Technology may have made it simple to obtain digital music, but it hasn't provided an easy way to sift through millions of tracks to find the tunes we like.
The Internet has, however, connected music fans to a legion of hardcore aficionados who help steer people to new music. Think of Barry, Jack Black's rock-addicted character from the film High Fidelity, with a blog.
Stereogum founder Scott Lapatine has had to fend off accusations that his blog is going corporate.
(Credit: Stereogum)The difference is that some of today's most popular music bloggers may someday be worth more than Barry ever dreamed of earning in that record store. Music blogs are nearly as old as the Web, but the past year has brought unprecedented growth, influence, and dollars to the sector as people look for help discovering new music. Now, the most popular blogs, such as Stereogum, BrooklynVegan, and Pitchfork, look less and less like Internet fanzines and more like tech start-ups.
Last month, Stereogum was sold to social-media site Buzznet, while Pitchfork made a splashy foray into music videos that spurred observers to call the site the "new MTV." Music blogs are organizing concerts, being quoted on television, and releasing independent albums--just like a record label. The changes have spurred some to declare there is no limit to how far the blogs can go. Others fear they might lose their edge if they go corporate.
"With success come changes," said Yancey Strickler, eMusic's editorial director and a longtime observer of the music blogosphere. "The way these things normally go is you'll start to generate a lot of attention, and it gets harder to just keep writing a music blog. It can become more of a managerial role and less about curation and finding interesting ways to discover music."
If some music bloggers are overwhelmed by success, it's because they never planned for it. Pitchfork was launched in 1995 by a then-teenage Ryan Schreiber, who wrote from his parents' basement. Stereogum was started in 2003 as a workplace distraction for founder Scott Lapatine.
Hardly any were trained writers or music-industry veterans. They lured readers through wit, encyclopedic knowledge, and a hunk-of-burning love for music.
The music blogs also didn't try to cater to mass audiences--at least at first. They focused on niches. For example, BrooklynVegan developed a reputation for being the must-read blog for concert information in New York. At Pitchfork, Schreiber was early in covering independent music; his site is now famous for spotting new talent, including the band Arcade Fire.
Another sign of how far the blogs have come: A year ago, some of the big record companies were sending "cease and desist" letters to blogs that posted unauthorized MP3 files to their sites. Now, Strickler said, many of those same companies plead with the blogs to host their music.
How big is too big?
Gerd Leonhard, the tech sector's self-described media futurist, argues that the top music blogs will use their popularity and influence to build empires.
founder, Stereogum
"The leading music blogs will become what used to be called record labels," Leonhard wrote in a blog last month. "The people running them will be those sharp, tuned-in, hyper-networked and resourceful BlogJs formerly known as bloggers...these disruptors, thought leaders, and influencers will be our future broadcasters."
To this point, there's little chance Universal or EMI feel threatened. Pitchfork sees 1.5 million unique users per month, while most other music blogs only see a fraction of that. Regardless, Leonhard says there is nothing to keep the blogs from expanding into other areas such as signing artists, selling downloads, and promoting concerts.
Some of the blogs have already begun doing much of this. Last July, Stereogum issued a digital album, OKX, a tribute to the 10th anniversary of Radiohead's classic OK Computer. Pitchfork has hosted a music festival in Chicago every year since 2005. Schreiber has even made the jump to online video with the launch last month of Pitchfork.tv, which hosts music-related clips.
In the site's first week, more than 1 million videos were viewed and critics have given the site a thumb's up.
deputy managing editor,
Rolling Stone
But if they grow too big or allow corporate America to hijack their editorial content, couldn't these sites lose credibility with their young readers?
Even before Buzznet acquired Stereogum, the blog had strong ties to big business. Among the site's backers was the Pilot Group, an investment firm headed by former AOL honcho Bob Pittman. The real trouble for Stereogum came after Buzznet bought it. That was when it was reported that Universal Music Group was a Buzznet investor. To some observers, this meant that one of the major music companies was now in a position to influence Stereogum's editorial content.
Scott Lapatine, the site's founder and editor in chief, didn't want to delve too deeply into such criticism but did say there's no way anyone except him is going to steer the direction of editorial content. "I'm still running the site," Lapatine said. "A lot of what was reported about the sale was inaccurate. Our editorial isn't going to change."
Should Rolling Stone watch its back?
The bloggers interviewed said they have absolutely no intentions of trying to replacing the record companies. But how about knocking off Rolling Stone as the big daddy of music publications?
Well, the truth is, the iconic music magazine doesn't hold much sway with the bloggers.
"I'm kind of in the minority of my friends or anyone I know," Lapatine said. "I'm the only one who reads Rolling Stone or any of the music magazines."
Nathan Brackett, Rolling Stone's deputy managing editor, doesn't blink. He says there isn't any blog out there that can rival his magazine's readership or level of journalism.
"I wouldn't call what they do as writing," Brackett said. "The blogs do the really quick 50-word update on what a band's doing. They'll write about (singer) Lilly Allen releasing a new EP or (that the band) Man Man is preparing an album. The way Rolling Stone competes is we pick up the phone and bring original reporting. We take advantage of our access. Most blogs don't have the staffs to pick up the phone."
French singer Yelle is helping to usher out era of disc promos
(Credit: EMI Music)Sweet faced and playful, French electro-pop star Yelle seems an unlikely figure to stick a dagger into the heart of a much-loved but quickly disappearing staple of the music industry.
She is unwittingly helping The EMI Group, one of the four largest music companies, to push CDs further into the shadows. Already a star in her own country and a growing nightclub favorite in the U.S., Yelle was being promoted until recently in this country exclusively through digital means.
For decades, music labels trying to break in an act pressed thousands of vinyl records or CDs to distribute to disc jockeys, record stores, journalists, and fans. Those types of promotions have grown too expensive in an era of shrinking music sales, says Jeff Rougvie, general manager of EMI's Caroline Records, who is leading Yelle's U.S. campaign.
"We're definitely spending less than on a traditional campaign," Rougvie said. "It doesn't make sense when you're going out the door to spend a lot of money putting out a physical product and taking in costs before you know what (the demand is)."
For an industry that has been decimated by digital technology, this is an example of how at least one of the four largest music labels is putting it to work.
Caroline Records specializes in introducing international music stars to U.S. audiences. Naturally, this means executives are often less sure of whether a foreign performer can find a niche audience here. Spending big on untested and unknown acts doesn't make sense. As part of the digital-only promotion, EMI didn't seek radio airplay for Yelle's music and didn't buy banner or print ads in traditional music magazines like Rolling Stone or Blender.
Instead, executives took to MySpace, music widgets, and powerful music blogs like Pitchfork. The label started digital and stayed digital until it reached a critical mass. On April 1, EMI finally released a CD version of Yelle's album, Pop Up.
The movement to phase out discs as promotional devices has been around for some time. Last year, EMI drastically scaled back the numbers of CDs it sent out as promos. Just a few years ago, the label may have sent out CDs as complete albums. Now it distributes secure online access where retailers or reviewers can hear songs.
Beyond the cost savings that digital music offers, Rougvie says there is growing need for an act to obtain a "groundswell of digital support" from music blogs, download stores, and MySpace to prove to a label that it can attract fans and is worthy of a larger investment. For that reason, focusing on digital at the beginning of a promotion makes sense.
EMI says it has already seen positive results.
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Last year, the label brought Utada Hikaru, Japan's top recording artist, to the United States. EMI helped the singer find an audience in the U.S. without pressing any CDs initially. But the U.S. digital-only campaign was at best an effort to put otherwise hard-to-find product in front of her U.S. fans. Before digital music, those fans might wait months before an expensive import CD hit our shores.
Digital allows EMI to get product to niche audiences affordably as well as generate incremental income for the company. Hikaru would later go on to sell 7.2 million downloads worldwide.
Naturally, EMI is trying it again.
The label couldn't have asked for a better test case than Yelle. The 25-year-old from St. Brieuc, France, told CNET News.com on Wednesday that she grew up with the Internet and fully understands its power to promote and distribute music.
Yelle, pronounced Yeah-elle, was discovered by EMI's unit in France one week after she posted "Short Dick Cuizi," a song that took swipes at a member of a rival band. She renamed the song "Je veux te voir" and then released Pop Up, which features three songs, "Je veux te voir," "Parle a ma main," and "A cause des garcons" attracting big audiences at YouTube.
A version of "A cause des garcons" has been viewed 3.5 million times since August. Her songs have also been heard on such TV shows as "The Hills" and "Entourage."
While Yelle is a fan of digital music and technology, she says there is still a place for plastic.
"I don't know when my first EP on vinyl will come out," said Yelle, whose real name is Julie Budet. "I don't know whether it will come out. I think it's a bonus if it does. It's a plus. I think now you can download music, buy CDs, and that's what people really want. But I would be really proud if my album will be out in vinyl."
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