14-day OC extensions. What’s your experience?

[[Member open…]]

So, what’s your experience with the 14-day extension of Open Calls, which was added a few months back? How do you like it and how exactly do you use it?

[[Member Star…]]

Hi! I loved the non expiring oc's! Then I could sing with my smulefriends whenever I feel like and can & have time! No pressure...also the singing energy is more flowing then & you have more song choices & more fun! Thank you !Y'all have a magical singing time and lets keep the music & song in our hearts !Peace & Light!

[[Member Isa_…]]

15 hours ago, opentype said:

So, what’s your experience with the 14-day extension of Open Calls, which was added a few months back? How do you like it and how exactly do you use it?

I am not  fan of the 14 days extension and the non expiring either.. soo boring.. I use the original 7 days only..

[[Member rick…]]

On 10/13/2023 at 4:52 PM, Isa_Bella said:

I am not  fan of the 14 days extension and the non expiring either.. soo boring.. I use the original 7 days only..

I would be interested to hear why having more options would be boring? You don't have to use those features, which would be the same as using the original 7 days only, so I don't get why it would be "boring". Not trying to be critical; you certainly have the right to you're likes and dislikes. Just want to understand.

As for me, having the 14 day extension is better than not having it. But it seems like a compromise to the non-expiring OCs, which were awesome, and something I found much more useful than 14 day extensions. I'm not sure why non-expiring OCs went away. It never occurred to me until I read Isa_Bella's comment above that it could be that some users didn't like it. If you don't like it, don't use it: just don't join OCs older than 7 days. I thought maybe it had to do with storage space or cost. I think allowing up to 3 non-expiring/re-activated OCs per user at one time (but songs could be reactivated as many times as desired) would be a better compromise than 14 day extensions.

14-day extensions have a few other problems, such as it's hard to know which have already been reactivated and which haven't. It's also hard to tell when the extensions expire. I also like the "Recommended for you" section of "Explore", in order to find new OCs to join, but without non-expiring OCs, "Recommended for You" feels a little useless. 

[[Member Wish…]]

On 10/14/2023 at 10:57 PM, rickywx said:

I'm not sure why non-expiring OCs went away.

Smule wasn't selling enough VIP memberships, plain and simple.

In my experience, some non-VIP members - when gifted a 5-day VIP membership - will extend a whole ton of their OCs right before their gifted VIP expires. So even though they are no longer VIP, their OCs still run for as long as the extension allows.

I agree with @rickywx about it being very difficult to tell which songs are reactivated, which aren't, and when anything expires now. I don't find the 14-day extension very useful, nor do a lot of other users I know. And frankly, whenever I see someone dig up some moldy old OC (because they don't have time to sing but still want people to engage with them?), I take a hard pass.

A smarter decision Smule should have made is to simply have the default be for OCs to close after 7 days, and then to give users the ability to open them indefinitely if they chose to. This would have jibed with that ridiculous reason Smule gave, and still given users the freedom to do what they wanted with their OCs. But it was always about money, and non-expiring OCs don't sell VIP memberships, unfortunately.

Edited October 24, 2023 by Wishchip

[[Member Star…]]

Right! and I would find it great if VIP USERS could decide themselves if they want it to be forever oc s or not...we should decide...!

[[Member Duet…]]

On 10/24/2023 at 5:25 PM, Wishchip said:

Smule wasn't selling enough VIP memberships, plain and simple.

In my experience, some non-VIP members - when gifted a 5-day VIP membership - will extend a whole ton of their OCs right before their gifted VIP expires. So even though they are no longer VIP, their OCs still run for as long as the extension allows.

I agree with @rickywx about it being very difficult to tell which songs are reactivated, which aren't, and when anything expires now. I don't find the 14-day extension very useful, nor do a lot of other users I know. And frankly, whenever I see someone dig up some moldy old OC (because they don't have time to sing but still want people to engage with them?), I take a hard pass.

A smarter decision Smule should have made is to simply have the default be for OCs to close after 7 days, and then to give users the ability to open them indefinitely if they chose to. This would have jibed with that ridiculous reason Smule gave, and still given users the freedom to do what they wanted with their OCs. But it was always about money, and non-expiring OCs don't sell VIP memberships, unfortunately.

You said it! All of it!

Yeah, I’m here. Trying to quit Smule didn’t work 😂 but I have managed to stay off if it for a week or two at a time when I don’t feel like singing, which is progress for me.

Anyway, I actually came here to download a song hehe … but when I saw this topic, I had to jump in to point out something. Even now, there are still songs by random users that are extended longer term! I’ll dig one of them up when I have a chance. It kind of infuriated me, because I signed up for vip again (only for one month, thank goodness) stupidly believing that people would actually join my songs. But no, it’s still the same Smule. So yes, I totally believe you are right. They did it because they’re counting on idiots like me to re-subscribe. I already canceled it like a week into my subscription 😂

And no, I don’t like the 14 day extension! If I wanted to join it the first time around, I did. And if I didn’t join, it’s because I didn’t want to? Hehe. The only exception is when people use the extension to make their NEW invites last 14 more days, because that gives me more time to join before they expire. But no, not a fan of the 14 day extension!

ETA: I voted that I don’t like it, and I need the non-expiring OCs back. But I want to add that I don’t want the old ocs to be promoted in the search results. I would just like my friends and people who stumble upon my page to be able to join my old OCs, and for me to be able to join theirs.

Edited November 2, 2023 by DuetWithAlli
Adding to already too lengthy post

[[Member Duet…]]

This is what I’m talking about. I blacked out her name because it’s probably not her fault Smule extended it. Hopefully you can see that there’s no checkmark,  nothing indicating she’s a partner artist, celebrity, rising star, ambassador, yada yada. But if they’re going to take away non-expiring OCs from everyone, why do people Smule deems special enough get to have their invites extended for longer than 14 days? It just goes to show that Smule lied about their reasons for taking away non-expiring OCs. If mine can only be extended one time for 14 days, it should be the same for everyone else. Or give me back my dang non-expiring OCs. Did I say non-expiring OCs enough times? Non-expiring OCs! Anyway, I’m going to go complain to Smule about this now 😂

Edited November 6, 2023 by DuetWithAlli
!

[[Member Wish…]]

3 hours ago, DuetWithAlli said:

It just goes to show that Smule lied about their reasons for taking away non-expiring OCs.

I think that's ultimately what it boils down to for me as well. And it's really left me will some considerable ill will towards the company, their ambassadors and other mouthpieces and Yes Men who seemingly do nothing to challenge the company on any of their questionable decisions. Taking away non-expiring OCs and introducing 14-day extensions has not only alienated a large portion of their user base, but worse it's exposed Smule as kinda two-faced, monetarily-driven and willing to play fast and loose with their own rules because of their own biases and preferences.

@DuetWithAlli as far as all these non-expiring OCs from seemingly regular users, when I asked about it a few months ago, they simply said they were extended by Smule representatives "as part of different ongoing programs" like with being an ambassador or being part of the creators' program. But certainly that example you provided doesn't tick any of those boxes. If they tell you anything different, I hope you can share!

[[Member Duet…]]

1 hour ago, Wishchip said:

I think that's ultimately what it boils down to for me as well. And it's really left me will some considerable ill will towards the company, their ambassadors and other mouthpieces and Yes Men who seemingly do nothing to challenge the company on any of their questionable decisions. Taking away non-expiring OCs and introducing 14-day extensions has not only alienated a large portion of their user base, but worse it's exposed Smule as kinda two-faced, monetarily-driven and willing to play fast and loose with their own rules because of their own biases and preferences.

@DuetWithAlli as far as all these non-expiring OCs from seemingly regular users, when I asked about it a few months ago, they simply said they were extended by Smule representatives "as part of different ongoing programs" like with being an ambassador or being part of the creators' program. But certainly that example you provided doesn't tick any of those boxes. If they tell you anything different, I hope you can share!

You’re always nailing it! Thank you for passing along the (false) information given to you by Smule. I find that sometimes, if I’m just up front with the support peeps and tell them, look, I know you don’t make the decisions and you have to tell people whatever Smule tells you to tell them … they say they’ll pass it on to the proper team. It’s exactly that, Smule just want people to start signing up for vip again by making them think their invites will actually get out to people, knowing dang well that they won’t! Sorry @Wishchip you’ve got me all fired up now! Hehe.

I had made an invite for that song, and searched it up out of curiosity. When I saw that invite, and that she had almost 100 joins at that time, it’s like, dang … I give up 😂 I should probably just face the fact that I’m not good enough, and never will be, but I keep coming back just to get kicked down again. Anyway, thanks again. I’ll let you know if I hear anything back. But you should probably just wait a couple of years until enough people have complained to get Smule to change things.

[[Member Wish…]]

13 minutes ago, DuetWithAlli said:

I had made an invite for that song, and searched it up out of curiosity. When I saw that invite, and that she had almost 100 joins at that time, it’s like, dang … I give up 😂 

See, and this also torpedoes anyone thinking the 7-day limit is a good thing. Like opentype posted in another thread regarding the 7-day limit:

"Another effect worth considering is that non-expiring invites disproportionally favour the best singers on the app. If I look up a song and can choose from hundreds of OCs, I am going to scroll through the old OCs and look for the best singers. So, they will get more and more joins while the average singers might not get any joins, which can be rather frustrating for them. If there are only 2 or 3 OCs available, it’s unavoidable that people will join these OCs. I can certainly see how that could improve the experience for many Smule users."

So people can't even make THAT argument anymore, because you still have a ton of different kinds of users getting preferential treatments which heavily lean towards them getting joins over other "non-chosen" users.

Like if you ever open More Than Words and are hoping for joins, you're not only competing with everyone else, you're also competing with some Broadway star, SMULE ITSELF, and a Smule Ambassador, all of whom have had the song open for forever.

[[Member iubi…]]

Pour ma part je l'utilise tout le temps pour les 14 jours 

Mais je préféré les chansons qu'on peut rejoindre indéfiniment car des fois ya trop de chanson qu'on veut faire et pas assez de temps 

[[Member Duet…]]

2 hours ago, Wishchip said:

See, and this also torpedoes anyone thinking the 7-day limit is a good thing. Like opentype posted in another thread regarding the 7-day limit:

"Another effect worth considering is that non-expiring invites disproportionally favour the best singers on the app. If I look up a song and can choose from hundreds of OCs, I am going to scroll through the old OCs and look for the best singers. So, they will get more and more joins while the average singers might not get any joins, which can be rather frustrating for them. If there are only 2 or 3 OCs available, it’s unavoidable that people will join these OCs. I can certainly see how that could improve the experience for many Smule users."

So people can't even make THAT argument anymore, because you still have a ton of different kinds of users getting preferential treatments which heavily lean towards them getting joins over other "non-chosen" users.

Like if you ever open More Than Words and are hoping for joins, you're not only competing with everyone else, you're also competing with some Broadway star, SMULE ITSELF, and a Smule Ambassador, all of whom have had the song open for forever.

Funny you mentioned More Than Words! I thought about opening that one. And I still might anyway, since I have vip for a whole month, and my followers seem to like that song. But I think the issue for me is that about 90% of the people I sang with have quit singing on Smule, and there’s no reason for me to have vip and put out invites if no one is going to see them 🤦‍♀️

My suggestion to Smule is either: 1) stop extending and promoting at the top of the search results, old invites by random Smulers who aren’t paying any more than anyone else; or 2) give non-expiring invites back to ALL VIP users. Or both. Both would be nice.

I’ve been thinking about bringing this to the attention of my followers, and asking them to contact Smule, too … just not sure of the best way to go about it. But the more people who complain, the better.

[[Member Duet…]]

Update: All I got was a generic form response, telling me things we already know 🤦‍♀️ So, I tried it again. And I’m going to go in later and change my review on the App Store.

 

Also, I feel bad for hi-jacking this thread 🙈 So if I have any updates on this, I’ll start a new topic.

Edited November 7, 2023 by DuetWithAlli

[[Member Wish…]]

Hahaha. Smule Support Team is often deliberately obtuse. Man, they are the worst.

[[Member Wish…]]

If you ever open Stand By Me and are hoping for joins, you can get in line behind SMULE ITSELF, some seemingly random singer and a Smule Ambassador.

Maybe we should be asking these people how they're liking the 14-day extensions. Hahaha.

[[Member Duet…]]

On 11/7/2023 at 4:11 PM, Wishchip said:

If you ever open Stand By Me and are hoping for joins, you can get in line behind SMULE ITSELF, some seemingly random singer and a Smule Ambassador.

Maybe we should be asking these people how they're liking the 14-day extensions. Hahaha.

Yeah and Smule totally doesn’t get that! It’s not about the small number of invites that are extended beyond 21 days. It’s about the fact that any song I want to sing, I look it up and bam! There’s no way to compete with Smule and their little darlings. They say, oh, you can join the challenges, too! But it’s not like I’d have any chance of winning. I mean, look at those ladies. 

[[Member Wish…]]

With the new announcement of paying to further extend your OCs past the free 14 days, I bet people are going to start looking more favourably on the free 14-day extension.

I wonder how long it'll stick around before Smule takes this away from us too.

[[Member TheM…]]

On 11/6/2023 at 7:01 AM, DuetWithAlli said:

It just goes to show that Smule lied

When does the app ever tell the whole truth? Seldom. They humor the hell out of users when it comes to money. I’ll pay to sing at a reasonable cost and I’ll purchase a few gifts for friends on occasion, but I refuse to pay to extend invitations. Stop the greed, Smule! 

I’ve always felt that Smule maybe has the attitude that its users should be thankful that they allow us to use their platform. No, we are the bosses of the accounts that we purchase, as long as we abide by the guidelines.  Smule should be thanking us for choosing their company. There are other karaoke apps … but I think Smule’s technology and their awesome, unpaid user uploaders keep the app above the rest … for now. 

[[Member open…]]

Well, Smule isn’t a charity. They are a tech startup company. The service was created with over 200 million in investor’s money and those investors want their money back with interest eventually. A typical way to achieve that is to constantly raise prices for the service. Another option is upselling – giving people options to pay more. Given the two choices, I am totally happy that my VIP price has remained unchanged and I am not forced to pay more. If there is optional paid stickers, optional paid OC extensions, optional paid badges … that’s all fine with me, because I am not forced to buy any of that.

[[Member real…]]

14 days is too long.

They need to fix their bugs first. A new bug has just been introduced which can make it impossible to see who has joined you when you look at all joins, because you see your own name + joiner. Why do you need to see your own name there, these are all people who’ve joined you! This was fixed several months back and now the bug is back. And then in playlists, they don’t put the name of the singers next to a song so how do you find a collab you want to play?

[[Member TheM…]]

On 11/30/2023 at 3:30 PM, opentype said:

I am totally happy that my VIP price has remained unchanged and I am not forced to pay more. If there is optional paid stickers, optional paid OC extensions, optional paid badges … that’s all fine with me, because I am not forced to buy any of that.

I’ve been thinking. I agree. What other users choose to purchase is nothing to me as long as I am not pressured to do so… Optional is key. 

[[Member TheM…]]

On 11/30/2023 at 6:42 PM, realyquick said:

14 days is too long.

They need to fix their bugs first. A new bug has just been introduced which can make it impossible to see who has joined you when you look at all joins, because you see your own name + joiner. Why do you need to see your own name there, these are all people who’ve joined you! This was fixed several months back and now the bug is back. And then in playlists, they don’t put the name of the singers next to a song so how do you find a collab you want to play?

I noticed that bug too and speaking of playlists I wish Smule would fix them so we can place them in the order we want. The new/old category is good but I have other categories I want to sort together. 

[[Member TheM…]]

On 11/30/2023 at 3:30 PM, opentype said:

Well, Smule isn’t a charity.

You got that right but they could be more charitable. There are many active, loyal non-VIPs on the app. During Christmas I think Smule should give them free VIP for one or two weeks. ‘Tis the season! Why not? They can give away free yellow checkmarks to the wealthy…

Edited December 7, 2023 by TheMajesticM

[[Member Wish…]]

10 hours ago, TheMajesticM said:

During Christmas I think Smule should give them free VIP for one or two weeks. ‘Tis the season! Why not? They can give away free yellow checkmarks to the wealthy…

That is a GREAT goddamn idea, especially considering lots of people are busy with the holidays anyway and it would bring a bit more attention to the app. Where's the harm in a "Free VIP" week every once in awhile to attract non-VIPs to the app? I've seen a suggestion that Smule should offer a 45-day free trial of VIP to non-paying users and I think that's an interesting idea too.