Entertainment For Lively Minds
Internet hype hype
Interesting article on the Grauniad website here about how internet 'buzz' around certain artists is all a load of hot air most of the time.
Given past stories like how Sandie Thom's massive internet fanbase was all cooked up by a PR company and the absurd amount of stories written when the Arctic Monkeys came out about the band distributing their music free via the internet (they didn't), can we beleive anything we hear about bands who are apparently creating a buzz on the web?
Bloggers have to get the tracks they post from somewhere and most of the time it's from a PR firm. Anyone can easily download programmes that artificially clock up play rates on their MySpace tracks or harvest users and send them 'freind' requests so these stats are essentially meaningless.
So should we believe the bloggers or are we having the net pulled over our eyes?
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Lily Allen's
My Space army...
Word does get around
Blogs do get targeted by bands and their labels/management - it's free publicity and a lot of blogs get a lot of hits. For instance mine is very low key compared to some I visit and yet I've had 25000 hits in ten months. Granted a lot of those are repeat visitors but if I post a track by somebody and so do twenty other blogs...well you do the maths where exposure is concerned.
And some of the buzz does grow on it's own. But it has to start somewhere. PR departments probably go mad, but emailing doesn't really cost anything does it.
However it's nothing new. Hype has always been hype. It's just a lot more easy to see the mechanics at work these days.
never!
Some sinister organization creating hype so that a pop artist can sell records, concert tickets and merchandise? That never used to happen in the old days!
Who cares?
There has never been a time in my pop-pickin' life when I've cared less about who or what is going to be the next big thing. The whole notion of a Next Big Thing is rooted in the old days of physical distribution when if a new thing came along it took over the lion's share of the channels of distribution - the shops, the radio, the media - and denied everyone else some space. But in the days of limitless channels and digital distribution, it doesn't do that any more.
And nothing seems more pointless than trying to impress people by pointing out that there's an internet phenomenon over there that you don't know about. The whole point of the internet is you pursue your own enthusiasms, not somebody else's.
Your cab's here.
The whole point of the internet is you pursue your own enthusiasms, not somebody else's.
I enjoyed the Willie Nile album. Thanks for the pointer.
Personally, my problem is
that on my blog, once I get a certain amount of traffic, the internet police radar starts flashing and random mp3s start being deleted from my file server without me being able to do anything about it. I tend to post rare/unreleased/alternate versions of stuff but on the one occassion I dared post a b-side by Glasvegas, my whole account was cancelled without warning. Just like that. Not all bloggers get sent free stuff to promote, believe me. I have quite a popular blog (about 6000-8000 visitors a week would you believe) yet the PR companies somehow don't like me. Oh well.Slightly off-target from the initail post I know, but I like to vent my spleen.
Visit Plain Or Pan? here....
http://philspector.wordpress.com
and i see you were the gent
who put up the Gimme Shelter 'split' tracks to which i lnked to here some time ago.
More power to your elbow, sir.
Glasvegas
...from what I understand sent out loads of promo mp3s for bloggers to post and review and generally made full use of the free exposure the blog world can give. But then around the time of their first album release for a major a whole load of takedowns occurred of Glasvegas material. Including much that the band had given out in the first place.
Strange behaviour.
more Glasvegas malarky discussed here
http://www.soundsxp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13341
They do seem to be struggling with having taken the Man's shilling.
Generally though don't really care - take it or leave it...
Once I get a certain amount of traffic.......
(so here's my link!)
Um, foot, shooting?
On the contrary...
..I want as many people as possible to visit my blog. Who wouldn't? If, on the odd occassion files are deleted, I just put them back up again. A bit of a hassle but one I can live with.
Thanks for visiting!
http://philspector.wordpress.com