Music | On Rye

November 4th, 2008 was probably the first time I tried out any type of “live” coverage. I used ScribbleLive to cover Election Day for MiddBlog. We had a bunch of contributors all pile in their comments into a running “live blog” of the day’s events. Today, a lot of sites (including NPR) use CoverItLive for running text coverage.

During my summer at NPR, we did a live chat with the musician Moby. It took a producer, a host, and two interns to run it. My fellow intern Camden was running the chat, moderating comments as listeners tuned in to hear Moby take questions. I was running the Twitter questions, monitoring the hashtag and submitting questions to the larger chat. Producer Rob Hilton would feed questions to host Bob Boilen who would then ask Moby.

Last Thursday, I tried streaming my acappella group‘s concert with live video on ustream.com. And I was surprised that it worked pretty well to reach an audience of around 40-50 people (mostly parents and friends) with less than 24 hours notice. I just used the built-in camera on my computer to broadcast and had some sound issues when the audience hooped and hollered (blasting the eardrums of the internet viewers). Either way, it was a worthwhile experiment especially for the most dedicated fans that can tune in from far away. The fan appreciation for being able to connect with a live event is pretty amazing.

For a guy who sings a lot, I have a surprising lack of knowledge about music in the way that most think about it: the radio, music videos, and hit singles. I’m just not the kinda guy who hears a song and then asks who the artist is or the song title. My housemate asks me what kind of music I like and my standard response is: “anything that’s singable.”

So, I have appreciation for the folks who stay on the edge of music trends because I certainly am not. As it turns out, a few my favorite blogs right now are music blogs. Here are my top three:

What goes into a music blog? I think it’s equal parts novelty and curation. You want to provide readers with the latest, before anyone else gets to them. You’re informing the trend-setters that then take it to their friends. But some of this is simply timing. If there’s a new Lady Gaga video, a ton of people will eventually see it. You’re job is to be on the front end. Second, curation. Cull the crap of the music industry. This is where it really is about your music taste. Be discerning and present readers with only what is worthwhile.

An interesting twist to music blogs is the fact that they frequently give out or play full songs without royalty payments to songwriters/artists. Even radio stations pay out fees. And most record labels let this slide because they want the free promotion and “street cred” of these blogs. Most offer a disclaimer: we will take down any song, upon request or within a few weeks of posting.

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