yvynyl

My blog pals Georgia and Emilie pose an interesting question near and dear to my heart over on TinyMixtapes in preparation for a radio show where they will discuss it at length. They’re asking for comments. Since Frightened By Bees and I are starting a new record and fashion label called Trig Club, I’d like to weigh in here.

Do blogger-run labels represent a conflict of interest? Or is blogging a distinct form of communication entirely, exempt from the ethical standards of journalism and criticism? If so, what sets blogging apart from other media? Do any rules apply?

To put in your two cents, kindly head over to Tiny Mix Tapes and post a comment. On Thursday, June 10th, Underwater Visitations will team with Microphone Memory Emotion to host a radio panel on blogger-run labels and the ethics of online music writing. Guests will include Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber, Chris Cantalini of Gorilla vs. Bearand Forest Family Records, Michael P. McGregor of Chocolate Bobka and The Curatorial Club, and perhaps a few surprise guests. Interesting comments on the TMT thread are guaranteed to be factored into the discussion!

Tune in to Underwater Visitations on Newtown Radio next Thursday, 4-7 EST.

My comment is thus:

Back in college - shit, I’m old, that was the late 90’s - I was a music writer at Penn State’s Daily Collegian Newspaper. This was the pinnacle of the CD era, where labels were flying high and college papers had hundreds and hundreds of free albums to sort through and review.

A decade later, the ballgame’s changed. Billboard has been reporting the dire picture of ten-fold declines. Heck, journalism’s changed.  

Integrity is a big deal to me. I think ‘conflict of interest’ is a blurry and dangerous thing in the rapid-fire digital world.  We see it rear its ugly head time and again. But here in the innerwebs, things travel a mile a millisecond. Its one giant cascade of information. 

I never pretend to be a 'journalist’ on yvynyl.  Instead, I’m a curator. We’re all drowning in digital data with a plethora of channels begging for our attention. I applaud Pitchfork for aiming high and going for a 'music magazine’ approach. Good for them. They’ve won the game. They’re head and shoulders above the army of us middle range bloggers in terms of attention and traffic. 

Or take VICE Magazine and its emerging media and advertising empire. Unbiased? Hardly. Making shitloads of money? Sure. Lacking journalistic integrity? Who cares! They’re a hipster style 'zine. They’re not changing the world. LOL. Actually, you gotta hand it to the VBS.tv team. This past year or two, they’ve turned in some amazing and important exposé journalism.

I question how, in the end, art criticism can be completely unbiased while also selling advertising. There is a guise of uncompromising review, but as anyone 'in the biz’ will tell you, its such a muddy world of who-knows-who handshakes and bro-downs with any bigger publication. I resign to the system we’ve all created.

What excites me about the Internet age for music is that there are no gate keepers.  I (or anyone!) can go out there and spend endless hours trolling for gems and bring them to an audience with zero overhead other than my blood, sweat and tears. It just takes time, and love.

So with that notion, I take my blog audience along with me to the next level of my ride. Take these amazing un-noticed gems, package them up in a special way, press them on a unique analog format, and build a collection of excellent music that deserves to be heard and goes beyond the consumption of 1’s and 0’s.

Isn’t that how record labels began in the old days to begin with?