Lynda Elstad or @lyndahere writes a blog titled Between a Rock and a Hard Place documenting her stalking of Great Big Sea. The members of Great Big Sea write blogs that are published on their official Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle sites to keep their fans updated as do other musicians. Fans write about their life and music as a way of sharing their knowledge and connecting with others who share a similar interest. There is an extensive network of music bloggers writing about music happenings in their favourite genres, own local areas and around the world. “Most folks, including those inside the music industry, know that music blogs are now an established layer of the underground music discovery scene, so people genuinely care for whom the blogs are tipping”. ("The Recommender.net” music blog December 2012).
Some groups of bloggers have become very successful (for example mommy bloggers) in the US as like-minded people tune to read an alternative form of media from real people who are not professional journalists. Blogs have become so successful television shows are being made about them examining why they are very popular, the ethics of sponsoring posts and bloggers verses trained journalists as a source of information. Conferences and marketing seminars are being conducted and books and internet pages on bloggers and blogs written to provide people with advice. People write blogs to share their experiences at whatever interests them for example, being a mum and raising children, food, sports or music.
Most of the time writing blogs are positive experiences. Many bloggers write to share their knowledge and experiences doing it because they enjoy it while creating an extensive virtual support community of friends and acquaintances. Then there are those bloggers who write to make money or to get as many free products as possible. Marketing professionals clearly recognise the potential of blogging and the blogger’s ability to tap into their audience whoever they may be. Some blogs have attracted so many readers that products are now choosing to pay for advertising space. There is big money in the US and some bloggers are making well in excess of a million dollars with advertising and sponsorship. They are referred to as superstar bloggers, celebrities in their own right. However, many bloggers distinguish between advertising and a review of a product and many readers do not respond well to this. @lyndahere’s blog Between A Rock and A Hard Place has attracted some advertising.
There is an extensive music network of bloggers around the world. But where do I start gaining knowledge of music blogs throughout the world and in particular in Canada. What makes a great blog and how does the music blog community operate? After a brief Google search I found the results of a poll for the best music blogs of 2012 voted for by 180 bloggers on the music blog page “The Recommender” and took it from there. There was a good interview with the one of the best blog pages about writing successful music blogs. They offered some great advice about blogging in the music world.
One of the best music blogs for 2012 is called Disco Naiviete. The blog page The Recommender.net writes “Disco Naivete is a self-declared buzz blog. There is a fair bit of negative press towards buzz blogs – a style of blog ‘churnalism’, that rattles through a number of updates each day, often racing to be first to the news and chasing hits, with little or no editorial opinions – so the question is, why does Disco Naivete rise above the challenging moniker? Well, we believe it’s because they do it better than anyone else on the planet” December 2012.
On how often does he updates his blog…”This depends on a lot of things: do I have time, do I feel like listening to new music and/or blogging, and so on. Some weeks there’s only like five new posts on the blog, others about 3 per day. Less stuff during the weekend, but then there’s often ‘Introducing’ posts showcasing brand new artists because there’s less industry-pushed news coming through during the weekends. I’m constantly sharing new music via Twitter and Facebook though, so there’s at least one new musical find or share every day of the week”. @lyndahere also regularly updates Alan Doyle and Great Big Sea fans with information she finds on the Internet through Twitter. She has in the past made many announcements before they have.
What’s the best thing about being a music blogger? It’s a combination of things. Most importantly: the music. As a blogger you hear a lot of music, a lot more than most other people do, often some time in advance as well. You have the privilege of having a certain amount of people that rely on you for new musical treats – I sometimes feel a certain responsibility towards readers of DN for keeping them informed and up to date (one I happily carry, though). Besides that, you get the chance of meeting a group of people that also love music, some of which write for other websites or blogs and some that actually work in the music industry. And they’re all amazing, lovely people.
While there are many positive things in reading blogs, bloggers in a certain way contribute to fan’s laziness. They prevent fans from finding things out for themselves. All fans have to do is to click onto a social media site and there is all the information for them. All the latest updates, music and links to the information they want. For Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle fans a lot of the information is located for us by @lyndahere. The information she wants to share is posted on her Twitter and Facebook site and distributed with the attached links. Fans do become too dependent on blogs and social media for information. Bloggers like @lyndahere gain a certain amount of power over people to influence fans in what they read and know. This was evident when Great Big Sea appeared at a Blue Rodeo concert and she never told anyone on her social media accounts. Often fans lack the skills to be critical of what they read which raises the issue that is discussed in the above comments what responsibility do bloggers have towards their readers.
The Recommender asked Disco Naiviete “Do you have any useful blogging tips?” Blog for yourself, not for anyone else. It’s your blog, write about what you want and what you think you should write about it. Don’t write about a singer or band because everyone else thinks they are amazing while you’re not too sure of that: focus on the things you really like instead of trying to gather a crowd of readers by recommending things you don’t really like yourself, be truly honest with yourself. Communicate with your readers (this is something I do as much as possible with DN) and try to build a bit of a “community” around your blog. Don’t underestimate a devoted readership: I’d rather have a small group of people that truly trust on DN than a bunch of people that visit the blog every now and then to grab a free song or something December 2012.
Music bloggers like other bloggers put a lot of time into their spaces and spend a lot time social networking with other bloggers. Some bloggers write two to three posts a day or a week reviewing several albums or music events in their location a week. They are often full time students and employees with careers holding down a job. Like many bloggers that share their views on a range of subjects they are interested in I write about being a fan of a music group and exploring the issues that affect us and the musicians we love and admire but I am not part of a music blogging network. I don’t actively seek members or readers. I tend to focus on the negative experiences rather that the positive. I don’t want to be romantic about music and social networking because it is not.
The Recommender provided a list of music blogs that were highly recommended in 2011 and 2012. After a brief look at who writes these highly recommended blogs I found many of them were written by students, graduates and academics at universities in America and other countries. So what does this say about the view of music being researched, written and presented to the music community, those who consume it and the willingness of these blogs to be inclusive. Drunken Werewolf a music blog writes on their history of contact with readers (although mostly positive). "We’ve had a few nasty emails from people who take our writing too seriously, people who don’t take it seriously enough and industry dickheads (or arrogant fans) who seem to think their opinion is objective. Some of them have a point, but not very often" (6 December 2012).
The Recommender provided a list of music blogs that were highly recommended in 2011 and 2012. After a brief look at who writes these highly recommended blogs I found many of them were written by students, graduates and academics at universities in America and other countries. So what does this say about the view of music being researched, written and presented to the music community, those who consume it and the willingness of these blogs to be inclusive. Drunken Werewolf a music blog writes on their history of contact with readers (although mostly positive). "We’ve had a few nasty emails from people who take our writing too seriously, people who don’t take it seriously enough and industry dickheads (or arrogant fans) who seem to think their opinion is objective. Some of them have a point, but not very often" (6 December 2012).
Bloggers talk about an extensive network music blogging community, their love of music, and even helping people to get signed to record labels. But what happens when someone writes something someone doesn’t like. Wherever there are blogs and social media experiences with large amounts of followers there are potential dangers which people think they could never experience. It can begin by just asking the wrong question or not liking something. There is competition, bitchiness and ambition just as there is in any other activities that involve human beings. Associations with people online bring trolls or groups of people who can be relentless in their attacks on people for whatever reasons from both genders. They can frighten people as I have been and force people shut down their accounts. Blogger’s webpages can be hacked and destroyed and it can take a long time to recover. While there is a written and unspoken form of blogger etiquette and tips that advise people on how to behave and protect themselves people can be extremely liberal in their interpretation. Once attacks have happened it can be too late and quite devastating both personally and professionally.
