“MP3 blogs are killing music”. I disagree.
In The Guardian’s music blog, reviews editor at Plan B magazine Louis Pattison recently outlined a rather generalised, narrow, and unverifiable argument about the nature of mp3 blogs. I thought it would be necessary to comment and set a few things straight.
“MP3 blogs are killing music. They don’t mean to. But they are, and they’re killing it with love.”
By the end of the article, after a number of qualifications, we are left with a vague idea that some mp3 blogs (but not the good ones) are in some way helping to undermine the sale of singles and not doing much more.
The initial (and only) example used is a quote from record label DFA:
“[Mp3 blogs] didn’t exist when we released [the Rapture’s] House of Jealous Lovers and we sold 20,000 copies quickly. Now there are thousands of blogs and we sell, on average, 2,000 to 5,000 copies of a 12-inch single”.
Yeh - And what? It is all that surprising that this specific record sold 4 times as many records? Even so, I think Mp3 blogs are so much more likely to expose people to music than cause harm. But the evidence here is of one label worried about their sale of vinyl records. The author should speak to some musicians, other labels and mp3 bloggers and reward the complexity of the issue with coverage required to make such strong statements.
“MP3 blogs - fan-run sites offering free downloadable music MP3s, typically operating without the consent of artist or label - are pretty popular right now”.
Almost every record label sends their releases to bloggers. They appreciate the coverage. I operate this blog by asking permission for writing about every track. Most blogs don’t, but almost all the most popular blogs rarely feature more than 2 tracks from a record, and it’s an unwritten rule that we link to bands sites, and encourage people to purchase music.
It is very discouraging to see mp3 blogs all lumped together like this. And for someone not aware of how the mp3 blog world works - they make an excellent scapegoat. But by engaging bloggers in a constructive way, and understanding what they are doing will help musicians. I think the article doesn’t go far enough to make it clear that the vast majority of mp3 bloggers have a good relationship with labels, and that there are very few that sour the enterprise. A couple of words from a blogger could have provided this and avoided misunderstanding.
Everyone’s thoughts and comments are appreciated. More new music tomorrow.
Narrow minded twaddle like this can only be expected from the mainstream media.
The only real causes of the decline in sales are greed and choice. The greed of an industry that has milked us & the artists for far too long. The choice and freedom that we have to find exceptional new music every day without their help.
Oh yes did you hear the one about how blogs are affecting newspaper sales ?
Good.
Although I aint seen Murdoch down the Labour Exchange yet !
Bit hypocritical coming from the Guardian as well. I don’t know any other paper that links to mp3 blogs MORE.
Yeh - The Guardian do seem to be big fans of mp3 blogs - but in this case a writer seems to have spotted, and tried to pre-anticipate the emergence of a problem without looking around a little first.
I disagree completely. Mp3 blogs are the best option when it comes to find new music and for new artists to get promoted. Period.
I’m glad I’ve seen this post, as I’ve just been browsing that Guardian article - and -like you- I rather disagree with it. I’m involved with an independant record myself, and while I could sit bemoaning the fact that MP3 sites are killing an element of our profit, I’d prefer to look at them as a really useful tool.
For example, we’ve just released a single by a fantastic band called 4 or 5 Magicians (Pavement meets Weezer style infectious pop) and just recently released one of the B-sides (a Tom Waits style cover of the A side) to MP3 blogs.
This offers people with an ear for good music the chance to check out the song, mooch over to MySpace - and, if they like it, buy the single (which is all pretty, ltd edition and hand numbered in a cardboard sleeve) - and getting them to do that via MP3 blogs is a hell of a lot cheaper than buying advertisment space in say… The Guardian :-)
OK - so it means labels are going to have to work a bit harder, but i don’t believe it’s the independants that are going to feel the burn… After all, people who are into their indie will always buy the CDs/ watch the fans and get involved - it’s the big faceless corporations that are going to lose out, as more and more of the online masses get to see that there is more music out there than mass-produced £15.99 slabs of plastic all pre-packaged and nicely stacked in HMV…
And if anyone reading this runs an MP3 blog, get in touch - as I’d be delighted to send you all the free MP3’s we’ll be releasing over the next few months to showcase the quality indie music that British bands are currently producing
Cheers all (and apologies about the rant their - got a bit carried away :-))
Jack Alcopop!
As a blogger myself, I’m obviously going to disagree. However I think this Plan B bloke has an ulterior motive - perhaps he’s noted the importance of mp3 blogs in the sense that we may be taking away some of the readership of his magazine and is hence trying to discredit us. I stopped buying printed media regarding music a long time ago in favour of the internet and I imagine many people have done the same.
The other thing which the guardian are generally very keen on writing about and featuring is viral marketing and I think that this is something else that mp3 blogs are very good at - letting people feel that they are finding this new music for themselves, or getting it by word of mouth. Even when a lot of it is coming from the bands or the labels themselves, seeding the virus, it’s the word of mouth from bloggers you come to trust that makes you listen and buy and search out live performances.
I run a record label and i’m delighted when blogs post about our releases. Ideally it is with a streaming flash player and, if not that, a lo-res mp3 (although in an ideal world zshare would hand over some of the ad revenue to the artists…). What i am against is blogs posting hi-res mp3s in a list just as some “service” to others. They’re the ones stealing from the artists.
Hello.
I am really interested in this entire subject, and am currently trying to write a paper about it for a class. It’s been hard trying to find research material re: music/MP3 blogs, or studies about any blogs for that matter, so if anyone out there has any suggestions, please let me know.
Also, I finally took a few minutes to lay down some of my thoughts on the subject, which is kind of inebetween those of NBGL and Guardian’s. While I think blogging is a good thing for promotion, I do think it has a certain negative effect on the phenomenon of hyped up bands.
You can read more of it over on my blog, which I hope you do. I also urge you to let me know your thoughts.
Ah well…..fuck him!
(sorry all and pardon my French)