There’ve been a couple of things going down in the blogoshpere that have gotten under my skin this week. I write for a music blog, so it affects me directly when other people who write for other music blogs do stupid shit. Bad apple and all that. We try really hard here to do the right thing. That’s kind of a broad brushstroke, so let’s break it down a bit:
- We don’t write negative reviews. You know this. Every once in a while, we’ll get a little bit prickly about the opener at a live show, but, by and large, we’re in the business to tell you about things that we think you’ll like. You won’t see shit like this anytime soon here. (Really? You didn’t like the new 50 Cent album? No shit.) (By the way, this isn’t the thing that’s really pissing me off. We’re getting to that.)
- We try to write as clearly and insightfully as possible, while providing enough depth for our readers to know what the hell is going on. Say what you will about Pitchfork (we have), but at least they take some time to craft and write an opinion. I’m tired of folks writing two sentences (which are often lifted directly from press kits) and posting a track. It’s a blatant stab at a higher position on the aggregators and it’s a punk move. (No direct link on this one, because we’re only ever going to call out Pitchfork by name. We might see our peers at a bar or something and we don’t want a chair broken over our backs. If that makes us pussies, so be it. If you’re “write nothing guy,” you know who you are.)
- We post tracks that people have told us we can post. We want the bands that we like to be successful. That means that we want you to buy their records. We need to post tracks so that you can decide if you’re into a sound or not. We want you to hear a song, love it and then buy the record. Hopefully I won’t get pilloried by the faceless asshole masses on this one, but artists have a right to make cash for their work. The system we have for doing that is counter-intuitive and often doesn’t work well, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay to rip shit off. We’re never going to post a whole record or post the songs from a limited single or post tracks that are really intended to be paid for. (This is the one that really got me this week, so we’re kicking out of the numbered list to expand a bit.)
You might know that Jim James released a solo EP of George Harrison covers this week. (He’s rolling with the goofy “Yim Yames” moniker, but that’s his business. Stupid nicknames piss me off too.) It’s six bucks to download it. For the record, that’s less than it would cost for you to see Transformers or some other piece of shit summer movie. He’s also giving some of the proceeds to an animal shelter. AND. He’s giving away a track for free. To sum up: There are six songs, you can listen to one for free, if you like it, it costs six bucks for the rest and some of that money goes to a good cause. So what did asshole music bloggers do? Post the other tracks. Five minutes on an aggregator and you can get the whole thing for free. Nice work asshats! Now we all look like assholes cause you wanted a little more traffic. The time’s coming when people aren’t going to give us shit because they know that the most dim-witted among us will give it away to their “readers.”
For the record: at Citizen Dick we’re not going to pull bush league bullshit like that to get people to come to the site. We will write good content (we hope) and assume that you, dear reader will show up. In a move of solidarity, you get one song on this Lazy Saturday. It’s the one Jim James is giving away for free. If you like it, shell out six bucks and feel good about yourself.
Thanks for listening to me rant and rave.
“Behind that Locked Door” – Jim James (remember, his nickname is not my bag)
