by James Hervey

Let me tell you about how I came to fall into a deep and passionate love with the Atlanta-based experimental rock band Manchester Orchestra. I had written a post one day on the Atlanta Metroblog about something I don’t really remember and this guy named Rich posted a comment. I followed the link to his site and ended up on a pretty damn amazing blog called Cable and Tweed which covered independent music from all over the southeast. So, I added Cable and Tweed to my feed reader and checked it out from time to time.

A few weeks later, Rich posted these amazing ‘mix tapes’ of Atlanta bands and I downloaded them to check out. Buried in one of the mixtapes was a song called “Alice and Interiors” by the band Manchester Orchestra. I was hooked from the first time I listened. I did a search on iTunes and came up with their only released recording at that point, an EP called YOU BRAINSTORM, I BRAINSTORM BUT BRILLIANCE NEEDS A GOOD EDITOR. Out came the Visa and less than three minutes later I had five tracks sitting in my iTunes. I loved them; every one.

When Manchester Orchestra’s first LP came out in December and I went to criminal records to buy it, it was of course out-of-stock. So, I posted a comment on Tessa’s last.fm page (she writes a pretty amazing music blog too and works at criminal) and she dropped me a comment when they were back in stock. I first heard about Manchester Orchestra’s gig at the 585 this month on their MySpace page and added it to my Google Calendar right off of Upcoming.org. Of course, after watching the amazing set, I posted my review up on the Atlanta Metroblog.

Like I said, everything I know about music is changing.

A lot of media attention seems to be focused on the changing distribution model for music. I remember reading recently a New York times article about how online sales of music are killing record stores. Also, popular with the chattering class is the topic of how file-sharing is killing the record label as a viable economic model. Even one of my favorite authors, Chris Anderson, devotes much time to talking about how distribution models are changing the face of the music industry. All of this may be true but it is also paying less attention to a shift in the music business every bit as big; the manner in which Web2.0 is changing the marketing of music.

Think for a second about how music was marketed when I was growing up. In the eighties A&R reps scoured local music clubs that no one was in or they simply created them from scratch. When they found a good artist, they produced an album that met a formula and then they got them on radio. That was the marketing vehicle. Radio, radio, radio. Of course, there are only so many wavelengths on the FM dial and only 24 hours in the day, so that necessarily meant you weren’t ever going to hear about 90 per cent of the music that was out there. So music marketers focused much of their time and energy on getting artists on the radio. Sure, Indie acts existed and played to an underground scene, but finding them meant a ton of work; scouring alternative newspapers, going to record stores that were 25 miles away from home; etc. The big money was in radio.

Remember my reference to chris anderson? In his book, THE LONG TAIL, (which is being recognized as one of the more influential texts of the last few years on business and commerce) Anderson devotes a whole bunch of space to the idea of filters. In an era of infinite choice and access to anything you want, the filter becomes even more important than ever, as consumers seek to find the niches that contain the content they want. In the old days, radio was the filter. Sure their were others; hardcore music clubs, small record shops in cities, etc. but damn did you have to work to find them. My sister once sent my dad on a half-day goose chase looking for Depeche Mode’s A BROKEN FRAME on cassette tape.

Not so much any more. If Web2.0 has done anything for the marketing of music, it has been to radically alter the landscape of filters; providing the tools for fans to find bands they like and for bands to find fans that will like them.

Go back to my Manchester Orchestra story; or even consider the show I went to last weekend featuring a band called The Beggar’s Guild (show review here on the Atlanta Metblog.) I first heard about both of these bands on music blogs. Music blogs come in all shapes and sizes but there are two I read religiously; Confessions of a Music Addict and Cable and Tweed. Both are written by local Atlantan’s and primarily feature bands based in Atlanta or throughout the southeast. When I decided I really wanted to get into the music scene here in Atlanta, both of these blogs became the place where I started getting my info.

I spent some time e-mailing back and forth with Leah Baker, who writes confessions about how she got started and where she sees herself fitting in the new world of music marketing. Leah started Confessions in September 2005 because, as she put it, “I couldn’t understand why no attention was being brought to the Atlanta music scene.” Leah had no idea that blogs were becoming a thing, she just wanted to encourage people to come out and see some great music that she had discovered.

Rich Vining writes Cable and Tweed, which he bills as a “dixie music blog”. Cable and Tweed turned one-year old this week and was also the reader’s choice for best music blog in Creatvie Loafing’s Best of Atlanta. Reflecting back on why he started the blog, Rich’s motivation seems very similar to Leah’s.

“When I started C&T a year ago, the primary reason was to help promote bands from the Atlanta/Athens region that I didn’t think were getting the attention they deserved,” Rich wrote to me in an email. “As a rule [other music blogs] never posted anything by Atlanta and Athens bands that I sent in. I found this terribly frustrating, and decided that to take matters nto my own hands.”

Of course roll forward a year or so and things have definitely changed. I put the question to both Leah and Rich about whether labels and band were embracing their blogs as a promotional vehicle. Both gave me the same response….namely that bands and independent record labels are going out of their way to energize blogs as a new marketing force.

Rich again: “Major labels rarely contact me seeking promotion. In fact, my few contacts with them have probably been via cease-and-desist letters rather than positive outreach. Smaller labels, however, have been incredibly supportive and helpful. They willingly send promotional materials on a regular basis and often express thanks for coverage given to their artists.”

And the Bands?

Leah tells me that most of them are full of gratitude. She points out that it’s nice for them when someone google’s their name and gets more than just the band’s MySpace page, but gets something like a review from a blog that has credibility because the author is writing with passion.

Both writers definitely feel they have role to play in the marketing of music. Leah sees herself as someone whose taste others respect and hopes she can even get one person out to see a band they might not have before reading her blog. Which is of course, exactly what happened to yours truly with The Beggar’s Guild. Rich sees blogs as occupying a role for taste-makers to check out new bands and help get them in front of the people that have the resources to make the break.

Either way, if you ask me, blogs are rapidly becoming the filter by which a whole bunch of people learn about new music. Even in our microcosm of Atlanta, the impact of these blogs are substantial; helping get the word out about great new artists. One of the guys in The Beggar’s Guild told me that they keep getting more and more people turning out to see them. Word of Mouth spreads; it spreads even faster in the internet.

In perhaps the funniest twist of all; the filter now needs a filter. There are now so many music blogs out there that sites like elbo.ws and the hype machine are helping users to sort through the clutter and find both artists that are hot and blogs that cover what they like.

The internet is also creating powerful vehicles for listeners to find recommendations based on what they indicate they like and for bands to promote themselves with very limited resources. I’ll cover those trends in next week’s installment.

For now though, I’ll let Leah of Confessions of a Music Addict have the last word. When I asked her if the semi-amateur nature of music blogs was important, she said:

“Absolutely. Some people are getting paid, yes, but I’ll tell you right now that I haven’t received one red cent from writing this blog, which essentially means that I don’t owe the artists anything. Most music blogs are like that. I’ll take someone’s word who isn’t paid to shove something down my throat over a label’s press kit fluff any day.”

How true, Leah. How true.

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