Click here to see my final paper about the music blogosphere, which is a culmination of my posts here.
Monday, December 7, 2009
The End Result
Click here to see my final paper about the music blogosphere, which is a culmination of my posts here.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Student Interview 2
This is the second of two student interviews I conducted with fellow bloggers from Bennington College. This interview was with Monty Wilson, a senior at Bennington who reads music blogs and has his own blog, called The Aracuan Bird (http://aracuanbird.tumblr.com/).
Nick: What do you believe the true purpose of the music blog is?
Monty: Music blogs are a sort of citizen journalism as to what music is being produced and as a means for weeding out the good from the bad.
N: What are your thoughts on the overnight blog hype phenomenon?
M: Really it's just through the same channels as other forms of hype. For my first Field Work Term, I worked for Epitaph Records. One of my tasks was to go on various blogs likes The Hype Machine to search for the artists signed to the label and look at which blogs were talking about said artists. From there, I would further promote the bands in comment sections. The Internet is still very open and so people are slowly figuring out how to utilize it for promotion on many levels. It's essentially the same as word of mouth in how things become canonized; once its on the Internet, it's permanent.
N: What are your thoughts on comment sections on music blogs? Are they useful?
M: They're useless; anyone with viable things to say will probably just start their own blog.
N: Do you think the music blogosphere is just a societal trend bound to die out eventually or will it continue to spread influence and evolve?
M: It's already evolving--people now make money on blogs or by blogging; blogging has turned into a profession. Right now it seems like it will replace print publications on music. Of course you never really know what is next but if I had to make a prediction, I think music blogs and print publications will come together as some hybrid result.
Nick: What do you believe the true purpose of the music blog is?
Monty: Music blogs are a sort of citizen journalism as to what music is being produced and as a means for weeding out the good from the bad.
N: What are your thoughts on the overnight blog hype phenomenon?
M: Really it's just through the same channels as other forms of hype. For my first Field Work Term, I worked for Epitaph Records. One of my tasks was to go on various blogs likes The Hype Machine to search for the artists signed to the label and look at which blogs were talking about said artists. From there, I would further promote the bands in comment sections. The Internet is still very open and so people are slowly figuring out how to utilize it for promotion on many levels. It's essentially the same as word of mouth in how things become canonized; once its on the Internet, it's permanent.
N: What are your thoughts on comment sections on music blogs? Are they useful?
M: They're useless; anyone with viable things to say will probably just start their own blog.
N: Do you think the music blogosphere is just a societal trend bound to die out eventually or will it continue to spread influence and evolve?
M: It's already evolving--people now make money on blogs or by blogging; blogging has turned into a profession. Right now it seems like it will replace print publications on music. Of course you never really know what is next but if I had to make a prediction, I think music blogs and print publications will come together as some hybrid result.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Student Interview 1
This is the first of two student Interviews I conducted with fellow bloggers from Bennington College. This interview was with Emily Sher, a sophomore at Bennington who reads music blogs and has her own blog that is only accessible to her approved Blogspot friends.
Nick: Do you read many music blogs?
Emily: I read some casually but not ones that update everyday.
N: What do you believe the true purpose of the music blog is?
E: I think there are many purposes. Some, such as Pitchfork and Brooklyn Vegan, keep you updated on what's going on with more popular artists while others are directed towards more obscure music. Really, they're for discovering whatever you want to discover more readily than previously popular means of discovering music.
N: How do you find the more obscure blogs?
E: Usually through friends, I'm not as good as navigating those types of blogs.
N: What do you believe are the most positive and negative aspects of the music blogosphere?
E: Local bands can get exposure and become more popular more easily as opposed to going through other outlets such as Myspace. It's more simple when someone is telling you what to listen to giving but blogs also make music more readily downloadable, making for less record sales. It's really gaining a fan base in exchange for the monetary value through selling records. Also, they tend to be very gossipy—my friend’s band got the reputation of being "bad boys" because of alleged actions. Its sort of like blogging can be the spread of disease. You have to ask yourself: do these types of things matter?
N: Do you think music blogs tend to be very subjective?
E: They can be subjective in terms of one a blog writing about a particular artist and from there other bloggers use the initial blog as a reason to cover the same bands and music. There are some blogs that are much more straightforward.
N: What are your thoughts on comment sections on music blogs? Are they useful?
E: Comment sections are really just heavily opinionated but other readers don’t take commenters seriously often. There is definitely a specific type of person who comments on a blog or any public thing on the internet. They take their own comments seriously yet they ignore other peoples opinions.
N: What are your thoughts on the overnight blog hype phenomenon?
E: Personally, my friend's band The Smith Westerns attributed to other bands from their scene and bands that are linked to other bands in similar genre. It really helped them gain attention. Other blogs tend to read big blogs and music journalism websites, track reviews of songs etc. in order to expose music to people who wouldn’t typically listen to said band. It seems that poppy bands get a lot more attention, the kinds of bands that are palatable to anyone. These are the types of bands whose references to other music can be easily appreciated.
N: Do you think the music blogosphere is just a societal trend bound to die out eventually or will it continue to spread influence and evolve?
E: I think they'll die out in the sense that something else will come along, a new medium. We never really know what the next big thing is so it's hard to say what's next.
Some blogs that Emily follows:
Nick: Do you read many music blogs?
Emily: I read some casually but not ones that update everyday.
N: What do you believe the true purpose of the music blog is?
E: I think there are many purposes. Some, such as Pitchfork and Brooklyn Vegan, keep you updated on what's going on with more popular artists while others are directed towards more obscure music. Really, they're for discovering whatever you want to discover more readily than previously popular means of discovering music.
N: How do you find the more obscure blogs?
E: Usually through friends, I'm not as good as navigating those types of blogs.
N: What do you believe are the most positive and negative aspects of the music blogosphere?
E: Local bands can get exposure and become more popular more easily as opposed to going through other outlets such as Myspace. It's more simple when someone is telling you what to listen to giving but blogs also make music more readily downloadable, making for less record sales. It's really gaining a fan base in exchange for the monetary value through selling records. Also, they tend to be very gossipy—my friend’s band got the reputation of being "bad boys" because of alleged actions. Its sort of like blogging can be the spread of disease. You have to ask yourself: do these types of things matter?
N: Do you think music blogs tend to be very subjective?
E: They can be subjective in terms of one a blog writing about a particular artist and from there other bloggers use the initial blog as a reason to cover the same bands and music. There are some blogs that are much more straightforward.
N: What are your thoughts on comment sections on music blogs? Are they useful?
E: Comment sections are really just heavily opinionated but other readers don’t take commenters seriously often. There is definitely a specific type of person who comments on a blog or any public thing on the internet. They take their own comments seriously yet they ignore other peoples opinions.
N: What are your thoughts on the overnight blog hype phenomenon?
E: Personally, my friend's band The Smith Westerns attributed to other bands from their scene and bands that are linked to other bands in similar genre. It really helped them gain attention. Other blogs tend to read big blogs and music journalism websites, track reviews of songs etc. in order to expose music to people who wouldn’t typically listen to said band. It seems that poppy bands get a lot more attention, the kinds of bands that are palatable to anyone. These are the types of bands whose references to other music can be easily appreciated.
N: Do you think the music blogosphere is just a societal trend bound to die out eventually or will it continue to spread influence and evolve?
E: I think they'll die out in the sense that something else will come along, a new medium. We never really know what the next big thing is so it's hard to say what's next.
Some blogs that Emily follows:
Hipster Runoff
Hipster Runoff is a blog that focuses on current trends or most talked about topics, with music taking up a large portion of the posts. The blogger, Carles (as noted in the banner of the blog), has a distinctly ironic, opinionated tone. He challenges many of the blog-hype bands by ranting about how he doesn't understand why they're the next big thing or why they're receiving strong reviews. He blogs about other pop culture topics in a similar way and often questions things that are all the hype or adored in the media. The language used in the blogs is similar to that of Rose Quartz in that it is aimed at a certain demographic (the word "bro" and other contemporary abbreviated language is often used) yet it seems to appeal to many outside of the demographic based on how many visitors the blog receives.
The layout and design of the blog is very simple, not using many of the more eye-catching web design techniques many blogs have employed. The posts consistently receive hundreds of comments, all in mostly appraising the posts or just carrying out conversations with the same type of language as the bloggers. This may seem like it makes the entire blog a huge mockery yet the intentional lameness is what draws so many readers to the blog--its ironic and a parody of "hipster irony" (a term and lifestyle directly linked to a lot of the music within the independent music community) simultaneously.
From the blog's What is... section:
"What is hipster runoff?
It's a blog worth blogging about! HRO is intended to be a "culturally relevant" blog. Carles can basically blog about anything."
Check it out @: http://www.hipsterrunoff.com/
The layout and design of the blog is very simple, not using many of the more eye-catching web design techniques many blogs have employed. The posts consistently receive hundreds of comments, all in mostly appraising the posts or just carrying out conversations with the same type of language as the bloggers. This may seem like it makes the entire blog a huge mockery yet the intentional lameness is what draws so many readers to the blog--its ironic and a parody of "hipster irony" (a term and lifestyle directly linked to a lot of the music within the independent music community) simultaneously.
From the blog's What is... section:
"What is hipster runoff?
It's a blog worth blogging about! HRO is intended to be a "culturally relevant" blog. Carles can basically blog about anything."
Check it out @: http://www.hipsterrunoff.com/
Riding the Wavves...of blog hype
Wavves, originally the one-man project from 22-year old Nathan Williams, is one of the strongest examples of blog hype making and breaking an artist. Wavves began as Williams' very lo-fi, home recordings of catchy, poppy surfer punk music about partying, skateboarding and smoking marijuana. The songs are all very simple and have been criticized for being overly basic in terms of song-writing and talent. Williams mostly played small shows in an earlier band for friends in and around his hometown of San Diego but in 2008, following the suggestion of a friend, he sent some of his recordings out to a handful of record companies. Fat Possum, a record company based in New York City, loved Wavves and signed Williams to their label, soon after releasing his first album, a self-titled release. Pitchfork got word of the band and started to give them honorable mention, which was picked up by numerous blogs throughout the Web. From here, the hype spread quickly and Wavves was showing up on almost every music blog.
Pitchfork's huge influence on the success or failings of a band laid the groundwork for Wavves to reach success never even considered by Williams. In fact, he hadn't even intended to perform as Wavves before he became such a huge sensation. Then the pressure was on and Wavves began touring frequently, being blogged about in concert report fashion with photos and commentary for many of the shows.
A love/hate divide among music fans emerged as a result of some 22-year old becoming the next big thing in only a matter of months. There have a handful of other bands brought into the spotlight solely due to the Internet and blogging phenomenons, such as Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Vivian Girls, Crystal Stilts, Tapes N' Tapes, Cold War Kids and many more. Whether or not they deserve the hype is up to the bloggers, not the readers, despite how unoriginal or untalented they may be. Many musicians work very hard at getting signed to a record label and becoming a professional musician but are rejected from the blogosphere simply because one blogger writes poorly about them and other blogs lose interest in carrying the story. Who is to say that these bands mentioned deserve the fame and other hard-working musicians do not? Is it all a matter of luck?
After another well-received, successful album, Wavves continued touring to a more extensive, large scale fashion. With a drummer in tow, Williams started to play big music festivals of thousands of people. After an onstage breakdown brought on by drug and alcohol abuse at the Primavera Sound festival in May of 2009, the blogs bit back at Wavves. Bloggers began calling him the perfect example of an immature brat who can't handle the pressures of a touring musician and used this event to harshly criticize not only his music but his personal character as well. The story became the most blogged about event of the year. Forced to cancel the remainder of the tour to take time off, people began to wonder if Wavves was finished.
On the gossipy aspects of blogging, Williams has said: "Oh, yeah, definitely. The indie TMZ, that's what it is. That's what these websites feed off, now, because people are so interested in it, the story behind the music. Whether or not it's true doesn't even fucking matter anymore. It's something to talk about, to start these comment wars. It's just a story and you can just get it out right away. And other people can read it and say what they think about it right away, and, generally speaking, 100% of these things are totally off. To get involved in it, and care about it, I feel like it'd just be a waste of my time."
Williams recovered but not without consequences: Wavves will always be infamous for the breakdown and tends to be altogether ignored by some listeners and blogs due to his antics and his general sound. The fact of the matter is though, Wavves continues to sell albums, get attention from major music journalism sources (even The New York Times has covered his concerts) and blogs, and play very well-attended shows.
Check out his music @: http://www.myspace.com/wavves/
Check out his blog @: http://ghostramp.blogspot.com/
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Brooklyn Vegan
Brooklyn Vegan is a blog that covers the music scene and musical happenings of New York City. Most posts are directly related or connected to the mentioned band either playing or having recently played a concert in NYC. Because the bands covered are chosen by the blogger based on like, there is some subjectivity but most posts deal with the news aspects of mentioned bands, like touring and photos/setlists recent concerts. There are multiple posts each day, keeping readers up-to-date with happenings in the music world locally and more widely. Within the most current posts from today is one about a survey Pitchfork is taking, asking which current musical trend should be rid of. This does not deal specifically with artists but rather the music blogging community and, as it has been covered on many different blogs, Brooklyn Vegan finds it necessary to include it on their blog. There are also posts non-music related from time-to-time because of their significance in the news and/or their relation to NYC.
Brooklyn Vegan, more so than any other music blog, is infamous for its user comments. Comment sections for posts tend to be so nonsensical and irrelevant to the post at a certain point that the entire effort of commenting becomes a mindless waste of finger movements. There have been various posts that have received over 50 comments (sometimes even topping two or three hundred!) that start as legitimate thoughts or opinions on the posts but quickly spiral downwards into cruel and poorly thought out responses. Some even go as far as to be blatantly sexist, racist, or derogatory. This proves that, under the veil of the Internet's protection, people will say anything when they can't be named. Some comments have gotten so out of control that the blog's administrator has had to disable the comments for that particular post.
A chain of comments from a post about bands named The Drums and Surfer Blood being scheduled to play a concert together in January and a show prior to that on New Year's Eve:
"for the price, and compared to the other shitty NYE happenings out there, this looks like one of the better shows that night"
Posted by Anonymous | December 4, 2009 6:57 PM
"there are a tremendous amount of blah happenings on NYE this year. I'm considering going to see the fucking ball drop :/"
"too cool for school"
Posted by Anonymous | December 4, 2009 7:57 PM
"drums4lyfe"
Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2009 12:48 AM
"Four lads auditioning for the lead in Jason Reitman's upcoming adaptation of Catcher In The Rye"
Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2009 1:16 AM
"if the Drums were real...they would play their instruments"
Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2009 1:21 PM
"You people clearly don't remember Elkland. Because if you did, you wouldn't give these major label has-been Drums clowns the time of day."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U251tbM3gYk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U251tbM3gYk
"What do you mean, "you people"?"
Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2009 2:28 PM
From the About Us section:
"BrooklynVegan is a NYC-centric mostly-music blog that focuses on reporting international music news, live show reviews, pictures, tour dates, gossip, tips, MP3's, videos, and just about anything else a music fan could want. Non-music news finds it's way on to our pages as well, and every post comes with an open exchange of ideas via the public commenting system."
Check it out @: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/
Pitchfork
Quite possibly one the most influential and most criticized sources of independent music journalism today, Pitchfork has changed the face of online music criticism and news. Although they are not exactly a music blog per say, their site essentially functions in a similar way as most music blogs do. Their reviews are famous for making or breaking bands, with huge amounts of subjectivity and at times, questionable journalism. For instance, they have given scores of 0.0 (on a scale of 1-10) based so little on the actual sonic qualities of an album but more so on the politics behind the band and dislike of said band's methodology towards music. The site's view towards music is often seen as narrow-minded, siding with current musical trends, such as the lo-fi and garage rock music scenes.
Good or bad politics aside, because they have substantiated them self as such a major voice in music criticism, they majorly influence sales for bands. When a band receives a strong review, they not only explode with popularity and buzz throughout physical and Internet pathways but they also sell many more CDs, sellout concerts and are more likely to appear in more mainstream settings, thus furthering their popularity. It has been said that Pitchfork is quite possibly the deciding factor in a band's quick ascent to major success. This fact, along with exposing small but strong, tight-knit music scenes to a wider audience, has proven true many times.
Pitchfork operates by sifting through the Web for news on bands that fall into the independent or experimental music categories. In addition, they cover some mainstream music (mostly Rap and R&B or news about bands strongly influential to current indie-rock music) as well as some jazz and metal. They, however, do not have comment sections anywhere on their site, closing off their readers' responses. This seems to be a defensive tactic in protecting their overwhelming influence on music; if readers were able to respond to some of the sentiments put forth by Pitchfork in a negative tone, the site could potentially lose its authority over their users.
Pitchfork has reached enough attention and fame to operate their own yearly music festival, Pitchfork Music Fest, in Chicago, the city from which they are based. Bands that have appeared at this festival in the past are those in which were frequently blogged about and hyped throughout the preceding year, in addition to fan favorites within the independent music world. There is also Pitchfork.tv, a site of original video content and exclusives produced by Pitchfork.
As Pitchfork continues to expand into more realms of music and to more and more readers around the world, one must step back at look at how much is too much in the world of Internet journalism. Their blog tendencies turn them into a monster at times yet they are not a blog by definition, giving them a more official say in what's what with independent music. Pitchfork seems to become more and more a part of popular culture everyday (see the article from The Onion, entitled "Pitchfork Gives Music 6.8" @: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/pitchfork_gives_music_6_8) and so we can only wonder whether this type of exposure will aid them to prevailing or deceasing as a major player in influencing music.
Good or bad politics aside, because they have substantiated them self as such a major voice in music criticism, they majorly influence sales for bands. When a band receives a strong review, they not only explode with popularity and buzz throughout physical and Internet pathways but they also sell many more CDs, sellout concerts and are more likely to appear in more mainstream settings, thus furthering their popularity. It has been said that Pitchfork is quite possibly the deciding factor in a band's quick ascent to major success. This fact, along with exposing small but strong, tight-knit music scenes to a wider audience, has proven true many times.
Pitchfork operates by sifting through the Web for news on bands that fall into the independent or experimental music categories. In addition, they cover some mainstream music (mostly Rap and R&B or news about bands strongly influential to current indie-rock music) as well as some jazz and metal. They, however, do not have comment sections anywhere on their site, closing off their readers' responses. This seems to be a defensive tactic in protecting their overwhelming influence on music; if readers were able to respond to some of the sentiments put forth by Pitchfork in a negative tone, the site could potentially lose its authority over their users.
Pitchfork has reached enough attention and fame to operate their own yearly music festival, Pitchfork Music Fest, in Chicago, the city from which they are based. Bands that have appeared at this festival in the past are those in which were frequently blogged about and hyped throughout the preceding year, in addition to fan favorites within the independent music world. There is also Pitchfork.tv, a site of original video content and exclusives produced by Pitchfork.
As Pitchfork continues to expand into more realms of music and to more and more readers around the world, one must step back at look at how much is too much in the world of Internet journalism. Their blog tendencies turn them into a monster at times yet they are not a blog by definition, giving them a more official say in what's what with independent music. Pitchfork seems to become more and more a part of popular culture everyday (see the article from The Onion, entitled "Pitchfork Gives Music 6.8" @: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/pitchfork_gives_music_6_8) and so we can only wonder whether this type of exposure will aid them to prevailing or deceasing as a major player in influencing music.
Check it out @: http://pitchfork.com/
Daytrotter
Daytrotter is a different type of music blog, one whose main function is not just to talk about music and post mp3s but to do so through inviting bands into their personal studio to record live sessions. This format gives listeners fresh takes of their bands' favorite songs, along with short bios and editorial perspectives on the bands' careers and sound. These bios and perspectives are far from judgmental and, at the same time, do not necessarily convince the reader that it is crucial they listen to the band. The recordings are all very organic and give listeners a feel for what the band would sound like in a more live setting rather than on record. Considering the lo-fidelity nature of many of today's most-blogged and most-talked about bands, its a breath of fresh air to hear them in a live setting to get a taste of how their sound translates without studio polishing.
As of today, Daytrotter has recorded 771 live sessions. Some bands have come back more than once on request of the blog, showing a development of their sound. Each session has links to further information about the band, usually through a record label website or a Myspace page. There are also comment sections for each session. The comments are for the most part very supportive of the artist, giving praise to the artists' abilities.
There is also a Reviews section, a Live Concert Video section, Live Show Listings (presented by Daytrotter, and a Merchandise section. While the reviews and live concert videos are pretty standard for blogs, the ladder sections serve as a way for the blog to make revenue in order to support itself. The reviews seem to have dropped off in the past year, with the focus staying more on the blog's main purpose.
Whereas many blogs exist as a means to spread new music, Daytrotter takes a more archival approach, one that will certainly become more and more appreciated as time goes by and music changes. There have been instances, however, when a band's reputation has increased a fair deal due to a great session with Daytrotter. Because they are well known throughout the blogging world, this strong reputation entices users to listen to said bands. This type of hype is worthy of itself since the band is proving their abilities to perform in a live setting, not just on record.
From the About section:
"Daytrotter -- One band a day, every day, 28 Daytrotter Session songs each week
There are so many music/entertainment websites that copy one another, scrambling so fast to “discover” or present something new to the world. And just because you get there first, it doesn’t really make you an explorer. We did poke a stars and stripes into the moon, but we could always see it. We knew it was there. It wasn’t new. We can always come along and say we did, saw, heard something first, but we’re never right. What Daytrotter is attempting to do is to not kid around with you and tell you that we found something that you never knew existed. We are going to contribute to the musical landscape, not just toss it around like a used book or a stolen pick-up line. We’re going to give you something that you truly have never heard. We are not giving you songs from someone you love’s record album, thereby stealing from someone you love. We’re giving you exclusive, re-worked, alternate versions of old songs and unreleased tracks by some of your favorite bands and by a lot of your next favorite bands.
Daytrotter Sessions
These fine people – as they’re traveling through America’s heartland – take two hours out of their travels between shows to stop in for a Daytrotter Session at The Horseshack in downtown Rock Island, Ill. The name of the city is not ironic. They use borrowed instruments, play with their touring mates, utilize an often unkempt toilet, eat some food and then cram back into their vans for the last half of the drive. What they leave behind is a pile of ashes, sometimes a forgotten stocking hat and four absolutely collectible songs that often impart on whomever listens to them the true intensity that these musicians put into their art, sometimes with more clarity than they do when they have months to tinker with overdubs and experiments. These songs are them as they are on that particular day, on that particular tour – dirty and alive. We want you to make this your new home as it is ours. We promise that you will love it here."
Check it out @: http://www.daytrotter.com/
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Fluxblog
Fluxblog is known as the original mp3 blog, with its roots tracing back to 2002, a time before a music blogosphere existed. It consists solely of a single song followed by a positive editorial response to the song and the artist. These responses are very descriptive of the sonic and aesthetic qualities of the song and artist. Each song post is linked to a site to purchase the song and/or album, again a way of monetarily promoting artists.
There is a donation section on the right side of the page, operated through PayPal. There are also Fluxblog t-shirts for sale to the same vein of supporting the blog financially. The blog also has its own podcast and various exclusive videos, mostly of performances.
A short philosophy from the blog:
"Fluxblog is the very first MP3 Blog. It was founded by me, Matthew Perpetua, in 2002. You can subscribe to the RSS feed here, and peruse the FluxBlogRoll here.
Note: MP3s are only offered for a limited time and are changed frequently. Please buy the records from the artist if you like what you hear."
Check it out @: http://www.fluxblog.org/
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