This time last year Digital profiled two bloggers who moved into the business side of things. Perez Hiton’s Perezcious record label signed its second act Travis Garland (French popster Sliimy didn’t really work out) around the time mainstream media began to question his grip on the pop zeitgeist while the small-time two-person indie blog Neon Gold has had more influence, serving as the breeding ground for major label successes Marina And The Diamonds, Passion Pit and Ellie Goulding.
Since that time, starting a record label is cool again, judging by the number of music bloggers who are now doing so. In many ways, a blogger starting a small independent label is a simple extension of their modus operandi with the blog – to promote music they are interested in.
Popular alternative Texas-based music blog Gorilla Vs Bear started Forest Family Records along with fellow blogger Weekly Tape Deck three months ago. Far from acting as an MP3-selling hub, the label releases limited vinyl releases from bands they love. So far artists like Cults, Gauntlet Hair and Dent May have been lined up with the first two releases selling out quickly.
Popjustice – the UK pop music blog with discernable taste has struck a deal with Virgin/EMI to launch their own imprint called Popjustice Hi-Fi which will release the Robyn-esque pop of Rosanna in August. There were accusations that Perez robbed his music recommendations directly from Popjustice so it’ll be interesting to see how this UK major label partnership fares.
It’s mostly small DIY blogs though who have gotten in on the physical music-releasing game like BigStereo, My Old Kentucky Blog, White Guys With Beards, Chocolate Bobka (both cassette releases) and Catbird Seat.
Blogs are niche and they know their audiences very well. At the top of the pile, Perez feels the pressure to break acts internationally while the smaller blogs have no such worries. Most of them are selling around 500 copies of each record only. Technology has now empowered them to sell, not just share. It makes competitive sense as well. Many labels sign bands after reading about them on blogs so this just cuts out the middle man, at least at the start of an artist’s career.
Meanwhile, a host of independent music blogs were recently snapped up themselves by the larger and more popular boy in the class, Pitchfork. The Chicago-based influential music site launched Altered Zones, a sister site consisting of 14 blogs who will be highlighting creative and adventurous small-scale new artists on Pitchfork’s dime. It’s an interesting development as rather than try to ratchet up into the mainstream, Pitchfork has gone the other way, appealing to the even more niche group of people who like pychedelic, drone, new-age and lo-fi music. It seems niches really are the new mainstream.
Features
Fri, Jul 23, 2010