March 2025: Search Update
Howdy Wagoneers!
Today I’m releasing another big update to our growing search engine, focusing on the better music discovery, improved usability for everyone, and some cool-fun-unique features you can only get on Bandwagon. Let’s dig in.
Follow Search Results
We’ve now launched one of the core features on the search engine roadmap: a search engine you can follow.
Search queries on Bandwagon now work like an ActivityPub bot, boosting new albums into your inbox/timeline whenever new music is discovered. We’re currently testing this on bandwagon.fm for Albums, and may roll this out to other search types in the future.
Search Tracks and News Items
Speaking of other search types, you can now search Bandwagon for specific tracks (including song lyrics) and news items. This rounds out the search engine, making everything on Bandwagon searchable.
Making Bandwagon Work With Screen Readers
Big thanks to Robert Kingett, who helped dial in Bandwagon’s accessibility for users of screen readers. We’ve made a lot of progress in cleaning up missing labels, and making album pages flow better even if you’re listening to it, not looking at it. It’s a big deal.
And, I’ll add that we’re nowhere near done with this work. Accessibility software has come a long way, but it is still difficult and cumbersome at times. I will continue with accessibility sweeps through every new part of the site (like that shiny new search engine) to make the best possible experience for everyone.
And More…
You know the drill. This month has also seen dozens of other, smaller features that don’t grab the spotlight, but make somebody’s day a little brighter.
Do you have your own pet project that you’d really like to see on Bandwagon? Use the Bandwagon Project Tracker to check in on how we’re doing, or add your own ideas and requests to the GitHub issues list.
What’s Next? Status Updates:
Federated Search Crawler
I’m gearing up to extend Bandwagon’s search engine outside of our happy little bubble. In partnership with other music sites, we’re working on a global, federated search engine that anyone can participate in. The crawler will be an opt-in index that sites can participate in. I’ll be posting a complete spec as soon as its ready
This work is beginning in April, and should be available late spring.
Location Search
Location search is the remaining sticking point in our on-site search engine. It’s an important feature, and I’m working to dial in the human interactions and usability to make sure this works really smoothly. This work is ongoing.
Album Sales
Online album sales are the next big ticket improvement to Bandwagon, and the addition that will really make a difference for tons of indie artists around the world. I’m still on track to start working on Album sales in April. The key issue here is to: 1) give artists as much control over their music as possible, while 2) incorporating a wide diversity of business models and needs. Everyone is a little different, and a good computer system will account for this while making everyone feel like it “just fits” them, specifically.
Principles
It’s important for me to not stand between you and your money, because it’s better for you, for me, and for the bandwagon codebase. So, my current plan (subject to lots of changes) is to let artists bring their own Stripe, PayPal, or Venmo account to Bandwagon, and allow them to be paid directly for their album sales. I’m not sure (yet) how this will work with paid/premium accounts, but we’ll cross that bridge later.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://bandwagon.fm/67dedcd2d81c741ca7a9d546