'try before you buy' for those groups I have never before listened to. After
                 searching for a long time to no avail I thought I'd go ahead and make the bloody
                 thing myself. and I did.

Tsujigazm: Couldnt someone just search for what they want on other popular video websites?

Kurosawa:  I admit that is what I used to do myself. Youtube does have a large selection of
                 asian media, but I find that not only is the quality poor but the music is hard to
                 find. Youtube and other social media sites tend to be a free for all with content
                 and as such does not help support a community of people with common interests.
                 Because Pyontube is focused on Asian music we do not have these problems.

Tsujigazm: Ok, so what can you offer someone who visits your site? What sets you apart from
                 other social media websites?

Kurosawa:  My main goal for the site was to create a great community.
                 No matter how much content we have the site would not be an attractive place to visit
                 with a community like some other sites (which I wont mention here).

                 My next goal was to bring awareness to the lesser known even independent Asian
                 artists out there as there is a wealth of talent many people are unaware of.

                 Pyontube offers many things other sites do not, mainly heavy user influence. We
                 allow members to create groups and even contribute to site design by having a go
                 at making their own logo's. We also offer a growing range of customisable widgets
                 for members to add to their blogs or personal web pages and even reward our most
                 active members with a customised widget upon request.

                 In the near future we hope to offer new ways for our community to influence the
                 site.

Tsujigazm: You say that your main goal was to 'create a great community'; what is your
                definition of a great community?

Kurosawa: Hmmm. I guess a given is a community full of active members. This doesn't necessarily
                mean members who upload lots of stuff but rather people who rate media, comment on
                blogs and pages and make friends. This is a large part of a social networking community.

                The most important part is that people get along well. Why join a new community if you don't
                make new friends?

Tsujigazm: Indeedy! Your second goal was to promote new and lesser known bands, groups or solo artists.
                What is your (Pyontube) approach to this? How are you finding these artists who are not well
                publicised?

Kurosawa: We have been looking into a few methods of finding these artists including requesting people
                living in Asia to join the community. We also listen very carefully to the soundtracks in Asian film
                & TV. Our best resource has to be the iTunes music store in Japan. Here we have access to an
                independant and unsigned artist section that is full of great music.

Tsujigazm: You said that you can make 'custom widgets' for communities and/or members. What are they
                 and how do they work?

Kurosawa: A widget is basically a small web app, usually flash based that can be placed anywhere that allows
                you to post in html. The widgets on Pyontube are fully functional media players that will list all of your
                favourite music on Pyontube for anybody to play. The actual file is stored on our servers so all you
                need is the small section of code and you can use the widget anywhere.

Tsujigazm: So a Pyontube member can post their widget on, say, their favourite message boards or forums?
                Or on the pages of their favourite social networking sites like MySpace?

Kurosawa: Absolutely! We even offer an automatic system for the more popular sites so they don't have to
                worry about messing about with code.

Tsujigazm: Does a person have to be a member to take a Pyontube widget and use it?

Kurosawa:  We have a mix of widgets available. At the lowest level there are those found on our media play
                 pages. These allow anybody, even non members to use a widget that plays the corresponding media.
                 Next we have special widgets only available to members that will list and play all the things that person
                 has contributed to the site. Finally we have the custom widgets, These are created just for our most
                 active members and include custom graphics and logo's.

Tsujigazm: On each members page, they have a small section for "Points" Can you tell me how a member can
                 accumulate the points and how they can redeem them on the site?

Kurosawa: The points system is a fairly new implementation that is still undergoing testing. Every member starts
                off with 100 points when they join the site (members who joined before the system was implemented
                got 250 points instead).  You gain more points by contributing to the community, the number of points
                given differs depending on the contribution with more points being given to those who upload content or
                comment on a members profile.

                In the future we hope to implement a series of rewards, both virtual and physical to tie in with the
                points system.

Tsujigazm: Running a website like Pyontube surely costs real money and not just points, how do you manage with
                 the costs without resorting to taking donations and what can a member do to help out?

Kurosawa: Running a website of this scale does cost money. We need to run servers powerful enough to encode
                all the media our members upload as well as have the space to store it in.

                To offset this cost we, like all other non-privatly funded websites rely on advertisement revenue. We
                have a variety of adverts on the site, the one that pays the most being the tall 'skyscraper' ad on the
                right hand side.

                At the moment Pyontube costs around $100/£68/€76/¥9,860 per month and is operating at a loss.
                As we get more members this should even out however and we are optimistic about the future of
                Pyontube.
                The skyscraper advert I mentioned comes in two forms. The first being an advertisment for either
                YesAsia or YesStyle. These ads are commission based, meaning if you buy something from one of
                these stores after clicking one of these ads we get 5% of the sale.

                The other kind is the standard Google ad. These ads give us money depending on how many clicks
                we receive in a day. I will take this time to mention that if a member continuously clicks these ad links
                to extreme amounts we actually lose money. This is done to prevent us from cheating the system so if
                you wish to help us out please keep this in mind, We have had a member do this in the past and it
                resulted in more harm than good.

Tsujigazm: Finally, As of now, do you think you are on the way to achieving the goals you have set for the
                 development of Pyontube and what are your plans for the future?

Kurosawa: Pyontube has succeeded in creating a small yet friendly community who are eager to contribute.
                My goal now is to try and increase the size of this community without losing any of the atmosphere.
                For this we hope our current members will help us out and spread the word to people they believe
                would enjoy what we have to offer.

                We have a range of new projects for the site underway including various site upgrades, an interactive
                newsletter and competitions complete with virtual and physical prizes. Unfortunately for those reading
                this interview we will be keeping the rest of these ideas a secret until we feel the time is right.

                We are always open to suggestions from our members so feel free to email or post on either my or
                Tsujigazm's profile.

Tsujigazm: Thank you for this wonderfully revealing look at Pyontube, it's history and it's future. I hope that it
                 opens the eyes and ears of our members to the hard work that is put into everything that happens on
                 this site and that it would not be possible without their valued input and it would not be worth it if they
                 didn't enjoy it! :D Thanks again Kurosawa for taking the time to share all this information with
                 everyone on Pyontube.

Kurosawa: