300th Post - Mp3 Blogs Sell Out!

While modesty generally forbids us from talking about ourselves as mp3 bloggers, with all that now entails, I've been slightly obsessed for the past week with a realisation. We've fucked up. We've lost the whole plot. We've completely failed to fulfill whatever potential we had.
We should have been wary of mp3 blogs being assimilated into what we were so proudly keeping them independent from, but we couldn't take ourselves seriously enough. No bunch of outsiders could be more easily taken on: young, naive about money and journalism, hoping for attention and legitimacy, so drenched in irony that we can barely stand up for something.
Don't worry, this isn't all doom-laden, and don't celebrate either, because I'm not quitting. But I have been thinking a bit about what all of us do here every day, and I think there are a few important points to be brought up, because I don't think I can be the only one who's noticed a change.

The most obvious difference between bloggers and ordinary journalists, print or online, is money. Traditionally (inasmuch as you can talk about tradition here), bloggers are not paid by anyone - it's not a career. Above all, it was always about telling people about the music you love, and helping your favourite bands in the process. Suddenly blogging is just as much about hype and band-breaking as the NME. Wondering why many bloggers cannot seem but to write hyperbolically about any band they feature? It's not just to keep readers excited for the sake of advertising. It's something like peer pressure - bloggers suddenly seem to have this influence, people believe in it, and then it is real. Half the time we can convince ourselve that what we have found is amazing - I've done it myself, and it doesn't last. It seems we're not doing anything important unless we have found an amazing band that must be heard, and validates what we do - because almost all mp3 bloggers, stuck between fear of lawsuits and a desire for co-operation and recognition from the labels, artists and press (including Pitchfork) - have an enormous need for legitimisation.
In most of the music media, writers are not independent. They need their jobs and relatively unimpressive paychecks above all. They are assigned different artists to interview, records or songs to review, or features to write. While they may love music, only the luckiest or best get to write about what they like all the time.
Not so with bloggers. We are fortunate enough to be have complete independence, we write about what we think people should hear, we write about bands who deserve attention, and we enjoy it when new bands seek us out because of it. There should be no other motives above the enjoyment of sharing what makes you happy. This is the most obvious strength of the whole idea - with no other reason to write, the quality of what is posted is scarcely to be doubted. But money complicates this simple design.
{Before I go further, I'll point out that I did sign up for Blogads, like many bloggers. I charged low rates for whatever audience I had at the time, and I've had two ads - one for Muse, and one for Tom Petty. I have made a total of $30, which does not transfer too nicely into Euros. I have never made any other money from this - I spent 4e on hosting with you-know-who.}
A blogger seeking only to make money can sign up, build up a quick following on the Hype Machine by posting songs by whatever bands are at the top of the list, by filling posts with the latest news from celebrity magazine websites, by swapping links with as many other bloggers as he can, by leaving as many enigmatic comments as he can, and so on. Finally, having created countless advertising spaces on his site, after a couple of months at most, he can even start getting paid for writing reviews.
He does not have to be a good writer, he doesn't even really have to write. He doesn't have to listen to the music he posts. That's how much it has changed in the last year.
When labels can buy reviews from bloggers, that's worrying. Certainly, you are not obliged to write a good review - but what company is going to come back to you when you seem to dislike what they send you? And if something is really worth hearing, shouldn't it be reviewed anyway? Bloggers get sent promotional cds all the time - ideally, the best ones are written about. Of what I get, I've only ever written about what I like - some promoters are happy with this (no bad press), some less so. I cannot see how it's good or enjoyable to write about what you don't enjoy - unless you're trying to understand why everyone else is talking about Birdmonster. Some blogs won't write a review for less than a hundred dollars. What does that have to do with loving music?
Which brings us to the Zune. It's probably the biggest PR exercise yet that bloggers have been brought in on, and is (considering the reasons why the majority of bloggers started blogging) a bit suspect. First of all it should be said that no money changed hands. Also, most of the bloggers involved are those that I like.
Now Microsoft brought these people by plane, with paid-for accomodation, to take a look at their new toy - an mp3 player to challenge the iPod. They didn't give the things away, they let the bloggers review them.
What were this enormous company hoping for? They are well aware of the apparent authenticity of blog press, and managed to get some - with less than authentic means. They could scarcely have hoped for anything better than for a blogger to fill a post with pictures of their product, and to insert the entire press release into the text.
No-one wrote about this because they loved the Zune, or because they believed in competition in the free market (Microsoft needs no help there), they did it because Microsoft took them to Seattle for free. I'm not saying they all praised the Zune as the second coming of Pod - but they didn't need to.
We can't deny that the music industry is taking on the internet in a big way - there's plenty reason to think they're prepared for it to be their new home, and they probably won't have much interest in mp3 bloggers remaining as independent as they should be. At the Popkomm music trade fair in Berlin this year, one presentation caught my eye. Entitled 'Arctic Monkey Business', it debated the pros and cons of using the internet as a promotional tool, and featured a representative from MySpace. The overall consensus was that the internet is going to save their profits. TAZ recalled the mood at Popkomm of recent years: "Huge stands proffered the most senseless articles, with nothing to show but faith that you'd always be able to drum up money on the Net."
It's becoming more and more probable that just like journalists in the real world, we have to start thinking about ethics too, or we'll get taken advantage of and lose what's so good about this whole deal. No one mp3 blogger ever took themselves seriously enough to do that yet, usually out of modesty, because no one blog can make any real difference by themselves.
Which is the second problem, completely independent of the selling-out issue - the seemingly unstoppable fucking homogenisation of mp3 blogs. The single thing which creates whatever influence we have is what just might take it away. CHYSY, Tapes 'n Tapes, Beirut, - these bands clearly show that blogs do work well to uncover what people should hear. But more and more, bands take the same route through the hype machine seemingly by accident, even if they are undeserving.
Blogs have to be seen as a whole to be important - but that also shows up the inevitable echo effect. You find a band you like on another blog and post about it. So did two other bloggers, and on and on. Even worse, there is a huge temptation to focus on what's being posted about - to stay ahead, or to keep your ratings up. This pressure is doubled when you've got plenty advertising space to fill.
One reason for this is the Hype Machine. It's a great tool, and sometimes I wish I had thought of it, but its side-effects are only now becoming obvious. By its nature, it minimises the capacity of featured sites to show new music, and rewards those who pay no attention to what is being said about it. A dozen or so people might receive a promo, think it's good enough to post (and they have a great picture of the hot singer, which always helps), and suddenly a band is enjoying 'blog buzz'. Should it be so easy? With the impersonal channel-surfing style natural to the Hype Machine, it doesn't matter if the blog is any good or not. A few free mp3s, a quick biography and a picture is all it takes - any promo company can do that, and who's to say they haven't already started?
For anyone who doesn't know, the first instance of a major label turning to a blog for promotion happened in 2004, and involved Warner Brothers Music, Music for Robots and The Secret Machines. A song was posted with full permission, people debated it in the comments, and several Warner employees sought to change the flow of the conversation secretly to further promote the band. Obviously it was uncovered, they looked exactly like the untrustworthy label bloggers had feared they were, but people got over it. Slowly other labels began to follow suit, mostly American, though in the last weeks, Parlophone have begun sending out press emails exclusively for blogs, for artists including Sound Team and Siobhan Donaghy (with a great picture of that hot singer, which always helps). At SXSW this year, there was a luncheon for all the top music bloggers, hosted by Filter.
You can point out that blogs aren't run by icons of integrity. But look how far these companies have come with us! How did it happen so quickly? Obviously being close to labels was a nicer option than getting sued - in fact some American bloggers still can't afford to totally relax over this. All reasonably well-known blogs are undoubtedly observed by different labels in case of an album leak or some such thing. But what was good about mp3 blogging, and what is still good, is slowly being drowned out and replaced by something altogether less independent, less unsafe and definitely less impressive.

I think we need to decide what mp3 blogs should be, and try to model our own accordingly. At its best it can almost be art; a connection to the endless enjoyment of music, inspiring writing [review] and a focus for the intensity of shared feeling. At its worst it's nothing more than mere content. We should be careful of that, because content is easily fitted into the designs of those who would exploit the good intentions of writers and their readers to make money. Art rarely is.

Michael Knight - Foals
El Perro Del Mar - It's All Good

Links (occasionally updated):
The Boston Globe on Mp3 Blogs
CNN Money on the Hype Machine
The McGill Daily's article on the same topic
The Do's & Don'ts of Blogging
A summary of mp3 blog legality
How to Misuse the Hype Machine
Marathonpacks gets worried too
The last time I got all preachy
"They're supporting indie music, like I do, that's worthy of a link."
The L.A. Times on 'Buzz Vertigo' & Rawkblog reacts
The Nashville Scene on 'Blog Rock'
Sony fakes PSP fansite
An Australian Court rules against linking (!)
Washington CP - Post Rock {in summary - blogs are elitist and arbitrary}
The Austin Chronicle on mp3 blogs and SXSW
The NYT offers soul mp3s for download
The NY Daily News on mp3 blogs
Naples Daily News on mp3 blogs