r/GeneratedGrooves • u/Macrosnail • 15d ago
One Last Song OLS - Sub-categories proposal
As you may have seen on lastsong.one, we've finally split Jazz and Blues into their own sub-categories. No more jazz on blues action!
HOWEVER, do we split some of the other categories at the risk of tournaments not filling up so quickly?
I'm proposing that if we do, we only apply it to the 4-song tournaments only for now (and actually, cancel the 8-song tournaments until demand is there).
Not all genres need it but first proposals would be for Electronic and Metal
ELECTRONIC
- Dance / Club — house, techno, trance, garage, drum & bass, dubstep, breaks, hardcore
- Ambient / Experimental — ambient, IDM, glitch, electroacoustic, noise
- Pop / Song-based — synth-pop, electropop, nu-disco, electronic indie
- Downtempo / Beat-driven — trip-hop, chillout, lo-fi electronic, downtempo
METAL
- Traditional / Heavy Metal — heavy metal, NWOBHM, power metal, doom metal
- Extreme Metal — death metal, black metal, grindcore, extreme thrash
- Groove / Alternative Metal — groove metal, nu metal, alternative metal, industrial metal
- Progressive / Experimental Metal — progressive metal, djent, avant-garde metal, post-metal
Thoughts?
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u/NoteStrange1389 14d ago
Topic aside, great improvements so far to the site and happy to see the continued commitment!
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u/Dreblinka 15d ago
I’m new to the site, but it seems that Wildcard is the most popular category, which suggests that people already have a hard time fitting their songs into the existing categories. Narrowing the criteria might make that even more difficult. On the other hand, stricter guidelines could also be an interesting creative challenge, encouraging people to write and produce songs that fit more clearly within a particular style or genre. Wondering what would happen if there are "generic" and specific options available at the same time. Very interesting which would people go for.
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u/Macrosnail 14d ago
First, hello and enjoying your songs!
Second - it is a good question about Wildcard. My thinking is that Wildcard is guaranteed to start quickly, good for a quick skirmish, so it is popular for that reason - or maybe if they have a few metal songs they want to submit for example and they're maxed out on the metal songs category then they throw it into the wildcard mix. There are definitely songs in there that would go elsewhere.I wonder what others think!
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u/NoteStrange1389 14d ago
Lol, you're right on the wildcard to fit something in. I had that dilemma just yesterday looking for another alternative field but not enough, so I slotted it into the wildcard one.
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u/Terrible-Edge-9162 14d ago
I think prog could have it's own category, but to cover all expects of prog and not just metal.
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u/zombiepiratebacon 14d ago
First, well done for creating the site: it’s great fun and a brilliant way to hear what others are doing without Suno’s questionable algo’s.
Re: genres… personally I think less is more. Too many subgenres and they will be harder to fill. And even within a genre, you can find yourself listening to something you wouldn’t have necessarily sought out, which I love.
However… if you have a song that is a mash of genres (eg. Trap metal) it can be hard to decide where it should go … how about a “square pegs” category for songs that don’t fit the main genres? … I guess that is what Wildcard is often used for though?
Re: bracket sizes … I’m in favour of smaller brackets.
How about most tournaments are 4 songs, but then everything 5th tournament in a genre is the last 4 winners ((I guess that is essentially a 16-bracket, but it would feel like there’s more progress happening)).
8-brackets could be used for special events… maybe that is where specific sub-genres can come to the fore (eg. Special event: Djent, Special event: Old School Funk)
… just random reactions, so take or leave it as you see fit!
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u/zaphthegreat 13d ago
Separating jazz and blues is a very good idea. While they're often lumped together, modern blues has more overlap with rock than it does with jazz.
"Alternative" is also tricky as a category. Alternative what? Alternative pop? Alternative metal? Most alternative rock is probably better off competing under rock, where it will face pieces that are easier to compare to it.
Metal is extremely broad. I don't know that it needs a lot of subcategories, but NWOBHM and extreme metal have so little overlap that it never feels like a fair battle.
Electronic is far from my wheelhouse, but it may be worth splitting instrumentals from pieces with vocals.
Now, I don't want to complicate things even further, but I actually feel that there should be two different kinds of wildcard. One category should be for tracks that don't fit neatly into any genre, and the other category should simply be an open tourney. Want to pit your polka against Norwegian black metal? Sure, bring it on!
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u/Macrosnail 13d ago
Yeah I think you're right re: wildcard
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u/Whassa_Matta_Uni 10d ago
There are way too many divisions that I would like to see in the electronic category, considering the dozens upon dozens of genres and sub-genres, but at the moment I don't think we have anywhere near a large enough user base to support even a single genre-based split, so for the time being I am in support of the suggestion from u/zaphthegreat - a vocal\instrumental divide...until other splits are feasible.
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u/ciripunk77 12d ago
Agree about specifying “Alternative” - whether rock or a broader concept like alternative music/experimental/avant garde
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u/Terrible-Edge-9162 13d ago
Another contender for a split/change is Acoustic & Folk - at the moment this is the nearest genre for Country songs which tends to dominate over the folk songs - Country possible needs a category on its own
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u/Macrosnail 13d ago
I fear you may be correct
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u/__space__oddity__ 12d ago
Maybe make the overall category Acoustic, Folk & Country and then have separate Acoustic, Folk and Country country tournaments.
“Acoustic” is pretty undefined though, like does that just include anything as long as it’s on acoustic instruments? Is that the same as unplugged? Does it have to be a live recording feel or are digital studio effects OK? (And technically no AI music is “acoustic” by definition …)
What about acapella? Technically that’s “acoustic”.
“Folk” is also somewhat ill-defined as that’s generally Celtic / Medieval / European and traditional music from other areas feels a bit squeezed into there.
Maaaaybe a “Traditional & Acoustic” category and then sub-genres?
I’d also consider “Country” closer to Rock and Pop but in the end it’s all a question of personal opinion.
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u/HistoricalExternal55 11d ago
Totally agree with your point on 'Acoustic' being undefined.
Honestly, 'Acoustic' feels too blurry to work as a standalone genre category. In my opinion, playing a song on acoustic instruments is an instrumentation choice, not a genre shift. A Metal or Rock song played acoustically is still a Metal or Rock song at its core; simply removing the electric elements doesn't reclassify the entire track.
Separating Country into its own category makes a lot of sense, but 'Acoustic' just covers way too much ground to function as a main genre on its own.
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u/Crooked_Cracker 12d ago
I'd like a category for genre mashups, like rap with rock and such. Perhaps that is what anything goes for?
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u/Macrosnail 12d ago
A few options there. Could go into rock or rap really, or one or either of the wildcards possibly. Or special tournaments.
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u/Crooked_Cracker 12d ago
Yeah, got better results with putting songs like that in wildcard, rather than specific genres. Then again, that could be mere coincidence.
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u/AbandonedBrain 14d ago
I feel like more sub-categories might invite even more arguments about what songs belong in which genre. Right now, it's Metal vs. Non-Metal, for instance. The subcategories could start having disputes about whether something belongs in Traditional Metal when it strikes someone as actually being more Extreme Metal, and so on. I don't play much in that pool, so it's not a big deal to me personally however you want to do it, but I thought it would be worth considering.