Comments on: Free Songs From Music-Related Celebrities: The Future Of The Biz?

By: Maura Johnston

Maura Johnston — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:06:33 +0000

@Defenestrated: What good new music would you speak of? I think we've posted about a fair amount of music that our writers have liked lately (the summer jam tournament, various video posts, my list of favorite albums this year, that big post last week where everyone listed their favorite bands). I also don't really go the "hey, this band is fucking awesome" route *too* often because, frankly, there aren't enough "fucking awesome" bands out there to sustain 20 posts a day -- heck, sometimes there isn't even enough for one -- and the purpose of this site is not to be some sort of cheerleading "yay the world is great!! wooo hooooo!" site like other music blogs out there, because I feel that doing that cheapens *actual* enthusiasm. (I've talked about this before.)

And the Internet has been frustrating me a fair amount lately, too. I'm sure that is creeping through to my writing. What happened to 2008 being 200-great, I ask you.

@How do I say this ... THROWDINI!: A good point. I just wonder how many other people out there want to find out about what music I've been liking lately. I mean, you can see in black and white that the music-recommendation posts don't really perform all that well traffic-wise (unless they're presented in list form, and even then it's dicey). So there's a balance that needs to be struck, and the peaking and valleying of the "music I like that's out there" cycle/annoying music news cycle is leaving us in this current position. (Plus, going to too many concerts = it gets harder to wake up early enough to start blogging. A harsh, and sorta dorky, reality.)

Anyway, this is all stuff for me to chew on as I bring my tenure into year two.

By: Defenestrated

Defenestrated — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:40:43 +0000

@Maura Johnston: I understand your point and all about covering live music events in a particular area and such, but I have been noticing that the proportion of "snarky covering of shitty music" to "hey, this band is fucking awesome" seems to have been going up recently. Along with all this, the site seems to be giving off an even stronger celebrity-bashing gossip rag aura than before. Of course, maybe it's all me... the internet has been frustrating me more than usual over the past couple weeks. It just seems like a shame to me, there is sooo much good new music coming out, but I rarely read about it on idolator anymore.

In other news, the only good thing about the rest of the programming on E! is that it provides Joel McHale with material.

By: Defenestrated

Defenestrated — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:14:54 +0000

@Maura Johnston: Fair enough, I get where you're coming from. I guess sometimes the cynicism gets to be a bit much for me is all. Of course, I'm still a young, naive little thing who has only just now decided to try and get involved in the music biz (probably not the best career path... but I never let that stop me before).

There's just so many strange and exciting going on, hell, the other day I just discovered what hauntology is ([en.wikipedia.org]), and that people are actually making music influenced by some obscure french philosophy. Think Burial, but with more ghosts. Yeah, not exactly Idolator's M.O., but it was just the first thing that came to mind ;)

I know having a ton of listicle posts can be annoying, it's just that the world is already depressing enough without having my music news making me even more sad. I promise I'll put down my own inconsequential "Hai guys, I likes this musics!" list next time you guys start rounding things like that up though, just because I care.

By: How do I say this ... THROWDINI!

How do I say this ... THROWDINI! — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:14:53 +0000

@Maura Johnston: Yeah, it probably should be its own item, but I for one would like to see coverage like that. While I stop by (and sometimes comment) many times a day, I don't know how often the site exposes me to much new music. (I don't have time to watch the videos posted and there are no mp3s for me to download when I get home.) But I think that concert reviews would be a good way to talk about newer, or at least less-exposed, bands. It probably helps that I live in LA, so most of these bands make it here anyway, and it would be nice to know who's worth seeing.

By: Maura Johnston

Maura Johnston — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:32:42 +0000

@Clevertrousers: i am flattered that you think i have that much of an effect on the culture at large! i wish our traffic bore that out, but thank you.

you do bring up an interesting point, though, about covering live music events on a music blog that has an audience beyond a particular region (particularly a city that's so oversaturated with coverage as new york is). do people like reading concert previews/reviews for shows they can't go to? this is something i think about a lot -- i'm sure you've noticed that we only really do 'reviews' of festivals like coachella, and the coverage we (well, i) have done in the past needs tweaking on a larger scale ... i don't want to do the 'barrage of photos'-style coverage , but i do think that there needs to be some sort of inclusive middle ground, particularly for events where the coverage seems to consist more of the 'i was there and you weren't, na na' fronting that you see on a lot of blogs.

maybe this should be its own item tomorrow!?

By: Clevertrousers

Clevertrousers — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:49:37 +0000

well maybe if you stopped covering crap like this and started covering actual music again, people might care.

how come idolator hasn't mentioned word one about LAMC or the Damon Albarn Honest Jon's Revue at Lincoln Center this weekend?

myopia kills, people.

By: Audif Jackson Winters III

Audif Jackson Winters III — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:52:03 +0000

The phrase “poor man’s JoJo” comes to mind.