Welcome to The Studio ♫
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Art by Kolohe.
Introduction
You might be a fan of metal, maybe '70s rock, maybe OSTs...or you might even listen to pop! Whatever genre floats your boat is welcome in The Studio, the central hub for music discussion on Pokémon Showdown! All genres are shared, welcomed, and open for discussion. The discussion runs deeper than just sharing songs and into other interests such as music theory, instruments, and production. Really, if it's got a beat to it (or maybe not, ambient noise is welcomed too), then it's welcomed. All that's asked in return is to be respectful of other people's music tastes.
Just by being in The Studio, you'll get to see so many recommendations from every genre. Music is shared by linking songs in the room, which creates discussion. Click a few links and who knows? You might find your new favorite song. Joining The Studio is a great way to discover new music and discuss it with people who share similar interests. People are passionate about music, and it's very encouraged to share that passion! The atmosphere of the room is quite distinct as well. Discussion about music can go back and forth, be a dissection of said music, and it may be overwhelming at first. That's okay! Ease in and get chatting about music; generally, other people are interested in talking about music if you engage with them!
The Studio
There's more to The Studio than meets the eye! The Studio hosts an eclectic mixture of conversation. Which Metallica album is their magnum opus? What's your favorite song? The Studio is home to digging deeper into the crevices of what you'd expect—artists, songs, and albums. For example, music production is a topic that comes up from time to time. People are interested in who is producing what for who! When you look closer, you notice the differences in production and the similarities in a producer's songs. Others also play instruments or create music themselves, and we welcome people to discuss and share their own music. Learning about instruments and music theory happens naturally in The Studio because of discussions like these!
It's clear that music has always had genres—it is sectored into defined patterns. So how does a room with so many users manage to discuss anything? The other side of this is that the room has a very diverse palette in music. Finding discussion on specific subgenres is quite common because there's such a passion for music. The Studio has a ton of metal enthusiasts, people who love pop music, fans of classical music, and tons of rap fans. That's only the surface, too! You're more likely than not to find someone who's willing to discuss an artist with you. If not, it's a perfect opportunity to introduce yourself or another person to a new artist. It's almost shocking how much music can be discovered daily by being in The Studio.
Getting involved in discussion is typically initiated by linking music. Last.fm is a website that tracks what you are listening to in real-time and keeps a record of it, so it's very convenient to display what you are listening to! Voices and above are able to broadcast songs through the !lastfm and !track commands, though everyone shares music by linking songs as such: [[artist - song <link>]]. Non-voiced users can also use /lastfm and /track commands, though sharing music is easiest with links. Really, the only rule when linking music is that what you link needs to be appropriate; otherwise, share whatever you'd like!
Recommendations
There's a variety of resources to help guide you in discussion, including recommendations. The Studio has a distinct feature of recommendations, an assortment of songs that users have added as recommendations for others. They can be found by typing /recommendations into the chatroom, or you can roll a random one with /rec [argument]! It's encouraged to add recommendations, and you can do so by doing /suggestrec. Subject to staff discretion, songs will be approved and can be found in the main recommendations page or randomly picked when searched for!
The Studio staff also put together an extensive sheet of recommendations, which you can find here, with more music than you could even imagine. Be sure to check out all the recommendations the room has to offer; music is waiting to be discovered all around! Even beyond the room, The Studio has a Smogon thread dedicated to song recommendations found here. Each month, staff submit recommendations based on a theme, and throughout every month users are welcomed to submit recommendations! There's going to be a recommendation anywhere you look, really!
Artist of the Day
The Studio celebrates a different artist every day through a system called Artist of the Day, which you can always pull up with /aotd. Throughout the day, users can nominate an artist to be selected with the command /aotd nom [artist]. Then, at 8 PM EDT the next Artist of the Day is randomly selected from the nominated artists! After a new artist has been picked, the user who submitted them may send in an image, song, and lyric from the artist to be added to the spotlight! In the unfortunate situation an artist has passed away, the Artist of the Day is overwritten to become an honorary Artist of the Day in remembrance and respect.
Room Events
Having a good memory and being quick on your feet are some skills you'll need to take on The Studio's events! The Studio has sporadic events throughout the month, but there is a signature event that occurs frequently: Guess That Song! A game of hangman is displayed with song lyrics for the hint, with the answer is the song itself. Win the most rounds, and you win the Prize Winner (^) rank in the room for two weeks! The rank itself does not allow broadcasting of !lastfm or !track. Beyond Guess That Song, The Studio host events every so often such as Guess That Album, where you guess an album based off of its cover or a snippet of its cover. The room's events are ever-changing, so be sure to keep checking in for new events under /events!
Conclusion
Through listening to a single song, an entire world of discussion can be opened. Even with differing tastes, The Studio is welcome to all genres and, as mentioned before, there's probably someone else in the room with a similar taste to you! You can even find new songs by checking out a variety of our resources for recommendations: in-room, staff recommendations, and an entire thread dedicated to them! Seriously, The Studio has you covered when it comes to music. We have a different artist to celebrate every day, with everyone vying to win to get their favorite artist a day in the spotlight. Events happen frequently, and our monthly event, Guess That Song, is the perfect time to discover new songs, new albums, and new artists, all while having fun with others in a lighthearted game. Be sure to bring your best set of headphones because once you're plugged into The Studio, you might not be able to unplug!
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