NY Times CMJ recap

In his NY Times CMJ recap, rock writer Jon Pareles writes quite provocatively about the blogger buzz and how it has impacted these music fests, and the music industry marketing of bands...

"But like any other marketing tool that has worked, that circuit is now getting jammed. Everyone wants that sexy Internet buzz, that apparent endorsement from the grass roots — well, grass roots with broadband. Blogs that started as outlets for private passions are less innocent now; they have Google ads and tabulate click-throughs. Record-label employees are online full time, shilling among the comments. As the cross-links build up, the blogs are also growing increasingly self-conscious about their star-making power. When the influential online magazine Pitchfork Media, pitchforkmedia.com, gave Black Kids an enthusiastic 8.4 rating for their four songs, it expected — and got — the stir reflected at CMJ.

The Internet promises a diversity of opinion, since anyone can post one. Yet with all the linking and cut-and-paste, one quick rave or pan — informed, uninformed, incisive, cranky, anonymous — can snowball on supposedly independent-minded blogs. The first person to click the send button can easily trump the leisurely contemplation an indie album might deserve. It’s the online version of old-media competitiveness, without some of the safeguards of professionalism. Of course the backlash can start a few minutes later.

The old pop virtues — catchy tunes, attention-getting lyrics, neat concepts — have always had their place at showcase festivals like CMJ, where a band had best make a good first impression because there are three more bands at the same time on the same block waiting to be heard. Bloggers have been, and sometimes still are, a corrective to that insistence on instant gratification. But not always: Rushing to get that first post online, a blogger can just as easily be swayed by the superficial, particularly if it arrives with some of the self-consciousness that bloggers can relate to."


This was the first CMJ where I felt I *had* to post stuff pretty quickly, and frankly, I wasn't all that easygoing with that decision. First a foremost I'm a music fan, and ya know, sometimes it's just easier to say "Ah, they suck. You should go see X". But in the new blogger world, it's not as obvious to do that.

I enjoy seeing new bands when I can, and CMJ presents a great opportunity to suck it all in at the end of a longneck. But soaking it all in, and trying to be pragmatic about it all with posts, pix and video takes some steely nerves throughout the week.
I admire other music bloggers hugely in their easier efforts to do that. Me? I'll struggle along and hope to carve out a cool path.