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.
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