First off, the start of an Amiga Remix scene infrastructure is a long overdue idea. Well done!
But the c64 remix scene evolved around the c64rmx group. RKO didn't exist before people got together and someone voluntered to create a website.
That's not right: the remix scene started on the C64, then on the Amiga (MODs) and ST, flowed through to GM MIDI files and then MP3s on the prototype C64Audio.com. C64Audio.com inspired the Triad MP3 site and Bluenine. Triad was the first place for arrangers such as O2, Instant Remedy, Plough and Dead Guys to show up. RKO was pretty much the direct successor to Triad's site. Incidentally, C64Audio.com has been around (not always with that domain name, but in some form or another) since late 1994, way before any commercial activity.
If there is to be an Amiga remix scene created, then what is needed is an equivalent of RKO or Triad, not a Yahoogroup. And a decent PHPBB forum to match. The current lack of activity of C64RMX is caused as far as I can see by three factors: (1) Jan disliking premature announcements of stuff on RKO, (2) Jan putting a notification bot into place, and (3) The Remix64 forum.
The C64RMX group was started merely as an announcement place for new remixes to reflect a scene that was already growing, and as a subscriber since its inception, I never found it a place where a community was fostered, unlike the Remix64 forum. I personally have met people like Thomas Detert, Glyn R. Brown and loads of others. Nothing like that happened on C64rmx.
So, to summarise
A successful Amiga scene will need:
1) A site where Amiga remixes can be uploaded
2) A forum where Amiga remixes can be discussed
3) Loads of musicians sufficiently inspired by Amiga music to spend time doing remixes.
Number 3 will be the most difficult, I think. The C64 remixes happened because there was a history of remixes from the earliest days (dating back to when C64 composers covered other composers, like Matt Gray covering Rob Hubbard), and a concensus as to the classic tunes which needed to be covered. Remixes happened spontaneously because people felt driven to cover the tunes. This is still happening: and it hasn't happened with Amiga tunes. If it hasn't happened now, it may not be because there's no central place: it may be because there just isn't the same motivation for creating Amiga covers as C64 covers.
That's not to say a central place for Amiga covers is long overdue, and welcome! It's just that it may not be enough to provoke the activity necessary for a scene as we might think of it. I hope I'm wrong, of course.
There's another factor, which is that often remixers are inspired by other remixers. I'm sure there are a fair few remixers who started because Instant Remedy or Jogeir Liljedahl, Dead Guys (or even me!) gave them something to aspire to. I know of no comparable figure on the Amiga scene, though obviously I'm not the right person to know, because my knowledge of Amiga music is very slight. If there was some towering remixer, then people would have something to aim for.
Quick question: what's your personal Amiga remix wishlist? Can you put MODs, XMs or MP3s of these original tunes up anywhere?
Oh, and another factor which occured to me: there is no equivalent of HVSC in the Amiga world. Exotica kind of does it, but the power of a one-off collection played through one player has contributed to bringing obscure tunes to the attention of the remixers, too. HVSC has been massively important in providing remixers with the raw material.
OK, this whole post is an unstructured mess, but I hope I introduced some new ideas. Don't take what I say above too negatively: if you post a wishlist I (for one) may well have a stab at some of the tunes. I'm already being pressured to remix "Frontier" for Mark-Hennessey Barrett
Chris
