The Day the Music Blogs Died
@mikevial “small music” is redundant here. Sadly, blogs seem to be dead in general. Yours is the only musician blog I read.
— Josh Woodward (@joshwoodward) September 28, 2015
The day the music blog died was somewhere between 2013 and 2014.
I didn’t recognize it until yesterday* as I was updating my spreadsheets and realized 80% of the music blogs I used to* keep tabs on had stopped posting, or disappeared. The major ones are still posting away, but the little ones? Gone.
It makes me a sad to see so many small blogs disappear; the action of writing is so enjoyable. Seth Godin–who continue to post every day–says “writing clarifies my thoughts, keeps me noticing things.”
The disappearance of the small music blogs is disconcerting for an independent musician, but what about the freelance writer?
“Most of the media outlets I’ve written for have folded and then were flat-out deleted,” says Carter Maness:
- Fascinating read “All My Blogs Are Dead”: http://www.theawl.com/2015/02/
all-my-blogs-are-dead“
I can relate a bit. Years ago, I was writing for a small music blog for fun. My last assignment was to interview a new artist breaking out in the UK.
Who was that artist? Ed Sheeran. That blog ended before the publicist sent us back Sheeran’s answers.
Times have changed. Ed Sheeran is one of the most streamed artists on Spotify, and most music blogs have become ghost towns. And the ghost gardens aren’t even coming up in Google searches. The sites are gone!
The power of art hasn’t changed. People are still writing, composing, singing, drawing, photographing…however, the ability to get the work noticed continues to be the same, difficult challenge. During this transition, if you feel discouraged, I think we need to get back to the basics: the work, the art, the creation.
The Internet gives an illusion of a megaphone sounding over a flat world, but it’s the impact we can make right in our own communities that matters; so spread your arms out, check your wingspan, and let your art connect with real people in your neighborhood.
Other interesting reads:
http://www.vox.com/2015/1/30/
http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/12/the-blog-is-dead/
http://www.designsponge.com/2014/01/state-of-the-blog-union-how-the-blogging-world-has-changed.html
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*Natalie and I bought a house last year, and we had a baby in March; that might be why I’ve been an ostrich with my head in the sand.
*used to–the irony isn’t lost on me, either.
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